Racing Results 2010
Rounds 4 & 5 Brands Hatch: 12/13 June 2010
- Race wins for Dave Cockell and Kevin Wendt
- Class wins for Ilsa Cox, Mark Chilton, Nick Hayes (x2), Mark Cripps, Laurie Grant, Alan Taylor and David Pierce
- Nick Hayes is new championship leader after double class win
A bumper 31 car entry lined up for the double header round at Brands Hatch, a cloudy start turned bright ensuring a dry weekend’s racing.
Qualifying:
The qualifying pace was blistering with both Rex Stamp (Lotus Exige) – 50.318 and Dave Cockell (Ford Escort Cosworth) – 50.533 setting sub Eurosaloons lap record times. Peter Challis (Nissan Primera) and Ilsa Cox (Seat Leon Cupra) also posted sub 51 second times to head Class B, and with four more drivers posting in the 51s, it was going to be busy up front come race time.
Laurie Grant (BMW M3) headed Class D (12th overall) from Mark Cripps (BMW M3) by just 0.3 seconds but 5 places on the grid. Nick Hayes (Seat Leon) took the Class C pole (15th overall) with Andy Robinson (Peugeot 306) and James May (Seat Leon) sitting 4 and 5 places further back. David Pierce (Renault Clio) narrowly took the Class E pole from Alan Taylor and Stewart Calder (both Renault Clio).
Race 1 (Saturday):
Disaster struck from the start of the first race, Keith Butcher (Ginetta G50) and Bernard Hogarth (Seat Leon Cupra) touched and the Ginetta speared off the track bringing out the red flag almost immediately.
With the race restarted, Cockell got away from Stamp but led by just 0.1s at the end of the first lap, with Challis and Cox already a couple of seconds further back. Grahame Tilley (Saker GT) had moved up to 4th with Kevin Wendt (BMW M3) also passing Cox on lap 2. Tilley got by Challis on lap 4 while Cockell was pulling out a 2 second lead over Stamp, but Stamp suffered from a snapped gear stick on lap 6 causing him to retire. Tilley’s Saker was now in second place but some 5 seconds back from Cockell out front, but Tilley’s challenge only lasted until lap 10 when he retired from the race. Challis and Cox now took up the mantle, but Cockell’s lead over them was 7 seconds. Cox fell back badly on lap 12 losing 3 seconds to Challis in traffic, but pulled it all back the following lap before Challis was forced to retire on lap 14 after a collision while lapping, leaving Cockell still out front, now by 15 seconds, from Cox in 2nd and Wendt in 3rd less than a second behind. Cockell controlled the race from the front to win by 13 seconds from Cox who won Class B from 3rd placed Wendt by 2.5 seconds. An indication of the ease which with Cockell won was his fastest lap was 0.8 seconds slower than his qualifying time.
Nick Hayes translated his qualifying superiority in Class C into a comfortable class win but the battle for 2nd in class was a lot closer with Jonathan Edwards (Ford Escort Mk 2) narrowly taking the spot from Andy Robinson (Peugeot 306) after a race long tussle. Mark Cripps gained a couple of places on the grid from the restart and this helped him stay close to Class D pole sitter Grant, with just 12/1000ths separating them at the end of the first lap. Grant held on for 3 laps before Cripps got by and slowly pulled away to take the Class D win. David Pierce looked in control in Class E but Alan Taylor maintained station in 2nd place before finally catching and passing Pierce on lap 11. Stewart Calder (Clio) recovered from a bad start falling to 5th in class, passing Tim Clarke (Clio) and Duncan Carlisle (Honda Integra) before chasing Pierce. Calder moved up into 2nd when Pierce outbraked himself under pressure from Calder and got stuck in a gravel trap on lap 18. Clarke had moved past Carlisle, but all to no avail as he was disqualified after the race when clutch issues prevented reverse gear from being selected, promoting Carlisle into 3rd.
Race 2 (Sunday):
The drivers lined up for the Sunday race in the finishing order for Saturday, so Dave Cockell on pole from Ilsa Cox, Kevin Wendt and Richard Hawken up front, and the likes of Peter Challis, Derek Hale and Rex Stamp starting back on rows 11 and 12 guaranteeing some excitement as they raced through the slower cars.
Cockell got the best of Wendt from the start and led at the end of lap 1 by .7 seconds, with Cox and Hawken already a couple of seconds further back. Stamp made best progress of the fast guys at the back ending lap one in 10th from a starting point of 23rd, while Challis and Hale were still back in 14th and 17th. Cockell started to pull clear of Wendt on the 4th lap, the gap now increasing at around a second a lap, with Cox and Hawken falling behind at a greater rate. Stamp’s early good progress rate slowed, by lap 5 he was up to 7th and closing on 6th place Tony Soper (Harrier), while Challis and Hale were 10th and 8th, Challis’s Primera suffering a misfire and running 2-3 seconds off it’s normal pace.
The safety car came out on lap seven closing the cars up again, Cockell’s 3 second lead was cut to a tenth of that as the race restarted, Stamp was now 6th having passed Soper just before the line – he would later be disqualified for passing before the line at the end of the safety car period. Tim Clarke also gained a place before the start line but served a drive through penalty to avoid disqualification. Cockell carried on as before, pulling away at the front with Wendt, Cox and Hawken gamely chasing behind, but on lap 12 Cockell spun dramatically approaching Paddock and lost the lead, rejoining the race back in 20th place, and 38 seconds behind the new leader, Wendt. Cockell was pushing hard to regain places, up to 17th on lap 15 while Wendt led narrowly from Cox and Hawken, with Stamp now up to 4th and Hale 5th. Challis was back up to speed and running in 8th place. The race ended with a win for Wendt by a second, with another 1.5 seconds covering the next 5 cars - Cox, Hawken, Hale, Stamp and Challis, with Wendt also taking the Class B win, and 6th place Mark Chilton (Porsche 993) some 11 seconds off the lead taking the Class A win. Cockell had moved back up to 9th and 3rd in class A but would have rued the dropped points after playing his joker.
Andy Robinson had problems starting his Peugeot 306, being tow started on the track and able to battle with Nick Hayes for the Class C win, Hayes eventually making the break and taking his second class win of the weekend. In Class D Laurie Grant took just 3 laps to make up the grid gap on fellow M3 driver Mark Cripps, passing him on lap 5 before pulling away slowly to take his first Class D win of the 2010 season. David Pierce narrowly got the better of Alan Taylor in the Renault Clio battle at the front of Class E, only for Taylor to be disqualified post-race for a non-functioning fire extinguisher. This moved Matthew Hastings up to 2nd placed in the shared Honda Integra and Stewart Calder up to 3rd.
The double class win and maximum 44 point haul sees Nick Hayes move into the championship lead on 92 points from Kevin Wendt on 90. Tony Soper and Dave Cockell share the Class A lead on 78 from Rex Stamp on 76 and sit 3rd to 5th in the standings. Two good scores help extend Stewart Calder’s lead in the Mark Fish Motorsport Clio Cup Challenge with 72 points from David Pierce (36) and Brett Walter (32). Seat and BMW both left Brands Hatch with a 102 point haul, so no change at the top of the MSE_Performance.com Manufacturers Cup where Seat (350) lead from BMW (250) and Renault (212).
With support from :
Mark Fish Motorsport, MSE-Performance.com & LMA Performance
Report by Trevor Nicosia, Car 10 (www.nyssaracing.com)
Click here to link to the full TSL Timing results pdf of the meeting