KHERA AND HANKEY OVERCOME THE ODDS TO CLAIM BRITISH ENDURANCE SILVERWARE
Lucky Khera and Ewan Hankey overcame a one-minute penalty to take victory in the British Endurance Championship during the British Automobile Racing Club’s visit to Snetterton.
Having triumphed at the opening round at Silverstone alongside Lee Frost in a Lamborghini Huracan,
Khera switched to a McLaren 720S for the latest three-hour enduro and built an early 10-second lead.
The penalty was awarded after the car was refuelled during a safety car period, dropping the pair to third.
The invitational entry of John Dillon and Andrea Amici held a one-lap advantage at the halfway stage but a differential issue with their Lamborghini put them out.
That promoted the Mercedes AMG GT3 of Wayne Marrs and Tom Jackson into first place, but the latter was hunted down by Hankey, who completed the race-winning move into Brundle corner with half-an-hour remaining.
Jasver Sapra took a hat-trick of wins across the weekend in his BMW M3, the first coming in Saturday’s Snetterton Saloons ahead of the Ginetta G56A shared by Mark Lee and Owen Hizzey.
Sapra then triumphed in Sunday’s opening Britcar Trophy race alongside his regular counterpart Bryan Branson, with Lee and Hizzey again in second. Invitational entrant Nail Bradley led most of that encounter in an M3, but he was denied by a 155-second penalty for making his mandatory stop outside of the permitted window.
Sapra and Hizzey contested the lead in race two, but a failed overtaking from the latter at Murrays cost both of them time. Hizzey’s SVG Motorsport team-mate Ian Astley led from Datum Motorsport’s Axel Van Nederveen, while Hizzey spun out at Riches after suffering brake failure.
Neil Wallace took over from Astley and remained in front until 10 minutes remaining, when he was passed by Van Nerderveen into Oggies. Branson also followed through into second a few corners later, having recovered from his and Sapra’s 15s success penalty. He then took the lead when Van Nerderveen was caught out by light rain.
Gordie Mutch and Jimmie Broadbent climbed from the back of the field to win the first of the Praga Cup races on-theroad, but a boost issue got them disqualified. Runners-up Matt Bell and Rob Wheldon were also excluded, handing points leaders Charles Hall and Scott Mittell their second triumph of the season.
Bell and Wheldon led race two, but a penalty for breaching the minimum mandatory pitstop time dropped them to second, letting Mutch and Broadbent make amends with victory.
Harry Hickton continued his domination of the Junior Saloon Car Championship with two more wins. After heading home Jacob Heap by 4.5s in race one, Hickton resisted a late charge from Max Hall in the second contest.