MN Circuit Rally Brands Hatch
West is in the mn title hot seat with fourth win from four.
John Stone was left to rue what could have been at Brands Hatch last weekend, after an encounter with an errant Proton confirmed victory for the seemingly unstoppable reigning Motorsport News Circuit Rally champion Chris West.
Both engaged in a thrilling three-way dice for honours with last year’s winner and series returnee, Mark Kelly, and consistency within traffic played a key part in the second consecutive victory for West and new engine partner, Smith and Jones.
An 18-second triumph also turned out to be the biggest winning buffer of the season so far, but it looked an unlikely conclusion after the opening brace of stages.
Stone, now well acquainted with the characteristics of his new Fiesta WRC, played a strong opening hand. Beating West by five seconds on the first special stage, the advantage grew to nine with another fastest time on the second as the Fiesta gripped well on cold Tarmac in the tighter pitlane sections.
It became apparent that the rally would be fought between three drivers as Kelly kept tabs on the pair throughout, only once failing to lock out the top three of the eight stages contested.
“I’m used to the different settings of the car now,” said Stone, who missed the Knockhill visit through a bout of flu. “I feel much better than I did over Christmas!”
Never one to back down from a fight, West hit back with two stage wins of his own in the third and fourth runs to narrow Stone’s cushion to three seconds before a switch in direction. Stages five and six were touted as crucial, with the merges offering little in the way of overtaking opportunities. The inevitable happened. For the second time in the event, Anthony Robinson’s Proton Satria Millington failed to make it round the tight hairpin placed in the traditional circuit’s pit exit when the handbrake was applied. First on the scene was the rally leader, waiting an agonising 20s as the Proton worked itself free.
“Our rally is over now,” was Stone’s gutted response as he slipped to third. “What happened, happened. It’s not the first time that traffic has caught us out.”
West was revived. Assuming a ninesecond lead, he responded by throwing caution to the wind. The Peugeot 306 Maxi – an unused works WRC car intended for Gilles Panizzi – looked at home on the Tarmac sections as darkness began to fall, topping the final two stages narrowly from an adrenaline-fuelled Stone.
It may have taken three years, but West could finally celebrate winning at Brands Hatch again as he extended his title lead to a sizeable 40 points.
“It was a shame for John, but an important win for our sponsors,” West said. “If John hadn’t got held up he could have still done something wrong or broken down.”
Stone did make progress thanks to a stage-six win, climbing back to second ahead of Kelly. The latter’s Escort Mk2 enjoyed a trouble-free challenge on its return after a complete front-end rebuild after a crash in Jersey last year, but could not retaliate against the faster WRC machine in a final-stage dash.
A stage win would ultimately elude Kelly, but it was a strong comeback in the event he won last year.
“I felt relaxed,” he said, ending the day just one second adrift of Stone. “To be that close to a WRC car is great. You can see that the bar has been raised now.”
Kelly praised fellow Escort competitors Steve and Jack Tilburn, the perennial giant-killers finishing an impressive fourth to continue their solid start to the season. The pair took a scalp in James Self’s Fiesta R5, while Mark Straker piloted a Darrian T90 home in sixth, participating in a rare outing.
Paul Smith’s BMW M3 enjoyed the traditional sections of Brands Hatch and was rewarded with seventh ahead of the returning Nigel Mummery. Eighth place was not representative of his top-four pace as boost pipe dramas on stage one left him trundling almost two minutes adrift, but he recovered well in the ex-markko Martin Focus.
Class C winner James Slaughter was ninth, with auction winning co-driver Sarah Flynn alongside, as the pair raised over £1000 for Heart of Kent Hospice (see class winners’ box).
Robinson’s Proton, which also inadvertently cost Mike Taylor in a similar incident at the hairpin to what Stone would later endure, took 10th. “There’s too much grip in the rear of the car so, on Tarmac, I just can’t always get it round on the handbrake,” said Robinson.