“It’s been a great weekend,” declared double Caterham Seven UK Championship race winner Aaron Head, who was only denied a hat-trick of Snetterton victories by the canny tactics of James Murphy.
Murphy led the opener from the third lap and drove a calculated race to build a late gap that his rivals were unable to close. Starting 10th, Head made it to second after exchanging places with Henry Heaton several times while, from the back of the 16-car grid, Jake Swann narrowly missed the podium by just 0.059 seconds.
Swann and Head swapped the lead constantly in the second contest, with the former leading towards Brundle for the final time with Head on one side and Heaton on the other. Head came out ahead, with Lee Bristow claiming second after profiting from a clash between Swann and Heaton at the Bombhole. Head later won again at a canter as his rivals managed to knock themselves out of contention, leaving Swann to just pip Chris Moore to second by 0.034s at the finish.
Taylor O’Flanagan was able to snatch an “incredible race victory” away from Philip Bianchi in the opening Caterham 270R contest after the winner had fallen to fifth on the penultimate lap. O’Flanagan made it a double having broken away from the leading train two laps from the finish of race two, a gap that Hugo Bush and Domenique Mannsperger couldn’t close.
A missed gearchange exiting Murrays for the final time cost Pete Walters victory in the first 310R battle and allowed James Wingfield to triumph. Walters wasn’t to be denied a second time and judged his exit from the final corner to perfection to steal the win from Harry George by 0.052s.
No one could quite dislodge Geoff Newman from the lead of the opening Roadsport race despite the best efforts of Charlie Lower and Freddie Chiddicks. Chiddicks’s challenge for Newman’s lead in race two then faded when he got stuck in fourth gear two laps from home. Elsewhere, Thomas McEwing triumphed in the Caterham Academy White group while Ravi Patel survived a frantic race to win the Green battle.
Away from the Caterham tussles, Lee Dendy-Sadler and Mikey Doble quickly demoted BMW Compact Cup poleman Ian Howes, with victory going to Doble after an early pass into Brundle. Doble remained undefeated in the sequel having made an early escape as Dendy-Sadler repelled Howes’ last-lap attack on his second place. Pole position for race three was squandered by Dendy-Sadler as Doble charged up from eighth to complete his hat-trick.
The Honda Civic of Bradley Lane dominated the opening combined ST/Civic Challenge encounter, while Michael Blackburn held off Sam Beckett to take the ST section. Lane’s only challenger in race two was Tate Taverner, whose grassy moment caused overheating and an end to his endeavours, as Blackburn again just held off Beckett for ST honours. Lane later strolled to a hat-trick, while Chris Grimes was victorious in the STs as Blackburn faded mid-race.
David Clark was slow off the grid but, once the turbo of the Renault 5 kicked in, he powered his way to victory in the Track Attack race. However, he expired mid-way through the second encounter, allowing Robert Buckland’s Clio to take the spoils.
The Bliss brothers dominated the opening CityCar Cup race, with the younger sibling Richard just having the advantage over Stuart, before Elliot Lettis was victorious in the shortened finale.
Silverstone BRSCC: No halting Hybrid Tune’s C1 24 hours charge
Hybrid Tune Motorsport successfully defended its Citroen C1 24 hours title, having led for a massive 307 of the 440 laps of the Silverstone Grand Prix Circuit.
David Meenan got the crew off to a flying start, before Stephen James, Sam Weller and Mark James took over. Despite having concerns over a wheel bearing for almost half of the race, Stephen James brought them to the flag a lap clear of Emax Motorsport’s James and Jake Little, who shared with Stuart Ratcliff and Max Finn.
Emax were in the top three for most of the time too and finally shook off WRC Developments, which retained third, despite Toby Ward having to make a very late splash and dash.
Nick Beaumont looked to be heading for fourth with JWB, until a penalty after their final stop. They still held on to fifth, but it handed fourth back to Fake Taxi’s Ian Stinton, after they had been pushed into the gravel at Club and had also been penalised at a pitstop.
BH/SCK Motorsport’s Josh Stanton completed the top six, after Fighting Torque’s Michael Russell had a rear hub problem, which dropped them to seventh.
Mazda MX-5 Supercup championship leader Richard Amos fended off Sam Smith in the opening laps of race one. But, after Smith pitted and retired, Colin Bysouth closed in and made the decisive move into Village on lap nine of 12 to take his first win of the season. Amos retained a comfortable second, with John Langridge third, after his duel with Adam Bessell ended when the latter pulled off.
Smith took charge of race two from the opening lap, with Amos again fending off Bysouth until lap five. Bysouth then closed in to challenge for the lead and was just 0.275 seconds adrift at the flag, with Patrick Fletcher a clear third.
Fraser Fenwick had been the man to beat so far in the Mk1 MX-5s and managed to secure his fifth win of the year, despite the close attentions of Tom Smith. The lead duo managed to get away from a huge scrap for third, led for the most part by Seb Fisher. But Michael Knibbs managed to secure the place from Mike Comber and Steve Foden, as Fisher slipped to sixth.
Comber had the early lead in race two, but had Fenwick in his wheeltracks from lap three, the race-one winner getting ahead three laps later. It became any one from four for the lead into the closing stages, with Comber snatching the win. Smith was second on the road after a penultimate-lap scuffle cost Foden the lead, but a post-race penalty dropped Smith to fourth, promoting both Foden and Fenwick.
Declan McDonnell held off a race-long challenge from Matthew Fletcher to win the first of the MX-5 Clubman races, with little to split Harry Storer and Jon Pethick for third. McDonnell led again from the start of race two, but lost out to Fletcher on the penultimate tour, with Chris Dawkins just holding off Pethick for third.
In the Clubsport Trophy, Jas Sapra’s BMW M3 was a comfortable winner from Liam Crilly’s Z4 Coupe, while Ricky Coomber’s Honda Civic FD2 held off a last-lap challenge from Paul Taylor’s Civic Type R to retain third.
Oulton Park Equipe: Fowler at the double in BCV8
A spectacular double for MGB GT V8 ace Neil Fowler – as opposed to his six-time Historic Formula Ford champion namesake – bookended Saturday’s entertaining Equipe Classic Racing Oulton Park event. As three savage flat-plane crank 420bhp Rover V8 engines harmonised around the undulating Cheshire circuit, Fowler dug deep to stave off Ian Prior and Simon Cripps.
With points leader James Wheeler, invincible at Brands Hatch and Castle Combe, racing his FIA-spec B at Pau in the French Pyrenees, a new 2022 BCV8 winner was guaranteed. Fowler bagged pole, but a moment with Prior in the opener enabled Cripps to growl past. Recovering quickly, the duo ambushed Cripps when he ran wide at Lodge. Prior’s 1m54.733s (84.46mph) fastest lap was impressive. Fowler grunted clear in the finale, but Prior blasted back to challenge before an issue forced him to slow, still clear of the troubled Cripps.
The Class C fight was sensational. Outgunned by V8s at the start of race one, Andrew Young’s fleet primrose-hued MGC ran fifth initially, but he picked off Steve Wells, Ben Tovey and Jonnie Wheeler in rapid succession to chase Jim Bryan home. Young broke free from a five-car train in the sequel to win in his six-potter.
Equipe GTS attracted a fine 35-car field for a 40-minute race, but poleman Mark Halstead’s TVR Grantura didn’t go as the lights changed and, miraculously avoided in the stampede, started last. Buoyed by his opportunistic Brands Indy win in March, Tom Smith shot his MG Motorsport B ahead, weathered a safety car and, other than in the pitstop sequence, stayed there.
Smith’s momentum-conserving mastery of the Hislops/Knickerbrook section was a key to unlocking another MGB diamond jubilee year victory. Neil Fisher pursued strongly for second, beating Martin and Ollie Pratt’s Morgan +4, the only top six interloper among Bs. Alastair Topley (Elva Courier) was seventh, but the TVRs of Halstead and Mark Ashworth (ex-Paddy Gaston) both retired.
TVR’s first moment of glory came in the Equipe Libre miscellany, dominated – as last season – by poleman Jamie Boot (Griffith) following a cautious start. Sideways Jack Rawles – Pre-’63 winner in his Briggs Cunningham-esque Austin-Healey 3000 – finished 33 seconds adrift, chased by Smith and Topley. The sole Grantura, Ivan Hayward’s, ground to a halt at Knickerbrook near the end.
The 90-minute GT & Sports Car Cup season-opener was a Chiles family AC Cobra masterclass, former International Supersports Cup champion Chris leading, then relaying his son, who never looked back. Scots John Clark/Gordie Mutch (Jaguar E-type) were a lap down, clear of David Smithies/Chris Clarkson in the former’s Daytona Cobra clone, superbly liveried per Andre Simon/Maurice Dupeyron’s 1964 Tour de France entry.
The GT3 top three were split by 21s in a cracking big Healey battle, local soloist Crispin Harris beating Doug Muirhead/Jeremy Welch, who pipped James Haxton/Jack Rawles as fried rear brakes hobbled rivals Simon Orebi Gann/Calum Lockie’s Morgan +4 SLR. Finally, a TVR Grantura bagged gold, and silver, as Malcolm Paul/Rick Bourne trumped ‘Giuseppe’ Ward/Chris Conoley in GT2. Brian and Barbara Lambert finished best MGB despite having no front brakes for much of the race.
Reports by Lewis Beales, Peter Scherer and Marcus Pye. Photography by Richard Styles, Jakob Ebrey Photography and Mick Walker. Want more reports from the world of national motorsport? Subscribe today and never miss your weekly fix of motorsport with Autosport magazine
