Herbert shows why he’s the MX-5 master
Luke Herbert demonstrated why he’s been crowned Mazda MX-5 Supercup champion for the past three years as he once again proved unbeatable at Silverstone.
From lights-out in race one, James Cossins and 2014 champion Abbie Eaton joined Herbert in a three-car break, but only a lap later it was one long train of cars, before Herbert and Eaton tried to escape again.
But, after the duel for third between Cossins and Samuel Smith broke up, Smith began to close on the lead duo and towed Patrick Fletcher along too. Suddenly all four were together and entered Brooklands as one on lap 10 of 13. Herbert and Eaton retained their places after red flags flew, while Smith finally got the better of
Fletcher for third, as Colin Bysouth and Cossins rounded off the top six.
Herbert and Smith were then inseparable throughout race two, but it was the reigning champion who was just 0.021 seconds ahead when it mattered, as Eaton took third.
There was the usual terrific finale in the Fun Cup, despite the Axiametrics trio of Chris Dovell/kristian Rose/riley Phillips dominating the second half of the contest.
The Make Happen Racing Team had three cars in the top six going into the fourth and final hour, with the 2Rent Dominos Chris Hart/henry Dawes car third behind
PLR’S Neil Plimmer and Ben Pitch, while Steve Walton/greg Evans were fourth.
As Phillips took over the lead car and brought it home over a minute clear,
Dawes and Evans entered into a finalstint duel for second that went right to the flag. Dawes just edged Evans by a tenth, but it was still a first podium for Evans/walton, as PLR took fourth.
John Cooper and David Nye scored Fiesta championship wins on the road, but they were driving two of the four Invitation
Class ST Turbos that weren’t eligible for the overall victory. Effectively it was the duel for fifth that decided the winner, and in race one it was between 20Ten team-mates Samuel Watkins and Ethan Rogers.
Rogers led initially before Watkins took charge and eased clear, both finishing well clear of third-placed Ben Winrow.
Watkins was never headed in the second race, while Winrow managed to break from a huge scrap, before mechanical maladies put him out a lap from home, handing Dominic Bush second from Spencer Stevenson. William Heslop and Chris Grimes shared the concurrent ST-XR Challenge spoils.
There were only 13 cars entered for the combined Touring Car Trophy/tcr UK/ VW Cup races. Dan Kirby’s Cupra TCR led from the start but, after ousting the Hyundai TCR of Lewis Kent on the second lap, Darelle Wilson (Vauxhall Astra TCR) was looking for the lead at Brooklands, as Henry Neal (Honda Civic Type R), Kent and Max Hart’s Cupra TCR disputed third.
Wilson grabbed the lead into Brooklands on lap six of 21, but both he and Kirby lost ground after contact. This allowed Neal to shoot ahead through Woodcote, his lead soon becoming decisive.
Wilson and Kirby continued their duel until they clashed again at Luffield on lap 13. Kirby continued but Wilson was out after hitting the tyre wall. This left Kent
with second from Hart, Tim Docker’s
Golf TCR and the recovering Kirby.
Kent, Neal and Hart held station at the front throughout race two, despite Neal occasionally showing signs of closing the lead gap, which failed to reach fruition.
There was a frantic start to the first
Mazda MX-5 Championship race, with
Mike Comber and Brian Trott sharing the early lead, before Joe Wiggin joined them and headed a three-car break.
By lap six of 13, the top eight all ran line astern, before Wiggin broke the tow and eased home to victory, only to be excluded in post-race scrutineering. Trott therefore picked up the win from Comber, with Matt Pollard just holding onto third from a rapidly closing Steve Foden.
The second race was red-flagged after a three-car incident at Becketts. From the restart, Seb Fisher, Trott and Will Blackwellchambers had made a break on the exit of Copse, but on the next tour their advantage had been wiped out and Fisher was back in fifth behind Trott, Fraser Fenwick, Blackwell-chambers and Oliver Allwood.
Allwood led into Becketts on lap four, but Fenwick and Trott both then had spells in the lead before Allwood took it back from Trott on the final tour. Fisher, Michael Knibbs and Blackwell-chambers followed after a penultimate-lap shake-up, as Fenwick dropped to sixth.
Comber won the third race after demoting Jack Brewer in a two-lap sprint after a safety car period, followed by Wiggin and Fisher.