Berridge and Kinch share Group C spoils
Group C provided a great contest between the late-generation turbocharged machines and their normally aspirated successors, but nobody could stop Nathan Kinch’s 1992 Lola T92/10.
Kinch pipped the experienced Bob Berridge (Nissan R90) to pole and then disappeared in the first encounter, held at dusk on Saturday. The plain white Lola had a 1.9-second advantage at the end of the first lap and was 10s ahead after four. Kinch eventually took the flag over 50s clear, having set the fastest race laps of the entire weekend.
The real battle was for second. Berridge led Christophe D’ansembourg’s Jaguar XJR-14 initially, before Katsu Kubota’s Nissan blasted by the Big Cat on the run to Stowe on lap two of 17. The three cars then battled closely, with the 3.5-litre Jaguar faster through the high-speed corners, but lacking the power to pass the turbo cars.
That was until D’ansembourg managed to box in Kubota behind the March of Peter Schleiffer as the leaders lapped it approaching Abbey. Once through, the Jaguar flew onto the tail of the yellow Nissan, and took second with better traction out of the Loop.
The order looked set but both Berridge (tyre problems) and the XJR-14 (collapsed wheel bearing) wilted. Kubota, who narrowly missed the slowing Jaguar at Becketts, thus took the runner-up spot. Mark Sumpter’s Porsche 962, which had kept the battle in sight, completed the podium.
Berridge jumped Kinch at the start on Sunday, but any hopes of a battle were dashed when the Lola pulled off with gearbox problems. Berridge was left to take an easy victory, while Kubota spoiled the chance of a Nissan 1-2 with a spin. Sumpter took second.
Mike Wrigley dominated C2 twice, but an electrical woe left the Argo JM19C stranded in the final minutes of race two. That allowed the ALD C289 of Frank Lyons to take the class, just holding off a closing Frederic da Rocha (Spice SE88C).