Panayiotou in series lead at Deutsche Fest
Volkswagen Racing Cup points leader
Chris Panayiotou and Swedish driver
Dennis Strandberg each tasted the victory champagne after an eventful pair of races, which headed the programme at the second Brands Hatch Deutsche Fest.
Success in race one was Scirocco driver Panayiotou’s first win of the year, consistent finishing placing him top of the table at the championship’s halfway stage. And it was a hard-won result, Panayiotou first having to overcome the quick-starting Scirocco of Ruaridh Clark, who stayed on his rival’s tail to the flag. Third was taken by Simon Walton’s Audi TT after a late skirmish at Paddock with Jamie Bond’s Golf, which resulted in Bond being penalised back to fourth for his part in the incident.
Golf drivers Toby Davis and Strandberg were fifth and sixth, and this half-dozen would be reversed on the race-two grid.
High expectations were dashed and the second race spoiled by two lengthy safetycar interventions to move cars stranded at Paddock. Strandberg had already been given breathing space by those behind making an ill-advised attempt to take Druids and Graham Hill three abreast on lap one. The caution periods then left the Swede to stay in control for a single-lap dash to the finish, something he successfully achieved in an unballasted car against a bunch of rivals carrying varying levels of success weight. The win was Strandberg’s third of the year, and he was followed home by Bond,
Davis, Clark and Panayiotou.
Paul Cook’s unmissable black-andyellow E46 won both BMW M3 Cup races, beating David Whitmore in each outing. In race two, a seemingly comfortable lead evaporated when Cook briefly struggled to find a gear, but he soon regained control. Nick Williamson was third in the first race, but had to follow Graham Crowhurst home in race two after reaching the front of the quartet contesting fourth.
The 330 Challenge provided much closer competition for victory, Matt Maxted taking the wins after chasing Darren Ball for most of the race distance in both encounters.
Success in the Toyo Racing Saloons fell all too easily to the Nigel Innes BMW E36. He finished just over 22 seconds clear each time, with Roger Kneebone’s E36 and the Toyota Starlet of Barnaby Davies taking the runner-up spots respectively. Davies and his brother Oliver in another Starlet made a nuisance of themselves amid the BMW domination, but Barnaby’s poor start in race two meant he only moved up to second on the penultimate lap. Production BMW champion Matt Swaffer took a class win and a second place in a diesel 120.
Swaffer isn’t registered for the 2018 Production championship and ran as a guest entry at Brands, determined to avenge his defeat by William Davison in last year’s fixture. His E30 320i was indeed first across the line in race one after a tense duel, but contact on the final corner knocked Davison (E30) back to sixth and earned Swaffer disqualification for his strong-arm tactics.
Davison duly won race two on the road, while Swaffer reached 11th from the back of the grid, but Davison was then excluded from the meeting after a paddock altercation (see page 64). He had been battling with David Graves (320i), who thus inherited a double win after taking the flag as close runner-up in each race.