Lion kings of the 2CV pride again as Mini battle rages throughout
The Team Lion crew made it a third successive win in the Classic 2CV 24-hour race at Snetterton last weekend, Pete Sparrow and David O’keeffe sharing with Gary Adnitt for the second year in a row.
For the first hour or so there was a lead duel between Sparrow and Crisis at Tete Rouge’s Alec Graham, both having a spell in front. Sparrow handed over to Adnitt then O’keeffe, with the team gradually consolidating its lead – which grew considerably to 10 laps by half-distance.
Nick Roads, Andrew Bull and Ian Gibbon had shared the Tete Rouge car but, after Graham had hit the Frogettes machine during the early hours, they continued to lose ground, as Car Caryl moved into second, with Louis Tyson, Peter Rundle and Kris Tovey at the wheel.
DD Motorsport and Team Gadget had been disputing the final podium place until the second half of the race, when both hit strife. DD’S James Dartiailh was towed back after an electrical fault and the Gadget 2CV also stopped at the end of the pitlane with a blocked jet.
Having struggled early on with fuel starvation, Car Caryl held second and Rundle took over from Tyson for the final stint, eventually finishing eight laps down on the victors.
Despite their earlier problem, Crisis at Tete Rouge still held third. With only three hours to go DD Motorsport’s Nick Crispin, Patrick Mason and Dartiailh were looking set for fourth to secure the 2CV title for Crispin, but disaster struck when they had to make a late gearbox change and earlier brake loss problems returned.
Martin Riman therefore moved the
Twin Snails car up to fourth following some sterling work from James Northfield and Paul Rowland, after they had lost time early on with a broken throttle cable.
The Lion Hansgrohe quartet of Max Wyer, Giles Owen, Ronald Mears and
Roy Eastwood were fifth, from the Hollis Motorsport car of Matthew, Richard and Nigel Hollis with Glenn Burtenshaw, after a second-half duel, despite Matthew almost rolling on Sunday lunchtime, as they ran with three shock absorbers and a misfire.
Team Toyshed was able to repeat its
2021 victory too in the Mini Grande class that featured a thrilling battle for overall honours as Toyshed spent almost the entire race duelling with Slarky Malarky. With Andy Slade and Michael Dryden sharing, Chris Slade completed the last 25 minutes with the fuel warning light on, but just held off Neil Slark on the final lap, with only 1.148 seconds to spare after the 24 hours!
Steven Rideout brought Misfits home in third, while in fourth Mini-uns were 16 laps down on the lead trio and behind the top two 2CV finishers.
It was BMW M3 derivatives to the fore in Snetterton Saloons as Russell Dack made it two wins out of the three races. He managed to outrun Bryan Bransom into Wilson on the opening lap of race one, as they eased well clear of Edward Leigh.
David Marcussen escaped from a duel with James Mumbray to seal fourth, with Stephen Pearson taking fifth on the last lap, after Mumbray slowed and Karl Cattliff pitted out of fuel. Martin Reynolds was top non-m3 runner in sixth in his Ford Escort.
After an initial duel in race two, Bransom eased clear of Dack for a comfortable win, with Marcussen third throughout. Cattliff took fourth on the last tour after Mumbray slowed again. It was then a lights-to-flag win for Dack in the finale, while Marcussen just held off Cattliff for second.