Racing Results 2012
Rounds 9 & 10 Snetterton: 21st/22nd July 2012
- 2 Race wins for Andy Robinson
- Class wins for Ilsa Cox, Ian Craig (x2), Wayne Schofield (x2) (x2)
A weekend of variety for the Arrowpak Euro Saloons, with different circuit layouts being used on the Saturday and the Sunday. Saturday would see the now familiar lengthened 300 circuit in use, Sunday would see the races using the shorter 200 circuit, not so vastly different from the layout in use up to 2010.
Saturday Qualifying:
With Peter Challis and Ian Jordan succumbing to problems in Friday testing, and a Classic Touring Car race weekend taking place at Silverstone, depriving us of potential Class B cars, a lower than usual 16 cars lined up for Saturday morning qualifying. Bright and dry weather boded well, but the track had been cleaned by the recent heavy rain and the grass outside the circuit was still very wet. Any mistakes would be punished by a trip into something solid.
Andy Robinson (Ford Falcon) was quick out of the blocks, his first flying lap would have taken 2nd on the grid, his next lap moved him onto pole, and the next consolidated being another 4 seconds faster, and more than 2 seconds faster that the championship lap record. Job done, Robinson did one more lap before calling it a day. Next up in Class A, 5th overall and 7 seconds farther back was Doug Ellwood (Marcos Mantis), with 3rd in Class A Alex Sidwell (Holden Commodore) back in 7th place.
Ilsa Cox (Seat Leon Cupra) was the faster of the two Class B Seats in the race, finishing 2nd ioverall, if some 4.6 seconds adrift of pole man Robinson. 2nd in Class Stephen Brooks was 2 seconds and 2 places behind Cox, sitting back in 4th. Ian Craig started the seaon with a pair of Class C wins at Silverstone, in his first event since, he was right on the pace, taking the Class C pole in 6th overall, the Seat Leons of Nick Hayes and Mark Todd taking the next two class positions in 8th and 9th respectively.
Wayne Schofield once again provided the surprise of the session, while his Suzuki Cappuccino has been plenty quick enough on the twisty circuits visited earlier in the season, surely it would struggle on the long straights of Snetterton? Perhaps not, as Schofield finished 3rd overall, and five seconds clear of next up in Class, and fastest Clio, Andy Jordan. Clio Cup leader David Thomas just missed second in Class D ending the session half a second adrift of Jordan. Class E leader Chris Boon (Honda Civic) just trailed in behind the Clios while Nick Boon (Peugeot 106Gti) failed to complete a lap.
Race 1 (Saturday):
Robinson from Cox at the start, power told. Robinson stormed into the lead and by the end of the first lap was already 5 seconds ahead of Cox, with Schofield a second further back. Lap 2 was eventful as 16 cars at the start suddenly became 11 cars at the start of lap 3! Cox went missing with throttle issues, Nick Boon's Peugeot broke a driveshaft, Jonathan Faull's Mitsubishi Evo failed to complete the first lap after difficulties in qualifying. Finally the two Davids, Thomas and Pierce fell foul of a magnetic attraction between their two Clios.
With Cox out of the way, Robinson was flying up front and led second placed Schofield by 14 seconds after just two laps, a gap which was lengthening rapaidly, at a rate of 5-6 seconds a lap. Power looked like telling in the battle for 2nd place as Sidwell's Holden blasted by Schofield's Suzuki on lap 3, but Schofield got back in front the following lap and remained there despite close attention from Sidwell for the rest of the race, the final gap being just 15/100ths. Robinson's pace at the front was unabated as he romped home more than a minute in front of Schofield at the end of 10 laps, even more impressive given that he steering wheel was coming loose. Robinson played his joker for this race, the double points haul combined with Cox's DNF moving him into the championship lead.
The scrap between Schofield and Sidwell had allowed Ellwood to catch up behind them although never being quite close enough to challenge for 3rd place. Only in the final two laps did Ellwood fall back a little, but in finishing 4th (and 3rd in Class A), he was still just under a second shy of Sidwell.
With Cox out of the way, Brooks was looking good for his first Class B win with the Euro Saloons, and he moved up into 4th place by the end of the third lap, 4th becoming 10th (and last) a lap later after an off. One brisk lap in recovery mode was followed by ever slower laps before he was forced to retire one lap from the finish with a puncture, cruelly denying him the win. Ian Craig's qualifying speed continued into the race as he sped to an easy looking Class C win while Hayes and Todd circulated a couple of seconds apart until Todd starting closing late in the race, Hayes getting the message on the final lap to finish just four tenths clear and take second in class.
With Schofield way out front on his way to another Class D win, the remaining interest would be in the race to be first Clio. Thomas and Pierce fell by the wayside on lap 2, leaving reigning champion Jordan to take the Clio win by more than 20 seconds, enough to avoid being lapped by Robinson while remaining Clio driver Murray-Brown was caught and lapped. As in Class B, with the early demise of the Class E favourite Chris Boon, so Nick Boon (last year's Class E champion) was looking on for a win but 4 laps in and the Peugeot joined the long list on DNFs for the race.
Sunday Qualifying:
A different circuit layout meant a full qualifying session rather than the grid being decided on race positions, giving those who DNFd on Saturday the chance to start afresh rather than from the back.
While Cox and Brookes were able to cure the maladies from the day before, the Boons were not so lucky, and so qualifying started with just 14 cars. Faull had solved his Mitsubishi's issues from the Saturday and was looking at a mid grid place before a front tyre delaminated on the pit straight, causing the front wing to explode and the session to be red-flagged.
Maybe it was the familarity with the circuit, the 200 being not so vastly different to the layout we have used for years, but where with a faster lap speed, one might have expected Robinson to romp away once more, on the shorter circuit he finished the session just 1.4 seconds ahead of Ellwood, with Sidwell a couple of seconds further back in 5th place. Cox took the Class B pole while just shading Class D pole sitter Schofield for 3rd on the grid while Craig took Class C pole just 0.5 behind Sidwell in 6th. Todd got the better of Hayes by just 1/5 second, if Faull had been able to start the race he would have split them on the grid.
Thomas and Pierce were back out in their Clios, but could not prevent Jordan being lead Clio once more as the four Clios took the last four places on the grid.
Race 2 (Sunday):
The qualifying gap might have been small, but come race time Robinson was off on a mission, the lead from Ellwood on lap 1 was already 4 seconds, with Cox a second behind, the Sidwell and Schofield each about a second back again. On lap 2 the hammer was down, Robinson now bettering his qualifying time as he would do for 9 of the next 10 laps, Cox had got past Ellwood but was already 10 seconds behind, the gap then extending around 4 seconds per lap.
Sidwell got past Ellwood on the fourth lap, where he set then about chasing down Cox. They looked evenly match at first, the gap remaining around 2 seconds, before Sidwell upped the pace, caught and passed Cox on lap 12. Sidwell looked like he had second in the bag, but a late come back by Cox brought the gap down to little over a fifth of a second. However, Sidwell and Cox took the minor podium positions almost a minute down on Robinson who took his second easy win of the day.
Schofield might have expected to give Ellwood a little more competition, and indeed did pass him on lap 6, before losing the position the following lap. But as the day got warmer, so the Suzuki engine felt flatter, Schofield falling further and further back as the race went on, Ellwood finishing a comfortable fourth, 4 seconds adrift of the podium battle ahead, with Schofield crossing the line 15 seconds later. However, the Class D win combined with his double points joker means that Schofield now leads the championship for the first time, with the three main competitors having now all played their joker.
Craig was having a quiet race, comfortably ahead of the Seat twins in Class C while slipping ever farther back from Schofield, the gap being 5 seconds after 11 laps. However, with Schofield slowing in the latter laps, Craig could see a chance of catching him and upped his pace. Schofield held on to 5th place by just a second. Todd may have outqualified Hayes on the shorter circuit, but Hayes made a much better start, taking 4 seconds from Todd on the first lap and never looked back from that.
Jordan had a comfortable day again finishing as lead Clio from Thomas and Pierce, and while Murray-Brown may have finished a lap down again, but he did take a win later in the day in the Norfolk Enduro race put on as an additional race for the Sunday.
Schofield now leads Robinson by 12 points, but now taking dropped scores into account, the gap is just two points, Schofield leading 186-184 with Cox back in 3rd on 160. Cox has the consolation that her lead in the Arrowpak Super Touring Cup is now 124-70 against Derek Hale even after 4 dropped scores are taken into account. Two Clio wins, the second with his joker see ANdy Jordan move into the lead of the Mark Fish Renault Clio Cup Challenge, leading david Thomas 182-142 while Ian Jordan remains in 3rd with 116. With Jordan and Murray-Brown both playing their joker, Renault extend their lead over Seat 668-530 in the MSE_Performance.com Manufacturers Cup.
The series now moves on to the next race at Oulton Park on 18 August.
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