HYBRID TEAM STRIKES THE RIGHT TUNE IN CITROEN 24-HOUR BATTLE

The second Citroen C1 24 Hour held at Silverstone had Sam Weller, David Meenan, Mark James and Stephen James claim victory for Hybrid Tune – Full Circle Racing, after a lengthy battle with the AB Motorsport entry of Oliver Allwood, Stuart Symonds and Brian Trott.

The winning car started eighth, joining an early dice for the lead among the top 10. After tight racing in the first couple of hours, the field spread as the first scheduled pitstops were made, and the night drew in. Come sun-up, fog necessitated a safety car to lead the field for almost two hours, and several of the cars previously at the sharp end had fallen out of the top 30.

The WRC Developments entry lost time after a roll for George Smith, and gearbox maladies befell the Mad Rabbit Racing team after a charge to the lead from Rob Austin. Meanwhile, the Rollcentre team of Ian Stinton, Martin Short and his sons Morgan and Marcus lost time as the elder Short ran out of fuel on track.

Once the fog cleared, a battle between the eventual top two cars began; after numerous lead changes throughout Sunday, Hybrid Tune secured a definitive advantage over AB Motorsport with just over an hour to go. The eventual gap between the two cars was just 48 seconds.

The polesitting Fake-Shake ‘n’ Bake outfit – comprised of Matt Maxted, Tommy Field and Graham Coomes – completed the rostrum, two laps behind the leading pair.

In the Sports Prototype Cup races, Bonamy Grimes claimed two dominant victories in his Duqueine D08 LMP3. Michael Jenvey (Gunn TS6) came home second in both races, nipping at the heels of the LMP3 car where he could. James Abbott completed the overall and Open class podium each time of asking in his uprated USA-spec Revolution A-One.

In the Revolution class, Bradley Ellis and Sir Chris

Hoy took a victory apiece. The Olympic champion secured his newest gold after a close battle with Chris Short, who ultimately spun at Luffield just over half-way through the race.