STYRIN TREBLE ROCKS HIS PORSCHE RIVALS
Richard Styrin’s dominant start to the season continued as he took a hat-trick of Porsche Championship victories at Rockingham, making it five out of six in 2016.
Styrin remained relatively unchallenged, finishing ahead of James Coleman in all three races.
It looked set to be a tantalising race one when Ed Hayes claimed pole, ahead of Coleman and Styrin, but the moment the lights went out, Styrin slid through the gap between them and never looked back. Hayes remained in contention for the final podium place, only losing out to Andrew Hack when a rattle developed into full-blown engine failure. Though the 2015 champion made it into race two, it was a case of deja vu, suffering from the same fate. By race three, Hayes had jumped into a reserve car to try to keep Styrin within touching distance, and although he started from the rear of the reversed grid, he salvaged a worthy third place, six seconds behind the eventual winner.
There was better luck for Linda Warren in the 924s as she took her maiden victory in race one, following it with a brace of second places, making an impressive statement in the class.
With Class C given its own grid due to its increasing size, it meant there were four races in the Quaife Fiesta Championship. It was a routine two victories for Alastair Kellett from pole in classes A, B and D, while in Class C it was a day of mixed emotions for the Specialized Motorsport team. It looked like a simple 1-2 going the way of Sam Priest in race one, until team boss and second-place man Simon Horrobin was given a 10-second time penalty for exceeding track limits, demoting him to fourth behind Nick Sanderson and Kevin Stirling.
Horrobin made amends in race two, taking the victory after forcing Priest wide at Deene. Just as another 1-2 looked in their grasp, lady luck thought otherwise, pulling the power from Priest’s car, forcing him to retire as Myles Baker and Alfonso Skriczka completed the podium.
Bradley Burns earned his first victory in the Fiesta Junior Championship, on a weekend that saw the title fight blown wide open. With a surprising second place qualifying result, Burns never looked back as he cruised to a race one victory. It looked to be going his way yet again in race two, until a surprise attack from Harry Gooding out of Pif-paf and onto the Steel Straight caught Burns off-guard. He lost another place to Jam Sport’s Callum Hawkins-rowe, and was forced to settle for third.
The vast BMW Compact Cup grid was, as usual, split into three groups, each racing twice. Samuel Carrington Yates, took victory in the A and B race from pole, ahead of British GT champion James Gornall. Gornall then made it a first and second for the weekend, winning the A and C race, with Jim Benson storming to victory in the B and C event ahead of Joe Wiggin and Steven Dailly. Missing from the top end of the grid was points leader Richard Miles, having to settle for ninth and 10th after his qualifying times were excluded due to a fuel pressure regulation breach.
Nick Porter took two victories in the Mk2 GTI Championship, both times finishing ahead of Chris Webb and Peter Milne, while the Mk5 GTI Series, taking to the track for the first time in 2016, warranted two winners: Andy Baylie and former Mk2 star Josh Johnson.