Racing Results 2010
Round 11 Snetterton: 24 October 2010
- Race win for Peter Challis
- Class wins for Mark Chilton, James May, Ian Craig and Stewart Calder
- Nick Hayes is 2010 Champion but only just!
The weather at Snetterton is always unpredictable, with a race at the end of October, tyre strategy was going to be an even bigger issue than usual.
Qualifying:
Officially the weather and track conditions were bright and drying. In reality, it was cold and there were wet parts of the track, and damp parts of the track. Some went with wets, some felts that wets would never survive the dry sections of track, some even tried to warm the front tyres before switching them over to the back. In this conditions, maybe not a great surprise that pole position went to Dave Cockell (Escort Cosworth) in one of two 4 wheel drive cars out on track, (Charlie Jackson’s similar car was struggling back in 10th), but how Andy Robinson got his Ford Falcon within half a second of Cockell is anyone’s guess, a less suitable car for the conditions would be hard to imagine.
The front two rows were a class A lockout with Doug Ellwood (Marcos Mantis) and Mark Chilton (Porsche 993 GT2) a couple of seconds off Cockell’s pace. Peter Challis’ team had straightened the Nissan Primera after its big off at Castle Combe earlier this year and Challis too the Class B pole just 1/10 behind Chilton. A new face for the Euro Saloons was Tim Lewis in his supercharged Alfa Romeo Alfasud Sprint which has been developed over a number of years, Tim announcing his arrival with Class C pole and 6th overall, just 16/100ths shy of Challis’ Super Tourer.
Ilsa Cox and Simon Deaton still had Class B honours to fight for, although Richard Hawken was still in with a shout. Advantage Cox, 7/10ths faster than Deaton as the two Seat Leons took 7th and 8th on the grid, Hawken (Nissan Primera) 1/10 behind Deaton in 9th after a snapped lead curtailed his qualifying and brought out a red flag just as the track was drying. Nick Hayes had all but confirmed the championship bar a set of freak circumstances and seemed very subdued qualifying 17th, 2 seconds and 3 places behind Class C poleman James May (both Seat Leon) with Jonathan Edwards (Ford Escort Mk II) between them. Ian Craig (BMW M3) took a comfortable Class D pole, but the other big battle would be in Class E.
Stewart Calder led David Pierce by 20 points, but Pierce had yet to play his joker. Calder would need to finish in front of Pierce to take the Class title and after frantic tyre swapping, Calder put his Clio on Class E pole and 13th overall, ahead of Tim Clarke (Clio) and Pierce. 3rd place in Class E was also up for grabs, Simon Jackson (MG ZR) was just 4 points ahead of Yaser Almaghribi (Daihatsu Charade) and 6 ahead of Clarke, but Almaghribi still had his joker to play and was dangerously 3 seconds faster than Jackson in qualifying.
Race:
More showers, freezing wind, another tough tyre choice. Those on wets became gloomier than the weather as the sun came out while the cars were in the assembly area.
Andy Robinson got away first at the start, with Ford Falcon on slicks while Dave Cockell's Escort Cosworth was on wets. Wets and four wheel drive meant Cockell was able to just drive round Robinson at Coram and lead at the end of the first lap by 1.4 seconds. By lap two, Cockell was 3.4 seconds clear of Robinson and already 6 seconds clear of third placed Mark Chilton. Richard Hawken gambled on wets and also made good early progress, lap 2 Hawken was up to 4th and leading Class B with Deaton and Cox back in 6th and 7th, while Challis (on slicks) had fallen from 5th to 8th. By lap 4 the track was beginning to dry and the slick shod cars started to gain an advantage - Robinson gained a second on Cockell at the front, another 2 seconds the following lap and by lap 6 Robinson was back in front, with Cockell dropping to third behind Chilton.
Challis was also on the move, gaining three places on lap 5 and passing Hawken for 4th as they crossed the line at the end of lap 6. Robinson's Falcon was well warmed up now, and the fastest car on the track, extending his lead by 2-3 seconds a lap over Chilton until a front wheel nut came lose on lap 10, causing a lack of brakes and an excursion way off track into the field! Chilton inherited the lead but Challis was right up behind him and kept the pressure on for the next 5 laps, by which time Chilton's tyres were worn. Challis took the lead with one lap to go, and finished fully 16 seconds clear of Chilton who held on for second place.
While Challis had won the race and Class B, the Class B title was still up for grabs. Hawken on wets was passed by Cox (slicks) while Deaton couldn't quite get on terms, but a mistake at Russell on lap 8 dropped Cox back down the order from where she had to recover from 10th place to get back up to 6th (and third in class) at the finish, just beating Deaton to the finish line. This was enough to leave Cox and Deaton level on points with the title going to Cox by virtue of two class wins to one over the season, the narrowest of margins.
For James May to win the title, he needed the full 22 points and Nick Hayes to be disqualified - the demise of Tim Lewis in qualifying put paid to any chance of a 22 point haul with only the three class starters, so the freak circumstances by which Hayes could lose his title could not occur. But a steady race from May saw him finish the season with a class win while Hayes could only follow Jonathan Edwards home for 3rd in class. Ian Craig put in a rare appearance in Class D but his win coupled with his joker was enough to seal the Class D title.
The Class E battle was going to the wire - with Calder and Pierce both making the same (slick) tyre choice, it would be a fair battle for the title, with winner take all. Tim Clarke had gambled on wets at the rear in his Clio and at first this paid off as he led Class E after the first lap. But a spin at Coram on lap 2 allowed Calder and Pierce to get by, and steadily Calder pulled away from Pierce to take the Class win, the Class title, and the Mark Fish Motorsport Clio Cup Challenge, the two Clio drivers also finishing 2nd and 3rd in the overall standings.
Despite a final 102 point haul from Renault, the largest of the season, Seat won the MSE-Performance.com Manufacturers Cup with 798 points to 628 with BMW coming up third on 426.
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