TOURING CAR BATTLERS STEAL DONINGTON SHOW
The inaugural season for the Classic Touring Car Racing Club’s Super Tourers series closed at Donington Park with two new winners. Neither Jason Hughes nor Stewart Whyte had raced at the opening three events, but they took a victory apiece.
Hughes’s Vauxhall Vectra led race one before Whyte found a way past in his ex-Tom Kristensen Honda Accord. Whyte was heading for victory before hitting traffic at the final bend, allowing Hughes to pounce. Mark Jones’s ex-Jason Plato Renault Laguna was third.
Whyte won Sunday’s sequel comfortably with Hughes not taking part. James Everard’s
BMW E30 M3, double Pre-’93 category winner, managed second overall after Saturday’s Pre-’03 victor Gary Prebble (Honda Civic EG) retired when his throttle bracket snapped. So Chris Southcott’s EK9-shape Civic inherited Pre-’03 honours and took third on the road after passing the Super Tourers of Jones and Richard Wheeler (ex-David Leslie Nissan Primera).
James Ibbotson claimed another overall Pre-’66 Touring Car victory in his giant-killing Hillman Imp despite being forced into an overnight gearbox change. He headed home Saturday’s winner Barry Sime in swashbuckling sideways style on a wet track. Sime’s Morris Mini Cooper S had won Saturday’s thriller with a dive past Garry Townsend’s Lotus Cortina into the Esses for the final time. Class wins for Luc Wilson (Austin A40) earned him a second championship to go with his 2018 title.
Nelson King won’t be crowned in the Mini Challenge Trophy until next month’s season finale at Brands Hatch. Avoiding risks, King claimed a pair of podiums and a fifth-place finish. Instead, Matt Hammond (twice) and Joe Wiggin claimed their first wins of the season. Hammond withstood pressure from King in atrocious conditions on Sunday morning then lost out to Wiggin in a bruising rematch. Tom Ovenden and Jack Byrne had spells in front in the finale before Hammond’s decisive pass of Ovenden in the Craner Curves.
The race win and British Endurance Championship crown fell to Rob Boston Racing pairing Wayne Marrs and Tom Jackson. An early safety-car pitstop and eking out the fuel and tyres once Jackson had taken over before half-distance helped seal a fourth win in five races. But it was only after Marcus Clutton (Porsche 911 Cup) chased down the Ferrari 458 Challenge of Chris Goddard/Jamie Stanley/Charlie Hollings in the closing stages that the BEC title headed to Lincolnshire.
More success for RBR came in the Britcar Trophy as Will Stacey twice won. Behind Stacey’s invitational-class Lotus Elise S2, Mark Lee and Owen Hizzey (Ginetta G56A) were second in race one but safety car timing and miscommunication cost them later on as Axel van Nederveen’s similar car took the position. Gordie Mutch/Jimmy Broadbent prevailed in both Praga Cup races to seal the crown.
Colin Philpott (wet) and Tom Robinson (dry) were Jaguar Challenge winners, while Kirk Armitage took Sunday’s Classic Thunder thrash after Saturday winner Andy Wilson retired. Malcolm Harding (Escort Mk2) and Mike Manning (Sierra RS500) split the BOSS wins but James Dunkley (XR2) took the title.