Racing Results 2013
Rounds 5 & 6 Oulton Park: 29th June 2013
- 2 Race wins for Danny Winstanley
- Class wins for Ilsa Cox, Ian Craig (x2) and Alistair Stenhouse
A busy day at Oulton Park as the competitors in the Arrowpak Euro Saloon and Sportscars Championship have to compete in qualifying and both races all on the single Saturday. This led to a crowded schedule and the lack of opportunity for overnight repairs.
Qualifying:
With summer still not in evidence over most of the country, the Oulton Park competitors at least found a dry day, if somewhat cloudy.
Just like last time out at Silverstone, the pace was set by a TVR. This time it was Danny Winstanley in a TVR Sagaris who, on only his second flying lap set a pole time 1.8 seconds clear of second placed Paul Rose (Saker). Another 1.4 seconds further back were the second row pairing of Paul Fleury (Ginetta G50) and Steve Harris (Saker), just 0.037 apart.
Fastest saloon car was the Mitusbishi Evo of Gary Prebble, a multiple race winner last season, with Dave Cockell (Ford Escort Cosworth) joing him on row 3. Vaughan Fletcher (Subaru Impreza), Doug Ellwood (Marcos Mantis), Steve Putt (Mazda RX7) and Rex Stamp (Lotus Elise) completed the top ten, with 9 different marques filling these places.
Ilsa Cox (Seat Leon) was next up in 11th, and as sole Class B runner, took the Class B pole. Ian Craig (BMW M3) took Class C pole and 14th place a full second ahead of his nearest Class C competitor, Chris Whitely (Seat Leon) with the Class D polesitter and sole driver in class Alistair Stenhouse (BMW M3) splitting them on the grid.
Race 1:
After the wet weekend at Silverstone, it was nice to see a dry day and the sky had brightened by the time of the first race at 3pm. 18 cars lined up, Adam Prebble (Rover Tomcat) had completed just 2 laps in qualifying and was unable to make the start.
Winstanley got the jump at the start and ended the first lap already 2 seconds clear of Paul Rose, with Steve Harris a further 4 seconds behind. Fleury had dropped to 4th while Prebble was just half a second behind in 5th.
Stamp was the big mover on the opening lap, up from 10th to 6th ahead of Cockell and Putt. Vaughan Fletcher had suffered a smoke filled car during qualifying, the team thought everyting was OK but it was apparent after one lap that the turbo was noyt boosting, leading to his first lap retirement.
Winstanley continued to lap a couple of seconds faster than his pursuers, Rose was well clear of Harris, the fun was happening in the battle for 4th place. Three laps in, Fleury, Prebble and Stamp were separated by 1/4 second with 7th placed Cockell a couple of seconds adrift. Fleury fell back to 8th on lap 4, Prebble pulled out a 1.5 second gap from Stamp, but Cockell was now gaining speed.
Cockell brought the gap behind Stamp down to 3/4 second before Stamp responded, and then in the latter stages of the race was able to pull well clear. Winstanley crossed the line just 4 seconds ahead of Rose, but was clearly managing the gap as he slowed up for the final two laps. Harris filled the final podium positiom 16 seconds adrift of Winstanley, while Prebble had closed to within 2 seconds of Harris to take 4th place and the LMA Saloon Car Cup win, with Stamp 5th, Cockell 6th and Putt 7th, Putt's Mazda's differential seemed on its last legs, 8th and 9th places (and the last Class A finishers) were Fleury and Barry Squibb (Mitsubishi Evo).
Ilsa Cox took the Class B win with a 10th place, while Ian Craig took 11th and the Class C win from Whitely. Stenhouse brought his Class D BMW M3 home in 13th place, with Nick Hayes bringing up the rear in 14th in a race that saw 4 non-finishers.
Race 2:
Race 2 started just 2 hours after the end of race 1, leaving little time for any of the race 1 non-finishers to make a repair. In the end, Ellwood and Furst made the grid for race 2, now down to just 15 cars. Squibb had finsihed race 1 but was unable to make race 2.
Another good start for Winstanley, but this time Harris and Rose were able to stay within a couple of seconds of him after one lap, Prebble being a couple of seconds behind Rose, then Stamp and Cockell were squabbling over 5th place, Putt was sitting back in 7th with Fleury in close attendance. Winstanley put the hammer down for a couple of laps to extend his lead to almost 8 seconds by lap 3, Rose got back past Harris to take second. Prebble was sitting in 4th just behind the two Sakers but well clear of 5th. Cockell fell by the wayside after 2 laps with suspected engine problems that turned out to be a faulty sensor.
Putt had taken up the chase with Stamp and passed him on lap 4 to take 5th place. In a second race of attrition, we were already down to 11 cars by the end of lap 4. Stamp would join the DNFs after lap 5 leaving Putt in 5th some 12 seconds adrift or 4th placed Prebble. But Prebble was slowing, Putt gained 2 seconds on lap 7, 6 on lap 8, another 4 on lap 9 as Putt passed Prebble to take 4th place.
Out front Winstanley seemed comfortable with the lead up to 9 seconds after 6 laps before letting up and allowing Rose to close to within 4 seconds at the end of the race, with Harris finishing 3rd again 12 seconds back from Winstanley. Putt finished 4th, a minute off the lead with Fleury, Prebble and Furst the only other finishers on the same lap.
Ian Craig finished 8th from Hayes and Whitely who took 1st, 2nd and 3rd in Class C and the final finishing places. Amongst the 5 non-finishers were sole Class B and D drivers Cox and Stenhouse leaving no trophies to be awarded in those classes.
Rose's lead in the championship has now extended to 48 points, now from Class C leader Whitely, with Steve Harris 10 points further back in 3rd place on 76 points. No change in the Clio Cup Challenge, Andy Jordan leads Ian Jordan 32-28, while Saker still lead the MSE-Performance.com Manufacturers Cup by 18 points from Seat (232-214). New for 2013, the Mark Fish Sports Car Cup and LMA Saloon Car Cup are led by Paul Rose 132-78 from Steve Harris and Chris Whitely 86-74 from Gary Prebble respectively.
Next time out is Snetterton on 20/21 July.
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