RAIN FAILS TO DAM PEN SPIRITS IN BRIT CAR
David Mason and Ross Wylie were the stars of the Britcar Endurance Championship weekend, catapulting themselves into the Sprint championship lead with two strong results.
Handed pole for the sprint race based on class position after qualifying was reduced to a few wet laps behind the safety car, the Ferrari 458 GT3 quickly dropped down the order due to confusion over a waved red flag which led to Mason pitting while the rest of the field stayed out.
Fulvio Mussi took the lead and had a strong opening stint before a crash during team-mate Ronnie Garrick’s first racing lap in the championship forced them to retire for the day.
This left the Ferrari 488 of Jamie Stanley and John Seale to take the lead with over 17 seconds to the rest of the field and victory despite the best efforts of Wylie who had the speed but not enough laps to reclaim the lead.
Broken brake calipers forced Stanley and Seale out of the reduced 50-minute endurance race, leaving Wylie and Mason to inherit their second pole position of the day.
The pair built up a lead of nearly 40 seconds in the early part of the race and although second-placed Jonny Macgregor’s Taranis narrowed the gap he was unable to challenge the dominant #7 car.
In the Michelin Clio Cup, recentlyrecrowned champion Ben Palmer focused on completing the clean sweep of races in 2018 after having won the previous 13 rounds.
Race one followed the form guide, with Palmer claiming a comfortable victory. Despite leading from pole in race two, his 100 percent win record was shattered when his throttle cable snapped on the second of 15 laps.
Palmer’s retirement promoted Ben Colburn into the race lead, and he proceeded to dominate the race to edge second place in the championship from Simon Freeman, who was tangled in a four-way battle for third on track.
Nic Harrison was able to perform the season sweep in the production-spec Road Class with his 14th and 15th class victories.
In the Junior Saloon Car Championship Lewis Saunders extended his title lead with a win in the opening race, passing rival Joel Wren for the victory on the penultimate lap. In the second race Ben Kasperczak took victory.
Aaron Smith took Mini Miglia Championship victory after winning race one while former championship leader Dave Drew spun after a touch from Alex Osborne and was forced to enact a recovery drive.
Smith snatched the win on the final lap from reigning Historic Formula 1 champion Nick Padmore, who was victorious in the second race.
Dominating both races in the Kumho BMW Championship – securing a sixrace win streak to close the season – Garrie Whittaker was able to seal second in the championship. Runner-up in both races, James Card ended the season third.
A closely contested CC class BMW championship title was won by Russell Dack. He claimed class victories in both races, despite facing consistent pressure from title rival Paul Wood.
The Mini Se7ens Championship went to Max Hunter who took victory in the opening race while title-rival Spencer Wanstall dropped to the back of the pack after picking up a puncture from contact with Dan Budd. Andrew Deviny pipped Wanstall to the race two win on the final lap.
Stuart Plotnek earned a maiden win of the season in the final race of the MG Owners Club Championship. He passed race one winner and champion Martin Wills who eventually finished the final race in sixth.