Racing Results 2013
Rounds 3 & 4 Silverstone: 11th/12th May 2013
- 2 Race wins for Mike Saunders
- Class wins for Kevin Wendt, Peter Challis, Nick Hayes and Adam Prebble
23 cars arrived at Silverstone for a weekend's racing in the most changeable of conditions.
Qualifying:
Qualifying took place early on Saturday while conditions were cloudy but the overnight rain had long dried out. Some over-zealous noise testing caused concern and a couple of drivers were unable to make the session even though the cars were proven legal over at the scrutineering bay.
The initial timing sheets suggested a major shock, Paul Jamison (Mitsubishi Evo) being attributed with a manually timed 56 second lap, some 3.5 seconds below the Eurosaloons lap record and about 6 seconds faster than any other lap he had done. Common sense prevailed, amended timing sheets were issued.
Mike Saunders (TVR Cerbera) set the pace with the only sub 60 second time during qualifying, joining him on the front row was championship leader Paul Rose (Saker Sportscar) with the Sakers of Steve Harris and Mark Burton filling the second row. Vaughan Fletcher was fastest saloon car, 5th on the grid, the front five being separated by just 1.5 seconds. Steve Putt (Mazda RX7) was 6th before the Class B cars of Kevin Wendt (BMW M3) and Peter Challis (Nissan Primera) filled row 4 with just 1/100th second deciding the order.
Jamison was now down in 9th, still only 3 seconds shy of pole. Nick Hayes (Seat Leon) narrowly took Class C pole from newcomer Adam Prebble (Rover Tomcat) but on the power circuit that is Silverstone, Hayes and Prebble sat 15th and 16th on the grid. Ian Craig (BMW M3) only managed 2 laps before a diff failure ended his weekend.
Race 1 - Saturday:
Torrential rain fell on Silverstone during the early part of the afternoon, and although the rain had stopped by the time 22 Eurosaloon drivers took to the track, and the track was officially classed as "drying", wet tyres were still the order of the day.
From the start, there was uncertainty as to the level of grip available, Saunders and Rose made a break and ended lap 1 just 1/3 second apart, Steve Putt in the Mazda was the big winner gaining three places and ending the first lap in third place, 2.5 seconds behind the leader. Harris in the second Saker was 4th and 3/4 second down on Putt before a big gap of over 3 seconds back to 5th place Fletcher. Jamison was up to 6th ahead of Burton's Saker while two cars starting from the back of the grid, Gary Prebble (Mitsubishi Evo) and Doug Ellwood (Marcos Mantis) were up to 17th and 19th respectively.
Lap 2 saw Saunders make a break setting the fastest lap of the race and extending his lead by 2 seconds, he would then pull around a second a lap from Rose for the next few laps. Putt was hanging on gamely in 3rd place while Gary Furst (Mitsubishi Evo) was moving up, taking 5th from Fletcher on lap 3. Challis got away better than Wendt in the Class B battle, but a spin on the lap dropped Challis back to 19th, 10 places behind Wendt. Hayes in Class C had a flyer ending lap 1 4 seconds ahead of his nearest class rival Adam Prebble, a lead that would extend on lap 2 before Prebble was able to match Hayes' lap times.
A 4th lap spin dropped Fletcher down to 15th, while out front Saunders, Rose and Putt were spreading out, but leaving a far bigger gap back to Harris, Furst and Jamison. The Play Station Academy had turned up with new drivers for the new season and started out in the more standard Nissan 370Z cars. These were the first to be lapped, on lap 6 as the three front runners all found their way past. Wendt was now up to 7th while Challis was 3 seconds faster than the cars around him and ready to start a comeback through the pack.
Wendt was up to 6th on lap 8, while another spin on lap 12 saw Fletcher fall back to last position. Atr the front, the gap from Saunders back to Rose stabilised around 10 seconds, with Putt now falling further back. Nothing much changed for the remainder of the race, Saunders taking the win by 11 seconds from Rose, with Putt taking the final podium spot 23 seconds further back, 6 seconds ahead of 4th placed Harris. Wendt took the Class B win and 5th overall from Challis who had moved up up to 9th by the end. Ellwood had a fine drive from the back of the grid having missed qualifying with "noise" issues and finsihed 8th, just ahead of Challis. Hayes took an easy Class C win, made even easier with the loss of Adam Prebble on lap 12, while Jamison's good early form ended after losing nearly a minute on lap 9, finally finishing 16th.
Race 2 - Sunday:
SUnday morning, and despite the overnight rain, the track was dry by the time of the race. Rose got a flying start and led from Saunders by more than 4 seconds after just 1 lap, with Gary Prebble moving from 10th on the grid up to 3rd. Putt had started in third but a spin saw him drop to 21st and out of contention. Saunders upped the pace on lap 2 and both he and Rose were already running at sub-lap record pace, a relentless run of 58s saw Saunders close the gap and move back into the lead on lap 6, and then pull away to record his second victory of the weekend, this time by 12 seconds from Rose.
Prebble also managed a sub 60 second lap on lap 6 and was already 10 seconds clear of Wendt in 4th. Ellwood, Jamison and Furst each managed just 2 laps before their race ended, reducing the field to 19 runners. Harris passed Wendt on lap 7 but main Class B competitor Challis was 4 places and 10 seconds behind Wendt who was playing his joker. Putt had already moved back up to 10th but was 8 seconds adrift of 9th place Challis. Fletcher was enjoying the drier conditions running in 6th place just behidn Wendt, indeed he would pass Wendt on lap 10.
Adam Prebble's Tomcat was up and running again, and leading Class C from Hayes, he would go on to take his first Eurosaloons win in his first event, beating Hayes by 5 seconds as they finished 13th and 14th. Wendt's BMW pulled out after 18 laps leaving Challis to take the Class B win from Ilsa Cox taking over Brian Cox's Seat Leon entry.
Rose leads the championship by a massive 42 points from Challis (100-58) with Class C leader Chris Whiteley in 3rd on 56 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 with 16 points but a big haul from Seat moves them into second place on 142 points. The newly announced Mark Fish Sports Car Cup and LMA Saloon Car Cup are led by Paul Rose 96-46 from Steve Harris and Peter Challis and Vaughan Fletcher (both 58 points) respectively.
Next time out is Oulton Park on 29 June.
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