Padmore takes part in presitigious event
Horsham-based racing driver Nick Padmore has enjoyed a great couple of weekends of racing.
First he was at the Monaco Historique - a biennial event celebrating historic motorsport but especially the various eras of Formula 1 - driving two Lotus cars owned by Chrome Cars / Britec Motorsports.
Then, just one week later, he was in action at the legendary Spa Francorchamps Circuit in Belgium driving the Porsche 996 GT3-RSR and the BMW 635i that he has raced with TFT Racing for the past couple of seasons.
The Monaco event is very prestigious and one which the team prepared well for, having spent a couple of days testing at Oschersleben in Germany.
Padmore qualified the 88 in fourth for what was due to be the first race for this car, with two teammates ahead of him on the grid in their other Lotus cars.
The three Lotus cars all from the Chrome Cars team circulated comfortably to record an emotional (for the team) one, two, three to lock out the podium places, with Padmore saying after that he had ‘driven as hard as possible for the whole race’ as he got more acclimatised to the car and strove to maintain his podium spot.
Earlier in the afternoon, Padmore had just missed out on the podium when he claimed a fighting fourth place in the Lotus 77 despite feeling unwell due to a stomach bug he had picked up during the weekend.
So, after the euphoria of Monaco, it was off to Spa for the Spa Classic organised by Peter Auto.
The races for the Porsche and the BMW are two-driver races, so entail pitstops for driver changes around the middle of each race - Padmore sharing the driving of these cars with their owner JeanLou Rihon.
Racing in the Endurance Racing Legends with the Porsche, the pair qualified 21st and fourth in the GT2C class they compete in.
There were two 40 minute races for these cars, with Padmore and Rihon claiming third in class and 18th overall in the first race.
An impressive run the race two saw the pair secure 13th overall and second in their class.