Wainwright victorious in Peterson March
Fifty years after European Formula 2 champion Ronnie Peterson won the
British Automobile Racing Club’s Easter Monday round here in March 722-17, Rob Wainwright drove the Nick Pancisi-owned car to a fairytale victory in the Jochen Rindt Trophy double-header, star turn at the annual Thruxton Historic event. But it was Saturday’s opening leg, won brilliantly by Benn Tilley (Formula Atlantic Modus M1), with Wainwright breathing down his neck, that spectators will remember among the Hampshire venue’s finest races.
Tilley, 22, who had not seen the daunting track until Friday, was quickest in Simon Hadfield’s car for much of qualifying, but Wainwright snared pole by 0.015 seconds. March-mounted Matt Wrigley (79B) and Martin Wood (73B) shared row two.
Wainwright led Saturday’s race from the tenacious Tilley, who capitalised when his rival clattered the chicane exit kerb in a shower of sparks on lap five and spun as he landed under power. But Tilley’s 5s advantage was wiped out when he caught three cars – the first pair abreast – at Church. “I had to go down to third gear,” he said wide-eyed. “Thereafter I played to the Modus’s strengths. Flat from the Complex to the chicane, bar a tiny lift at Goodwood, I had better aero.” Wainwright found no way past through constant traffic. Wrigley and Wood were third and fourth, while Lee Bankhurst earned FF2000 gold.
Tilley shot away in Sunday’s decider, but Wainwright was soon shadowing him. The Modus driver absorbed the pressure until lap nine of 16 when, pulling 140mph, the right-front upright pin sheared at Noble, “which was a surprise”. He managed to stop before Goodwood, with minimal damage, but Wainwright was home and dry. After Wood spun at Cobb on lap one, Wrigley and Chris Porritt (ex-alo Lawler Chevron B29) led the pursuit. Ian Pearson won FF2000 from the back.
Reigning champion Pippa Cow and
Tom Walker traded the lead in Saturday’s cracking Midget & Sprite Challenge closer. Cow drafted Walker round the final lap and coolly dived past into the chicane to a roar from the stands. Walker’s consolation was a remarkable 1m29.948s (94.29mph) lap record. After Paul Campfield’s new engine wilted, James Hughes finished a distant third ahead of Class D battlers Mark Witherspoon and Ian Burgin.
Cow’s left-front tyre was wrecked but, without another for Sunday’s bout, Walker gifted her his spare. Their battle resumed and Walker was ahead when Cow’s gearbox failed, leaving the Frog-eye way ahead of the rest. Robin Lackford, who retired with fuel starvation on Saturday, was second ahead of Burgin, who had tapped an equally sideways Witherspoon into a spin at the Complex. As both continued, the hirsute Hugh Simpson hunted down third-placed Burgin.
Alex Thistlethwayte (Mustang) fancied his Historic Racing Drivers Club Jack
Sears Trophy chances until diff failure in qualifying sent Alan Mann Racing’s guys back to base for a spare. With drive restored, Thistlethwayte chased Neil Brown’s Cortina for three laps before his engine blew. Brown relayed Richard Dutton, who had Pete Chambers all over him until he went mowing at Village. Chambers remained second, clear of Pete Smith, whose Cortina was started by Andy Pardoe, 32 years after his last Thruxton race!
Jamie Boot’s TVR Griffith won the Allstars contest, but top qualifier Ben Colburn’s Lenham Sprite impudently led for five laps before Ford V8 urge trumped his 140bhp BMC engine. Colburn then strove to keep Andrew Smith (Marcos 1800GT) behind. Having run abreast from Village to Church, Volvo B18 power told.
The Nissan Skyline trio outgunned two Ford Sierra RS500S in the Historic Touring Car Challenge before Simon Garrad’s R32’s gearbox broke. Ric Wood charged past Andy Middlehurst (starting Jonathan Bailey’s 1993 works car) to win, with David Tomlin’s welldriven RS500 third.
The Alfa Classic Challenge curtain closer was led by James Wright, before poleman Chris Snowdon shot ahead, drawing Ambrogio Perfetti, then Richard Merrell, with him. A pinch with Snowdon sent Merrell rotating into the chicane on lap 11 of 19, whereupon he tagged Snowdon and clipped Perfetti. Wright sailed past to win.