Racing Results 2013
Rounds 11 & 12 Brands Hatch: 31st August/1st September 2013
- 2 race wins for Paul Rose
- Class wins for Ilsa Cox (x2), Nick Hayes (x2) and Martyn Scott (x2)
Brands Hatch is always guaranteed a good turnout, 2013 was no different with 21 cars lining up for early Sunday morning qualifying.
Qualifying:
The Sakers of Paul Rose and Steve Harris set a scorching pace to match the weather, Rose qualifying ahead of Harris by 0.5 seconds with a stunning 48.398s lap, over 1.5 seconds faster than the lap record here. No-one else beat 50 seocnds, Graham Pattle in a third Saker coming closest on 50.092.
Rex Stamp (Lotus Elise) was next up on the grid, just 0.15 adrift of the third Saker, a good recovery after almost spinning on his way out of the pit lane. Graham Davidson in his freshly repaired Noble was 5th, with Gary Prebble (Mitsubishi Evo) fastest saloon car in 6th. Simon Blanckley (Seat Leon) took Class B pole and 8th place behind Steve Putt (Mazda RX7). Blanckley's class competitor Ilsa Cox (Seat Leon) was three places further back, with Gary Furst (Mitsubishi) and Colin Simpson (Marcos Mantis) separating them.
Class C saw the battle of the Seat Leons (Nick Hayes, Chris Whiteley and Steven King) with the interloping Rover Tomcat of Adam Prebble. Hayes was quickest in 13th, with Whiteley, King and Prebble taking 14th thru 16th. Martyn Scott (BMW) was the lone Class D competitor and qualified 20th ahead of the very bright yellow Toyota Supra of Mahesh Perera.
Race 1
A busy Sunday for the Eurosaloons racers, with qualifying and both races all scheduled on the Sunday. Rose and Harris got away quickest, 1.4 seconds apart at the end of the first lap. Davidson was 4 seconds further back in third place despite a coming together at Druids with Rex Stamp that left Stamp's Elise in the gravel and brought out the safety car, thus obliterating the hard won lead almost straight away.
Prebble had a slow opening lap by his usual standards, finishing the first lap in 5th place, just behind Pattle and ahead of Putt. Furst and Simpson were next up, then Blanckley and Cox. The safety car continued round for 3 laps before turning the lights off very late and allowing racing to resume of lap 5.
Rose was straight up to speed breaking Prebble's lap record with the first ever race 49s lap, and opened up a 2 second gap from Harris who in turn was 2.7 seconds clear of 3rd place Davidson. From the restart, Prebble had a wild ride through the gravel at Paddock, just missing the outside tyre wall, but dropped back to 8th, now behind Pattle, Putt, Furst and Simpson as well as the lead pair.
Rose was piling on the pressure and while Harris gamely held on, Davidson in 3rd place wa being dropped fast. Prebble was working hios way back into the race and was back up to 4th, and lead non-Saker, by lap 8. Rose was 3.5 seconds ahead of Harris at this point, Pattle was now 3rd 11 seconds off the lead from Prebble, Putt, Furst and Simpson - Davidson pulled off the circuit this lap after slowing up on the previous two laps.
Blanckley was still leading Cox in the Class B contest (and race for 8th) but Cox was a second faster on lap 8 and brought the gap down to 1/4 second. Nick Hayes managed to break away from his Class C protagonists and was running in 11th, while just a second covered the 12th place battle between King, Prebble and Whiteley.
Lap 10 and already Rose was getting amongst the slower cars, lapping one of the guest Mazdas. Perera and Scott.The gap back to Harris was now 5.7, the gap back to third placed Pattle a further 8 seconds, but Prebble had closed right up crossing the line 4/100ths behind, but it would take another 2 laps before Prebble could pass Pattle into 3rd place. Rose was relentless up front, by lap 15 the gap was 12 seconds, a quarter of a lap at his pace, Prebble was some 6 seconds behind Harris and 4 clear of Pattle. Prebble now broke into the 49s and started to haul in Harris. 23 laps and 20 minutes after the race started, Rose crossed the line to win by 18 seconds, Prebble had narrowed the gap back from Harris to just 0.65s, but had to be content with third place. Pattle was 4th, 16 seconds further back, these 4 being the only cars to finish on the lead lap, such was Rose's dominance.
Furst crossed the line just as he was lapped by Rose to finish 5th, with Putt and Simpson not far behind. Cox had been closing in on Blanckley, and finally passed him to take the Class B win on lap 21. Hayes won Class C one lap behind Rose, Prebble, second up in Class C from King and Whiteley had been passed a second time by Rose.
Race 2
Last race of the day, Perera and Blanckley were absent as the pack set off. Harris got the drop on Rose but was just 0.3 ahead after 1 lap, 3rd placed Prebble already 2 seconds off the lead. Rose moved back in front on the second lap on the run to the start-finish line with Prebble still holding on. Rose set another new lap record on lap 3, this time into the 48s as he slowly started to extend the gap back to Harris. By lap 4 Harris and Prebble were running in the 49s, Pattle already 4 seconds adrift of Prebble and 8 behind Rose.
Davidson had got back out for the race but the Noble was still out of sorts and he was lapped by Rose as early as lap 6. The pace was too hot for Harris and Prebble, Rose gradually pulled away winning from Harris by 12 seconds, Prebble was third 17 seconds behind Rose. Once again only Pattle also finsihed on the lead lap, with Furst and Stamp 5th and 6th, a lap down. Peter Challis was out in a Porsche 997 GT3 running in the invitation class, after an exploratory first race (his first in the car), he was closer to the pace in race 2, finishing 7th.
Cox finished 9th in an uncontested class B win, while Hayes took his second Class C win of the day, but by just 4 seconds from Whiteley, King another 3 seconds back and third in class.
Rose is looking unstoppable at the top of the championship table, and now leads Class C leader Whiteley 256-186, while Steve Harris's third place (178) is now under threat from Hayes (176). now 12 points further back in 3rd place on 112 points. Anothert big haul from Seat extends their lead over Saker in the MSE-Performance.com Manufacturers Cup 614-482, Mitsubishi back in third on 198. The Mark Fish Sports Car Cup and LMA Saloon Car Cup are led by Paul Rose 246-182 from Steve Harris and Chris Whiteley 182-172-166 from Nick Hayes and Gary Prebble.
Next time out is Cadwell Park on 21 September.
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