CTCRC Brands Hatch 19th & 20th April 2025
The Classic Touring Car Racing Club’s second meeting of 2025 took place over the Easter weekend on the Indy circuit at Brands Hatch, with a large crowd in attendance both days that were drawn in by the British Truck Racing Championship's appearance on the bill.
Pre '66
Qualifying: The Pre ‘66s continue to pull in a very healthy entry and a whopping 34 drivers entered for the two races at the weekend. Reigning champion Ian Thompson's JRT-prepared Cortina went 0.680 seconds quicker than the similar car of Garry Townsend to secure pole position. Row two was filled with V8-powered Americana as Piers Grange's Ford Mustang headed Alan Greenhalgh's Ford Falcon, whilst a pair of far smaller machines formed the third row as Barry Sime took his Mini round in the fifth fastest time and former overall champion James Ibbotson impressed with sixth overall in his Hillman Imp. The Anglia of Jake Swann in seventh and the venerable Mini of Mike Davies in eighth meant that row four was an all-Class C affair. Grant Williams’ Jaguar Mk2 had work to do if the Welshman wanted to repeat his Super Touring Power victories of 2023 on the Indy circuit from ninth. Brendan Rooney’s Hillman Imp from Class E rounded out the top ten. There was trouble for a trio of Anglias during the fifteen minutes as Michael Sheraton's mount let him down, 2023 champion Billy Kenneally suffered yet more engine maladies and Ed Gibbs' oil filler cap fell off.
Race One: The first segment of the race before a Red Flag for Ed Gibbs' stranded Anglia wouldn't count towards the final result but would have a bearing on the grid order as the Cortina of leader Garry Townsend had crept at the start and picked up a ten-second penalty, the punishment placing Townsend tenth on the grid for the rerun. 2024 champion Ian Thompson had led the chase initially before Piers Grange got through on lap three but the Mustang soon started to spew smoke and went out with diff problems. The disappearance of Grange and Townsend's penalty placed Thompson onto pole position from Alan Greenhalgh's Ford Falcon. The second row contained the Class C contest between Barry Sime and Jake Swann, with Grant Williams' Jaguar heading the third row from James Ibbotson's Imp. The fourth row housed Mike Davies and Kevin Swann, with Brendan Rooney and the penalised Townsend on the fifth row. Thompson led the opening lap but Greenhalgh's Falcon powered past heading onto lap two. The Cortina soon dived back inside the American machine at Druids on the second time around but the Falcon's grunt meant that it led again across the line. The V8 brute led for almost a complete lap but Thompson forced his Cortina up the inside of Clearways on lap three before Greenhalgh immediately rumbled past again. However, the Falcon ran wide exiting Graham Hill Bend for the fourth time, after Greenhalgh had to hold the gearstick in second gear and steer at the same time, so conceded the win to Thompson's Cortina as there would only be one further lap. The grassy excursion didn't cost Greenhalgh a position and he crossed the line still only 1.122 seconds in arrears of the current title holder. Williams pounced on a great start in the Jaguar to slot into third from Sime, having squeezed between the Mini and Jake Swann's Anglia. Williams' row-mate Ibbotson also got off the line well and skated around the outside of the first corner to momentarily be fourth before Sime grabbed the place back on the climb up to Druids. Townsend fired off the line and immediately outdragged the row ahead and the Cortina approached Paddock Hill Bend four-wide with Ibbotson, Jake Swann and Davies before exiting the first corner in sixth. The extra straightline speed from of the Lotus Twin Cam carried Townsend past Ibbotson's Imp into fifth as they went onto lap two. The Imp fought back at Clearways and Jake Swann attempted to follow him past before the Cortina fended off the Anglia and breezed past the Hillman along the pit straight. Swann also eventually got the better of Ibbotson at Druids as the three of them reeled in Williams and Sime. Townsend swept past Sime onto the fifth and final lap up to Paddock Hill Bend for fourth place before getting onto the tail of Williams at Clearways but the Mk2 Jaguar stretched its legs on the run to the line to maintain its podium place. Jake Swann had a steady opening lap and briefly trailed his father Kevin but worked his way into the top six before pulling off at Surtees on the last lap with a bent steering arm, which Swann put down to catching a kerb awkwardly. Ibbotson won Class E in a great sixth overall from Rooney in eighth, just behind Kevin Swann. Davies was pipped by Rooney in ninth with his long-serving Mini and Adrian Oliver made it three Imps finishing inside the top ten. Steve Platts’ Singer Chamois retired smokily after contact with another Imp left him with bent bodywork that caused a tyre to rub on the arch. The 2018 and 2022 Pre '66 champion Luc Wilson scored the Class D victory despite clutch worries aboard his Austin A40 in sixteenth overall from Brian Bedford's similar car.
Race Two: Alan Greenhalgh outdragged poleman Ian Thompson off the line to lead into Paddock Hill Bend, with the Cortina also squeezed towards the inside wall by Grant Williams’ fast-starting Jaguar and fell back to sixth by Druids after Barry Sime's Mini went around the outside. Williams' fellow second-row starter Garry Townsend also got away well and the Lotus Cortina got ahead of the Mk2 Jaguar by the Druids hairpin. Townsend then carried on around the outside of Greenhalgh's Falcon to claim the race lead into Graham Hill Bend. Thompson ended the first lap in fourth after diving inside Sime at Clearways and breezing by James Ibbotson's Imp past the pits. Williams got underneath Greenhalgh at Druids on lap two and ran both of them wide, with Thompson squeezing past the pair of them to move back up to second but Townsend had built a decent lead by then. The reigning champion swiftly brought the deficit down and Thompson grabbed the lead from the similar Cortina exiting Clearways on lap five and proceeded to edge away from the former leader as he had his hands full trying to hold onto second. Having started from 31st, multiple Mini Miglia champion Aaron Smith was already ninth by the end of lap one before progressing four further places upwards to be fifth after lap two in the Mini Cooper S that McLaren COO Piers Thynne took to fifteenth in Race One. Smith then skated around the outside of Williams' Jaguar at Druids to take away fourth place on lap three, after the American juggernaut of Greenhalgh had used its power to repass Williams towards Surtees. Smith was quickly onto the tail of the Falcon and dived through at Clearways for the fourth time but the Kent man was defenceless against Greenhalgh's straightline speed towards Paddock Hill Bend. The Mini ultimately bagged Greenhalgh's Falcon for third at Druids on the same lap as the lead changed and Smith was incredibly only one-and-a-half seconds from top spot when Thompson hit the front. Smith was almost immediately onto the tail of the second-placed Cortina with ten minutes remaining but Townsend defended the place brilliantly until the terrier-like Mini finally broke through for good heading onto the last lap accelerating off Clearways. Smith made a break passing Keith Wright’s lapped Minor to confirm second place for the Cooper S after a fantastic drive, finishing some 4.937 seconds behind the victorious Thompson and just over a second ahead of Townsend. Greenhalgh’s Ford Falcon crossed the line in fourth ahead of the next accomplished recovery drive from Piers Grange. The Mustang's rise was a little more measured than the Smith Mini's meteoric march towards the front and Grange was seventeenth after lap one before breaking into the top ten on lap five when he passed the Swann family Ford Anglia pair. The muscle car thumped past both Ibbotson and Sime at the end of lap seven to reach the top six and tried to prise away Williams' fifth place at Graham Hill Bend before forcing the issue at Surtees on lap eight. Grange began to eat into the fellow 289cu Ford V8-powered Falcon's near five-second advantage but the Mustang was still 2.566 seconds away from Greenhalgh at flagfall. The Mini of Sime was one of many cars bottled up behind Williams’ Jaguar in sixth but the Mini broke through around the outside of Druids on lap eleven before losing a lot of ground in the closing minutes with gear linkage trouble, a bolt had broken in the mechanism but the Scot was able to bring the car home in twentieth overall after managing to find a gear. Williams held the rest of the pack at bay for a hard-earned sixth place, whilst Jake Swann's Anglia got ahead of Bob Bullen's similar car in the Welshman’s wake on the last lap. Swann claimed second in Class C as a result and seventh overall, having started from the eleventh row, as Bullen just fended off Class E winner Ibbotson. The seventh-placed Anglia made up ten places on lap one to sit eleventh before breaking into the top ten on lap four. Swann then went by his father Kevin on lap five but both were soon demoted by Grange's marauding Mustang. Bullen's similar Anglia was next to be chased down and the two of them caught the Williams train as they squabbled. The Anglias swapped places on lap nine at Clearways before Ibbotson fell victim to the pair on lap ten and a locked-up Swann briefly slid ahead of the Williams Jaguar at Graham Hill Bend on the eleventh lap. The Anglia repeated the move on the Mk2 Jaguar next time around but lost out again up to Surtees and Bullen repassed Swann on lap thirteen out of Clearways. Swann reclaimed seventh at Graham Hill Bend for the fourteenth time but Bullen fought back again through Clark Curve at the end of the lap before the black Anglia made its decisive move into Graham Hill Bend for the final time. Ibbotson's Imp made a great fist of the start to be fourth out of Paddock Hill Bend and was in the thick of the battle behind Williams' defensive Mk2 Jaguar, with the Imp alongside Bullen coming onto the home straight as he finished six seconds ahead of Kevin Swann's Anglia at the foot of the top ten. After a broken rose joint pitched Ed Gibbs off at Druids to bring about Saturday's stoppage, the repaired Anglia came through well to finish in twelfth overall behind Mike Davies' Mini. Brendan Rooney took second in Class E again in fourteenth overall, whilst a scrap for third was resolved when Michael Loveland and Adrian Oliver went rallycrossing after a game of chicken approaching Surtees for the final time to ease the pressure on Steve Platts. Oliver had a fright at the start when his Imp stalled on the fifth row but, thankfully, everybody missed the stationary car. Former two-time overall champion Luc Wilson took his second Class D win in as many days after his clutch held together long enough to see off the similar A40 of Brian Bedford.
Pre '66
Qualifying: The Pre ‘66s continue to pull in a very healthy entry and a whopping 34 drivers entered for the two races at the weekend. Reigning champion Ian Thompson's JRT-prepared Cortina went 0.680 seconds quicker than the similar car of Garry Townsend to secure pole position. Row two was filled with V8-powered Americana as Piers Grange's Ford Mustang headed Alan Greenhalgh's Ford Falcon, whilst a pair of far smaller machines formed the third row as Barry Sime took his Mini round in the fifth fastest time and former overall champion James Ibbotson impressed with sixth overall in his Hillman Imp. The Anglia of Jake Swann in seventh and the venerable Mini of Mike Davies in eighth meant that row four was an all-Class C affair. Grant Williams’ Jaguar Mk2 had work to do if the Welshman wanted to repeat his Super Touring Power victories of 2023 on the Indy circuit from ninth. Brendan Rooney’s Hillman Imp from Class E rounded out the top ten. There was trouble for a trio of Anglias during the fifteen minutes as Michael Sheraton's mount let him down, 2023 champion Billy Kenneally suffered yet more engine maladies and Ed Gibbs' oil filler cap fell off.
Race One: The first segment of the race before a Red Flag for Ed Gibbs' stranded Anglia wouldn't count towards the final result but would have a bearing on the grid order as the Cortina of leader Garry Townsend had crept at the start and picked up a ten-second penalty, the punishment placing Townsend tenth on the grid for the rerun. 2024 champion Ian Thompson had led the chase initially before Piers Grange got through on lap three but the Mustang soon started to spew smoke and went out with diff problems. The disappearance of Grange and Townsend's penalty placed Thompson onto pole position from Alan Greenhalgh's Ford Falcon. The second row contained the Class C contest between Barry Sime and Jake Swann, with Grant Williams' Jaguar heading the third row from James Ibbotson's Imp. The fourth row housed Mike Davies and Kevin Swann, with Brendan Rooney and the penalised Townsend on the fifth row. Thompson led the opening lap but Greenhalgh's Falcon powered past heading onto lap two. The Cortina soon dived back inside the American machine at Druids on the second time around but the Falcon's grunt meant that it led again across the line. The V8 brute led for almost a complete lap but Thompson forced his Cortina up the inside of Clearways on lap three before Greenhalgh immediately rumbled past again. However, the Falcon ran wide exiting Graham Hill Bend for the fourth time, after Greenhalgh had to hold the gearstick in second gear and steer at the same time, so conceded the win to Thompson's Cortina as there would only be one further lap. The grassy excursion didn't cost Greenhalgh a position and he crossed the line still only 1.122 seconds in arrears of the current title holder. Williams pounced on a great start in the Jaguar to slot into third from Sime, having squeezed between the Mini and Jake Swann's Anglia. Williams' row-mate Ibbotson also got off the line well and skated around the outside of the first corner to momentarily be fourth before Sime grabbed the place back on the climb up to Druids. Townsend fired off the line and immediately outdragged the row ahead and the Cortina approached Paddock Hill Bend four-wide with Ibbotson, Jake Swann and Davies before exiting the first corner in sixth. The extra straightline speed from of the Lotus Twin Cam carried Townsend past Ibbotson's Imp into fifth as they went onto lap two. The Imp fought back at Clearways and Jake Swann attempted to follow him past before the Cortina fended off the Anglia and breezed past the Hillman along the pit straight. Swann also eventually got the better of Ibbotson at Druids as the three of them reeled in Williams and Sime. Townsend swept past Sime onto the fifth and final lap up to Paddock Hill Bend for fourth place before getting onto the tail of Williams at Clearways but the Mk2 Jaguar stretched its legs on the run to the line to maintain its podium place. Jake Swann had a steady opening lap and briefly trailed his father Kevin but worked his way into the top six before pulling off at Surtees on the last lap with a bent steering arm, which Swann put down to catching a kerb awkwardly. Ibbotson won Class E in a great sixth overall from Rooney in eighth, just behind Kevin Swann. Davies was pipped by Rooney in ninth with his long-serving Mini and Adrian Oliver made it three Imps finishing inside the top ten. Steve Platts’ Singer Chamois retired smokily after contact with another Imp left him with bent bodywork that caused a tyre to rub on the arch. The 2018 and 2022 Pre '66 champion Luc Wilson scored the Class D victory despite clutch worries aboard his Austin A40 in sixteenth overall from Brian Bedford's similar car.
Race Two: Alan Greenhalgh outdragged poleman Ian Thompson off the line to lead into Paddock Hill Bend, with the Cortina also squeezed towards the inside wall by Grant Williams’ fast-starting Jaguar and fell back to sixth by Druids after Barry Sime's Mini went around the outside. Williams' fellow second-row starter Garry Townsend also got away well and the Lotus Cortina got ahead of the Mk2 Jaguar by the Druids hairpin. Townsend then carried on around the outside of Greenhalgh's Falcon to claim the race lead into Graham Hill Bend. Thompson ended the first lap in fourth after diving inside Sime at Clearways and breezing by James Ibbotson's Imp past the pits. Williams got underneath Greenhalgh at Druids on lap two and ran both of them wide, with Thompson squeezing past the pair of them to move back up to second but Townsend had built a decent lead by then. The reigning champion swiftly brought the deficit down and Thompson grabbed the lead from the similar Cortina exiting Clearways on lap five and proceeded to edge away from the former leader as he had his hands full trying to hold onto second. Having started from 31st, multiple Mini Miglia champion Aaron Smith was already ninth by the end of lap one before progressing four further places upwards to be fifth after lap two in the Mini Cooper S that McLaren COO Piers Thynne took to fifteenth in Race One. Smith then skated around the outside of Williams' Jaguar at Druids to take away fourth place on lap three, after the American juggernaut of Greenhalgh had used its power to repass Williams towards Surtees. Smith was quickly onto the tail of the Falcon and dived through at Clearways for the fourth time but the Kent man was defenceless against Greenhalgh's straightline speed towards Paddock Hill Bend. The Mini ultimately bagged Greenhalgh's Falcon for third at Druids on the same lap as the lead changed and Smith was incredibly only one-and-a-half seconds from top spot when Thompson hit the front. Smith was almost immediately onto the tail of the second-placed Cortina with ten minutes remaining but Townsend defended the place brilliantly until the terrier-like Mini finally broke through for good heading onto the last lap accelerating off Clearways. Smith made a break passing Keith Wright’s lapped Minor to confirm second place for the Cooper S after a fantastic drive, finishing some 4.937 seconds behind the victorious Thompson and just over a second ahead of Townsend. Greenhalgh’s Ford Falcon crossed the line in fourth ahead of the next accomplished recovery drive from Piers Grange. The Mustang's rise was a little more measured than the Smith Mini's meteoric march towards the front and Grange was seventeenth after lap one before breaking into the top ten on lap five when he passed the Swann family Ford Anglia pair. The muscle car thumped past both Ibbotson and Sime at the end of lap seven to reach the top six and tried to prise away Williams' fifth place at Graham Hill Bend before forcing the issue at Surtees on lap eight. Grange began to eat into the fellow 289cu Ford V8-powered Falcon's near five-second advantage but the Mustang was still 2.566 seconds away from Greenhalgh at flagfall. The Mini of Sime was one of many cars bottled up behind Williams’ Jaguar in sixth but the Mini broke through around the outside of Druids on lap eleven before losing a lot of ground in the closing minutes with gear linkage trouble, a bolt had broken in the mechanism but the Scot was able to bring the car home in twentieth overall after managing to find a gear. Williams held the rest of the pack at bay for a hard-earned sixth place, whilst Jake Swann's Anglia got ahead of Bob Bullen's similar car in the Welshman’s wake on the last lap. Swann claimed second in Class C as a result and seventh overall, having started from the eleventh row, as Bullen just fended off Class E winner Ibbotson. The seventh-placed Anglia made up ten places on lap one to sit eleventh before breaking into the top ten on lap four. Swann then went by his father Kevin on lap five but both were soon demoted by Grange's marauding Mustang. Bullen's similar Anglia was next to be chased down and the two of them caught the Williams train as they squabbled. The Anglias swapped places on lap nine at Clearways before Ibbotson fell victim to the pair on lap ten and a locked-up Swann briefly slid ahead of the Williams Jaguar at Graham Hill Bend on the eleventh lap. The Anglia repeated the move on the Mk2 Jaguar next time around but lost out again up to Surtees and Bullen repassed Swann on lap thirteen out of Clearways. Swann reclaimed seventh at Graham Hill Bend for the fourteenth time but Bullen fought back again through Clark Curve at the end of the lap before the black Anglia made its decisive move into Graham Hill Bend for the final time. Ibbotson's Imp made a great fist of the start to be fourth out of Paddock Hill Bend and was in the thick of the battle behind Williams' defensive Mk2 Jaguar, with the Imp alongside Bullen coming onto the home straight as he finished six seconds ahead of Kevin Swann's Anglia at the foot of the top ten. After a broken rose joint pitched Ed Gibbs off at Druids to bring about Saturday's stoppage, the repaired Anglia came through well to finish in twelfth overall behind Mike Davies' Mini. Brendan Rooney took second in Class E again in fourteenth overall, whilst a scrap for third was resolved when Michael Loveland and Adrian Oliver went rallycrossing after a game of chicken approaching Surtees for the final time to ease the pressure on Steve Platts. Oliver had a fright at the start when his Imp stalled on the fifth row but, thankfully, everybody missed the stationary car. Former two-time overall champion Luc Wilson took his second Class D win in as many days after his clutch held together long enough to see off the similar A40 of Brian Bedford.
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Pre '83
Qualifying: The Pre ‘83 field had a stand-alone grid for this event and the entry responded by topping twenty cars, with 24 entries received. The session was stopped after a couple of minutes to retrieve Bob Bullen’s discarded bonnet and a second stoppage followed with four and a half minutes left to bring qualification to a close after Tom Harvey shunted his Mk1 Escort at Clearways. Jonathan Corker’s unusual Datsun 510 claimed pole position by 0.381 seconds from championship debutant Nic Grindrod, whose immaculate Escort was the first of three Mk1s in a top four covered by 0.704 seconds. Harvey’s slightly battered ShellSport car was just 0.136 seconds from a front-row start as it headed the second row from Graham Smith in the third Escort, which had been set up by multiple category champion Stephen Primett for this season and was a slender 0.187 seconds further back. The Rover of Nick Williamson was a whisker over a second slower than the pole mark as he lined up fifth from returnee Mark Cholerton, who wasn’t happy with his tyre choice for the Mk2 RS2000. Mark Fowler’s Mk1 Escort was split from Steve Walden’s BMW E30 by less than two tenths of a second on the fourth row, with Bullen’s bonnetless Mk1 Escort narrowly besting Mark Thomas’ Mk3 Capri in ninth and tenth by 0.151 seconds.
Race One: Tom Harvey got a great launch from the second row and drove between the front row pair to take the lead around the outside of Paddock Hill Bend but polesitter Jonathan Corker got back in front at the same spot on lap two. Nic Grindrod further demoted the similar Mk1 Escort at the end of the second lap but the top three would circulate close together all race and Harvey dived back up to second place into Druids with three minutes left. Grindrod didn't take it lying down and attempted to return the favour at the hairpin the next time around but Harvey hadn't left the door open. When the fifteen minutes were up, Corker's Datsun won by 1.245 seconds from the squabbling Mk1 Escorts as just 1.688 seconds covered the top three. Graham Smith maintained fourth throughout despite Nick Williamson's spirited attack at Druids on lap one and the big Rover went out early in a cloud of smoke after suffering an acute case of finger trouble, the third row qualifier had checked his V8 engine’s tappets after the session and forgot to reattach an oil breather pipe so the lubricant soon came out. The Capri of Mark Thomas leapt ahead of four cars by Paddock Hill Bend for the first time and took up fifth place just ahead of Mark Cholerton's Mk2 RS2000 after Williamson's exit. Thomas pulled a couple of seconds clear during the opening half of the encounter before Cholerton came back at the increasingly gripless Capri and the pair swapped places during lap thirteen to hand the RS2000 fifth place at the end. Mark Fowler finished in a solitary seventh behind Thomas' Class B-winning Capri, with Steve Walden's BMW E30 in eighth and Carl Shreeve's Dolomite in ninth. Jake Margalies was involved in a big scrap for the final place inside the top ten with the Reece Cannell and Stuart Caie Capris, Neil Philpotts' turbocharged Mitsubishi, Mostyn Rutter’s fixed Firenza and David Claxton's Triumph Dolomite. Philpotts had been leading Shreeve's Triumph before the increasingly smoky Lancer Turbo fell into the clutches of the squabble led by Margalies' Alfa Romeo GTV6. Caie headed the chase of Margalies before Cannell's Quick Brew Capri took over the pursuit and the club chairman also slipped behind Rutter before the flag, whilst the Mitsubishi lost out to the Alfa Romeo and Cannell's Capri. James Dunkley was the Class D winner in sixteenth overall with his Mk1 Fiesta and Mike Broadway marked his first start in the championship with the Class A win in eighteenth overall. Bob Bullen suspected a valve had hit a piston in his Pinto engine, which spelt the end of the weekend for the Mk1 Escort after an early tussle with Walden's BMW for eighth place.
Race Two: The opening race runner-up Tom Harvey had to weld his ShellSport Escort’s exhaust manifold back together overnight but the local man was able to take his place on the front row alongside polesitter Jonathan Corker. The front row got away evenly but poleman Corker held the initiative into Paddock Hill Bend from Harvey's Mk1 Escort. Nic Grindrod's immaculate Escort slotted into fourth behind Graham Smith's similar car after bogging down off the line but took back third place before the end of lap one at Surtees. The former Pick Up racer then blazed past Harvey in a straightline towards Paddock Hill Bend on lap three to take up second place. Mark Thomas trailed the top four from a fast-starting Mark Fowler initially until Cholerton took sixth place on lap three after a slide for the VMW Motors Mk1 Escort at Paddock Hill Bend eased the RS2000's path ahead. Cholerton's Mk2 Escort was one of many cars delayed when Carl Shreeve spun in the pack at Paddock Hill Bend for the first time, with everyone miraculously missing the Dolomite as it rolled across the circuit. Phillip Waller's Class D Avenger dived into the gravel in avoidance and Waller somehow held onto a huge fishtailing moment afterwards as all continued, with Shreeve getting going again before all the field had passed! Corker opened a slight margin to the chasing Escorts in the opening laps despite gearbox and axle worries before an unfortunate incident at Paddock Hill Bend for the fifth time brought out the Safety Car. The fifth-placed Capri got away from Thomas mid-corner and the coupe bounced through the gravel before collecting the innocent Cholerton amidship as he passed just behind the passenger door. Both cars were left severely wounded by the impact but both drivers stepped out of their cars ok. After a lengthy clear-up operation, the Safety Car came in with just enough time for three laps to be completed before the finish. Corker led a quartet of Escort Mk1s away and the Datsun broke a smidge clear again to win by 0.739 seconds as Grindrod just held off Harvey for second. Smith took fourth in a bit of no-man's land, a second-and-a-half behind the third-placed car. Fowler was fifth past the flag despite losing a lot of ground after the Thomas/Cholerton incident but was pinged seven places for overtaking several cars under yellow when the train caught up with the BARC Focus. Jake Margalies, David Claxton and Steve Walden headed the chasing pack from Neil Philpotts' Lancer Turbo and Reece Cannell's Capri at the end of the opening lap. Philpott's rare Mitsubishi picked off the BMW, Triumph and Alfa Romeo on consecutive laps to be fifth behind the Safety Car until Fowler jumped the queue. Nick Williamson's repaired Rover had started on the eleventh row before rising to thirteenth on lap one and, like Philpotts, carved through the Margalies group, with the SD1 breaking into the top six at the expense of the Alfa Romeo just before the interruption. After the restart, Williamson kept the Japanese turbocar very honest as the Rover crossed the line less than a second behind the Class B winner and the pair were classified fifth and sixth after Fowler's demotion. Cannell's Mk2 Capri came through after the restart to chase Margalies' GTV6 home in eighth after howling past Walden's BMW heading onto the last lap before taking Claxton too in the final mile, with the Mk3 Capri of club chairman Stuart Caie also passing Claxton's Dolomite to steal the final spot inside the top ten behind Walden's orange E30. The Triumph of Claxton lost three places on the final lap to finish eleventh, whilst the punished Fowler was reclassified twelfth. Bob Bullen started from the back of the grid with his Pre '66 Anglia after engine trouble had scuppered his Mk1 Escort and he chased home Mostyn Rutter's Firenza in fourteenth. James Dunkley took the second Class D win of the weekend for his self-built Mk1 Fiesta XR2 in fifteenth from Waller's Avenger. Mike Broadway also completed a Class A victory double with his Jaguar XJ6 in seventeenth.
Qualifying: The Pre ‘83 field had a stand-alone grid for this event and the entry responded by topping twenty cars, with 24 entries received. The session was stopped after a couple of minutes to retrieve Bob Bullen’s discarded bonnet and a second stoppage followed with four and a half minutes left to bring qualification to a close after Tom Harvey shunted his Mk1 Escort at Clearways. Jonathan Corker’s unusual Datsun 510 claimed pole position by 0.381 seconds from championship debutant Nic Grindrod, whose immaculate Escort was the first of three Mk1s in a top four covered by 0.704 seconds. Harvey’s slightly battered ShellSport car was just 0.136 seconds from a front-row start as it headed the second row from Graham Smith in the third Escort, which had been set up by multiple category champion Stephen Primett for this season and was a slender 0.187 seconds further back. The Rover of Nick Williamson was a whisker over a second slower than the pole mark as he lined up fifth from returnee Mark Cholerton, who wasn’t happy with his tyre choice for the Mk2 RS2000. Mark Fowler’s Mk1 Escort was split from Steve Walden’s BMW E30 by less than two tenths of a second on the fourth row, with Bullen’s bonnetless Mk1 Escort narrowly besting Mark Thomas’ Mk3 Capri in ninth and tenth by 0.151 seconds.
Race One: Tom Harvey got a great launch from the second row and drove between the front row pair to take the lead around the outside of Paddock Hill Bend but polesitter Jonathan Corker got back in front at the same spot on lap two. Nic Grindrod further demoted the similar Mk1 Escort at the end of the second lap but the top three would circulate close together all race and Harvey dived back up to second place into Druids with three minutes left. Grindrod didn't take it lying down and attempted to return the favour at the hairpin the next time around but Harvey hadn't left the door open. When the fifteen minutes were up, Corker's Datsun won by 1.245 seconds from the squabbling Mk1 Escorts as just 1.688 seconds covered the top three. Graham Smith maintained fourth throughout despite Nick Williamson's spirited attack at Druids on lap one and the big Rover went out early in a cloud of smoke after suffering an acute case of finger trouble, the third row qualifier had checked his V8 engine’s tappets after the session and forgot to reattach an oil breather pipe so the lubricant soon came out. The Capri of Mark Thomas leapt ahead of four cars by Paddock Hill Bend for the first time and took up fifth place just ahead of Mark Cholerton's Mk2 RS2000 after Williamson's exit. Thomas pulled a couple of seconds clear during the opening half of the encounter before Cholerton came back at the increasingly gripless Capri and the pair swapped places during lap thirteen to hand the RS2000 fifth place at the end. Mark Fowler finished in a solitary seventh behind Thomas' Class B-winning Capri, with Steve Walden's BMW E30 in eighth and Carl Shreeve's Dolomite in ninth. Jake Margalies was involved in a big scrap for the final place inside the top ten with the Reece Cannell and Stuart Caie Capris, Neil Philpotts' turbocharged Mitsubishi, Mostyn Rutter’s fixed Firenza and David Claxton's Triumph Dolomite. Philpotts had been leading Shreeve's Triumph before the increasingly smoky Lancer Turbo fell into the clutches of the squabble led by Margalies' Alfa Romeo GTV6. Caie headed the chase of Margalies before Cannell's Quick Brew Capri took over the pursuit and the club chairman also slipped behind Rutter before the flag, whilst the Mitsubishi lost out to the Alfa Romeo and Cannell's Capri. James Dunkley was the Class D winner in sixteenth overall with his Mk1 Fiesta and Mike Broadway marked his first start in the championship with the Class A win in eighteenth overall. Bob Bullen suspected a valve had hit a piston in his Pinto engine, which spelt the end of the weekend for the Mk1 Escort after an early tussle with Walden's BMW for eighth place.
Race Two: The opening race runner-up Tom Harvey had to weld his ShellSport Escort’s exhaust manifold back together overnight but the local man was able to take his place on the front row alongside polesitter Jonathan Corker. The front row got away evenly but poleman Corker held the initiative into Paddock Hill Bend from Harvey's Mk1 Escort. Nic Grindrod's immaculate Escort slotted into fourth behind Graham Smith's similar car after bogging down off the line but took back third place before the end of lap one at Surtees. The former Pick Up racer then blazed past Harvey in a straightline towards Paddock Hill Bend on lap three to take up second place. Mark Thomas trailed the top four from a fast-starting Mark Fowler initially until Cholerton took sixth place on lap three after a slide for the VMW Motors Mk1 Escort at Paddock Hill Bend eased the RS2000's path ahead. Cholerton's Mk2 Escort was one of many cars delayed when Carl Shreeve spun in the pack at Paddock Hill Bend for the first time, with everyone miraculously missing the Dolomite as it rolled across the circuit. Phillip Waller's Class D Avenger dived into the gravel in avoidance and Waller somehow held onto a huge fishtailing moment afterwards as all continued, with Shreeve getting going again before all the field had passed! Corker opened a slight margin to the chasing Escorts in the opening laps despite gearbox and axle worries before an unfortunate incident at Paddock Hill Bend for the fifth time brought out the Safety Car. The fifth-placed Capri got away from Thomas mid-corner and the coupe bounced through the gravel before collecting the innocent Cholerton amidship as he passed just behind the passenger door. Both cars were left severely wounded by the impact but both drivers stepped out of their cars ok. After a lengthy clear-up operation, the Safety Car came in with just enough time for three laps to be completed before the finish. Corker led a quartet of Escort Mk1s away and the Datsun broke a smidge clear again to win by 0.739 seconds as Grindrod just held off Harvey for second. Smith took fourth in a bit of no-man's land, a second-and-a-half behind the third-placed car. Fowler was fifth past the flag despite losing a lot of ground after the Thomas/Cholerton incident but was pinged seven places for overtaking several cars under yellow when the train caught up with the BARC Focus. Jake Margalies, David Claxton and Steve Walden headed the chasing pack from Neil Philpotts' Lancer Turbo and Reece Cannell's Capri at the end of the opening lap. Philpott's rare Mitsubishi picked off the BMW, Triumph and Alfa Romeo on consecutive laps to be fifth behind the Safety Car until Fowler jumped the queue. Nick Williamson's repaired Rover had started on the eleventh row before rising to thirteenth on lap one and, like Philpotts, carved through the Margalies group, with the SD1 breaking into the top six at the expense of the Alfa Romeo just before the interruption. After the restart, Williamson kept the Japanese turbocar very honest as the Rover crossed the line less than a second behind the Class B winner and the pair were classified fifth and sixth after Fowler's demotion. Cannell's Mk2 Capri came through after the restart to chase Margalies' GTV6 home in eighth after howling past Walden's BMW heading onto the last lap before taking Claxton too in the final mile, with the Mk3 Capri of club chairman Stuart Caie also passing Claxton's Dolomite to steal the final spot inside the top ten behind Walden's orange E30. The Triumph of Claxton lost three places on the final lap to finish eleventh, whilst the punished Fowler was reclassified twelfth. Bob Bullen started from the back of the grid with his Pre '66 Anglia after engine trouble had scuppered his Mk1 Escort and he chased home Mostyn Rutter's Firenza in fourteenth. James Dunkley took the second Class D win of the weekend for his self-built Mk1 Fiesta XR2 in fifteenth from Waller's Avenger. Mike Broadway also completed a Class A victory double with his Jaguar XJ6 in seventeenth.
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Classic & Historic Thunder
Qualifying: The thirteen-car Classic Thunder entry and the quartet of Historic Thunder contenders were the second of the CTCRC's categories out to qualify on Saturday morning. Adrian Bradley narrowly secured pole position by 0.145 seconds from the leading Historic competitor Colin Voyce after his pace increased throughout the session, taking top spot from the provisional polesitter Voyce with his last lap of the session. Pre ‘93 front runner Ian Bower provisionally sat on pole three times early doors before the E46 BMW and turbocharged Escort went quicker in the second half, with the E36 M3 ending up some 1.113 seconds from the Historic Escort on the front row in third. The E46 BMW M3 of Ian Craig lined up beside Bower in fourth. Rikki Cann had repaired his Aston Martin V8 after its diff broke at Donington Park a week beforehand and he put the car fifth on the grid to be the second Historic Thunder machine on the grid. Joining the imposing coupe on the third row would be Joe Collier’s E46 M3. Shaun Morris' Pre ‘93 BMW and the 3 Series Compact of Kevin Denwood went well for a place on the fourth row. The top ten was completed by James Janicki’s smoky Nissan Skyline GTR, the haze caused by his tyres rubbing on the bodywork, and birthday boy Anton Martin’s BMW.
Race One: From the outside of the front row at the rolling start, Colin Voyce burst into the lead at the expense of polesitter Adrian Bradley towards Paddock Hill Bend. Ian Bower also passed the poleman at Druids to end lap one in second, around two-and-a-quarter seconds behind the flying Mk1 Escort Turbo in the lead. Joe Collier had taken the high road around Rikki Cann and Ian Craig on lap one to join Bradley in a scrap for third. Collier got alongside the similar E46 M3 on a couple of occasions but the fight wasn't to last as Collier slowed on lap four with a suspected fouling spark plug causing terminal damage to the engine. Freed from the pressure of defending his third position, Bradley reeled in Bower for second and took the place towards Paddock Hill Bend with a little less than eight minutes remaining. The red and black BMW started to take chunks from Voyce's 4.741-second lead as the turbocharged Escort’s tyres began to fade and the gap came down to just 1.273 seconds with two minutes left but that was the closest Bradley would get after a slide for the pursuing BMW cost it time. The M3 was 1.792 seconds down going onto the final lap and crossed the line still 1.768 seconds in arrears of the Historic Escort, despite setting the race's fastest lap of 51.172 seconds last time around as the victorious Voyce all but matched Bradley's time. Bower finished in a solitary third after Bradley passed the E36 M3 and went in search of Voyce. Rikki Cann's Aston Martin in fourth had shadowed the early dice for third place before thundering past Collier when his engine trouble became apparent, with Ian Craig in fifth after losing out to the big Aston at Surtees for the first time. Shaun Morris and Anton Martin tussled in the opening stages before Ronan Bradley came through past the Bastos BMW into sixth with a couple of minutes left. James Janicki also blazed past the BMWs in a straight line inside the final five minutes and almost caught the Bradley M3 on the line. Morris beat Martin to the flag for eighth place, with Kevin Denwood's 3 Series Compact completing the top ten. Martin Reynolds retired his Mk2 Escort with rear end issues after running with Janicki, Denwood and Ross Craig's dazzle-camouflaged Honda so Melvin Hooker's Group 44 tribute Jaguar XJS finished as the third Historic Thunder car home.
Race Two: A light rain shower that fell between Sunday morning's Pre ‘93/03/BOSS encounter and the second Classic and Historic Thunder outing would have been manna from heaven for Ian Bower’s treaded-tyred BMW on the second row had it got much heavier but the rain had ceased before a restart for the preceding British Truck Racing championship race. The polesitting car of Saturday winner Colin Voyce led the pack towards Paddock Hill Bend for the first time but Ronan Bradley had made an apparent great start to take the lead all the way around the outside. Ronan Bradley continued to lead at the end of lap one from Adrian Bradley, who had got down the inside of Voyce at Graham Hill Bend. Ian Bower's E36 M3 also passed the Historic Thunder leader Voyce at Clearways at the end of the opening lap to briefly sit in fourth until the turbocharged Mk1 Escort blasted back ahead over the start/finish line. In front of them, the Bradleys swapped places into Paddock Hill Bend as Adrian slipped up the inside of Ronan to take up the running. Bower then lunged past Voyce at Druids to reclaim third place but his hold of the place only lasted a lap and a half until Voyce's Mk1 Escort grabbed the spot back at Surtees when the E36 ran wide. Voyce was back up to second by Paddock Hill Bend after using the grass beside the pitwall to breeze past Ronan Bradley going into lap four and started to close in on Adrian Bradley despite a damaged wheel from some earlier contact but the leading BMW stemmed the tide until the final minutes when Voyce reached his bootlid with three laps to go. The Mk1 Escort had attempts rebuffed into Paddock Hill Bend and Surtees but Bradley was powerless to stop Voyce whistling past into the lead as they went onto the final lap. The flame-spitting Mk1 Escort took the flag by 2.374 seconds from the Classic Thunder category-winning BMW after setting the race’s fastest lap last time around. Martin Reynolds had scythed up the order to sixth place by the end of the opening lap from the back of the grid in his BOSS Escort, after axle trouble with his Historic car in Race One rendered it unusable. Reynolds used the outside line to make up a hatful of places into Druids for the first time before seeing off James Janicki's Nissan Skyline into Graham Hill Bend and Rikki Cann's big Aston Martin at Clearways to go second in the Historic Thunder set. Ian Craig's BMW was quickly dispensed with for fifth place around the outside into Paddock Hill Bend starting lap two and he latched onto the back of the Bower/Voyce tussle. When Voyce retook second place, Reynolds also had a run on Bower but the BMW held its ground on the inside. Bower threw his BMW up the inside of Ronan Bradley's newer E46 M3 into Clearways for the sixth time to take away third place and the early leader also lost out to Reynolds' Escort as they charged towards Paddock Hill Bend heading onto lap seven. Reynolds' impressive charge to third overall was completed after taking Bower’s M3 at half-distance with a high and wide line through Druids that gave the Escort the initiative at Graham Hill Bend, the serial Ford collector coming home 1.958 seconds clear of the Pre '93 front runner in fourth. Ian Craig was next in line to threaten Ronan Bradley's BMW after Bower and Reynolds' passes and he put the white and green M3 back to sixth place at Druids on lap eight. Ultimately, Bradley's start was deemed to be too good by the stewards and he was docked ten seconds from his race time but he had a great tussle for that sixth place on-the-road with Anton Martin during the second half of the race. The pair approached the chequered flag abreast and the penalised BMW finished ahead by just 0.167 seconds before its penalty dropped it to eighth overall behind Cann's Aston Martin, which came home third of the Historic Thunder cars. Ross Craig survived a hairy slide through Surtees to finish ninth from Daniel Gandesha's BMW in tenth, Craig's Honda had been involved in an earlier dice with Kevin Denwood before the 3 Series Compact went out trailing smoke. The finishers were completed by Melvin Hooker's supercharged V8-powered Jaguar XJS. Janicki's Nissan and Neil Wade's Honda K20 Turbo-powered BMW Mini both non-finished after a loose boost pipe hamstrung the rear-wheel-drive Skyline GTR, whilst the Mini had a wishbone weld break in the front-right suspension.
Qualifying: The thirteen-car Classic Thunder entry and the quartet of Historic Thunder contenders were the second of the CTCRC's categories out to qualify on Saturday morning. Adrian Bradley narrowly secured pole position by 0.145 seconds from the leading Historic competitor Colin Voyce after his pace increased throughout the session, taking top spot from the provisional polesitter Voyce with his last lap of the session. Pre ‘93 front runner Ian Bower provisionally sat on pole three times early doors before the E46 BMW and turbocharged Escort went quicker in the second half, with the E36 M3 ending up some 1.113 seconds from the Historic Escort on the front row in third. The E46 BMW M3 of Ian Craig lined up beside Bower in fourth. Rikki Cann had repaired his Aston Martin V8 after its diff broke at Donington Park a week beforehand and he put the car fifth on the grid to be the second Historic Thunder machine on the grid. Joining the imposing coupe on the third row would be Joe Collier’s E46 M3. Shaun Morris' Pre ‘93 BMW and the 3 Series Compact of Kevin Denwood went well for a place on the fourth row. The top ten was completed by James Janicki’s smoky Nissan Skyline GTR, the haze caused by his tyres rubbing on the bodywork, and birthday boy Anton Martin’s BMW.
Race One: From the outside of the front row at the rolling start, Colin Voyce burst into the lead at the expense of polesitter Adrian Bradley towards Paddock Hill Bend. Ian Bower also passed the poleman at Druids to end lap one in second, around two-and-a-quarter seconds behind the flying Mk1 Escort Turbo in the lead. Joe Collier had taken the high road around Rikki Cann and Ian Craig on lap one to join Bradley in a scrap for third. Collier got alongside the similar E46 M3 on a couple of occasions but the fight wasn't to last as Collier slowed on lap four with a suspected fouling spark plug causing terminal damage to the engine. Freed from the pressure of defending his third position, Bradley reeled in Bower for second and took the place towards Paddock Hill Bend with a little less than eight minutes remaining. The red and black BMW started to take chunks from Voyce's 4.741-second lead as the turbocharged Escort’s tyres began to fade and the gap came down to just 1.273 seconds with two minutes left but that was the closest Bradley would get after a slide for the pursuing BMW cost it time. The M3 was 1.792 seconds down going onto the final lap and crossed the line still 1.768 seconds in arrears of the Historic Escort, despite setting the race's fastest lap of 51.172 seconds last time around as the victorious Voyce all but matched Bradley's time. Bower finished in a solitary third after Bradley passed the E36 M3 and went in search of Voyce. Rikki Cann's Aston Martin in fourth had shadowed the early dice for third place before thundering past Collier when his engine trouble became apparent, with Ian Craig in fifth after losing out to the big Aston at Surtees for the first time. Shaun Morris and Anton Martin tussled in the opening stages before Ronan Bradley came through past the Bastos BMW into sixth with a couple of minutes left. James Janicki also blazed past the BMWs in a straight line inside the final five minutes and almost caught the Bradley M3 on the line. Morris beat Martin to the flag for eighth place, with Kevin Denwood's 3 Series Compact completing the top ten. Martin Reynolds retired his Mk2 Escort with rear end issues after running with Janicki, Denwood and Ross Craig's dazzle-camouflaged Honda so Melvin Hooker's Group 44 tribute Jaguar XJS finished as the third Historic Thunder car home.
Race Two: A light rain shower that fell between Sunday morning's Pre ‘93/03/BOSS encounter and the second Classic and Historic Thunder outing would have been manna from heaven for Ian Bower’s treaded-tyred BMW on the second row had it got much heavier but the rain had ceased before a restart for the preceding British Truck Racing championship race. The polesitting car of Saturday winner Colin Voyce led the pack towards Paddock Hill Bend for the first time but Ronan Bradley had made an apparent great start to take the lead all the way around the outside. Ronan Bradley continued to lead at the end of lap one from Adrian Bradley, who had got down the inside of Voyce at Graham Hill Bend. Ian Bower's E36 M3 also passed the Historic Thunder leader Voyce at Clearways at the end of the opening lap to briefly sit in fourth until the turbocharged Mk1 Escort blasted back ahead over the start/finish line. In front of them, the Bradleys swapped places into Paddock Hill Bend as Adrian slipped up the inside of Ronan to take up the running. Bower then lunged past Voyce at Druids to reclaim third place but his hold of the place only lasted a lap and a half until Voyce's Mk1 Escort grabbed the spot back at Surtees when the E36 ran wide. Voyce was back up to second by Paddock Hill Bend after using the grass beside the pitwall to breeze past Ronan Bradley going into lap four and started to close in on Adrian Bradley despite a damaged wheel from some earlier contact but the leading BMW stemmed the tide until the final minutes when Voyce reached his bootlid with three laps to go. The Mk1 Escort had attempts rebuffed into Paddock Hill Bend and Surtees but Bradley was powerless to stop Voyce whistling past into the lead as they went onto the final lap. The flame-spitting Mk1 Escort took the flag by 2.374 seconds from the Classic Thunder category-winning BMW after setting the race’s fastest lap last time around. Martin Reynolds had scythed up the order to sixth place by the end of the opening lap from the back of the grid in his BOSS Escort, after axle trouble with his Historic car in Race One rendered it unusable. Reynolds used the outside line to make up a hatful of places into Druids for the first time before seeing off James Janicki's Nissan Skyline into Graham Hill Bend and Rikki Cann's big Aston Martin at Clearways to go second in the Historic Thunder set. Ian Craig's BMW was quickly dispensed with for fifth place around the outside into Paddock Hill Bend starting lap two and he latched onto the back of the Bower/Voyce tussle. When Voyce retook second place, Reynolds also had a run on Bower but the BMW held its ground on the inside. Bower threw his BMW up the inside of Ronan Bradley's newer E46 M3 into Clearways for the sixth time to take away third place and the early leader also lost out to Reynolds' Escort as they charged towards Paddock Hill Bend heading onto lap seven. Reynolds' impressive charge to third overall was completed after taking Bower’s M3 at half-distance with a high and wide line through Druids that gave the Escort the initiative at Graham Hill Bend, the serial Ford collector coming home 1.958 seconds clear of the Pre '93 front runner in fourth. Ian Craig was next in line to threaten Ronan Bradley's BMW after Bower and Reynolds' passes and he put the white and green M3 back to sixth place at Druids on lap eight. Ultimately, Bradley's start was deemed to be too good by the stewards and he was docked ten seconds from his race time but he had a great tussle for that sixth place on-the-road with Anton Martin during the second half of the race. The pair approached the chequered flag abreast and the penalised BMW finished ahead by just 0.167 seconds before its penalty dropped it to eighth overall behind Cann's Aston Martin, which came home third of the Historic Thunder cars. Ross Craig survived a hairy slide through Surtees to finish ninth from Daniel Gandesha's BMW in tenth, Craig's Honda had been involved in an earlier dice with Kevin Denwood before the 3 Series Compact went out trailing smoke. The finishers were completed by Melvin Hooker's supercharged V8-powered Jaguar XJS. Janicki's Nissan and Neil Wade's Honda K20 Turbo-powered BMW Mini both non-finished after a loose boost pipe hamstrung the rear-wheel-drive Skyline GTR, whilst the Mini had a wishbone weld break in the front-right suspension.
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Pre '93/'03/BOSS
Qualifying: The combined Pre’93/‘03/BOSS categories were the first cars out to qualify on Saturday morning. Seven exclusively BMW-mounted Pre ‘93 drivers entered and seven cars would also form the Blue Oval Saloon Series grid. After a pair of entries represented the Pre ‘03 field at Donington Park, there was an upturn in numbers for Brands Hatch as six cars turned out to qualify. The BOSS-contending Mk2 Escort of Piers Grange sped to the overall pole position time by 0.351 seconds from a clutch of Pre ‘93 M3s that were headed by Ian Bower in second. William Davison lined up in third overall some 0.613 seconds clear of Shaun Morris, who was just 0.158 seconds quicker than Kevin Willis. The latter had bumped the second-fastest BOSS Mk2 Escort of Martin Reynolds by 0.345 seconds with the E36 M3’s last lap of the session. Don Hughes’ Peugeot set the seventh overall fastest time and would be the Pre ‘03 polesitter, the 306 a slim 0.194 seconds ahead of Joe Dorrington’s Honda. The top three Pre ‘03 cars qualified within a second of each other as novice David Cave’s placed his BMW 328 ninth. The top ten was completed by Daniel Gandesha’s Pre ‘93 BMW. The third BOSS category car of 2024 champion Tim Mizen started behind the Pre ‘03 Honda Civic Type R of Andy Woods-Dean in twelfth.
Race One: Polesitter Piers Grange was slow off the line and was swamped by the leading Pre '93 BMWs but the Mk2 Escort had powered back into the lead by Paddock Hill Bend. The silver Mk2 and Bower pulled away from a train behind Martin Reynolds' Escort Mk2, who had gone the long way around a locked-up William Davison for fourth at Druids on lap one before powering alongside Shaun Morris on the run to Paddock Hill Bend for the third time and completed the move exiting Druids. Davison passed Morris for second in Pre '93 at Clearways on lap four, with Davison pulling away from Morris and Kevin Willis as Reynolds' Escort moved clear of Davison also. The top two continued to lap closely during the opening half of the fifteen minutes before BOSS victor Grange eased away to win overall from the leading Pre ‘93 contender Bower by 2.419 seconds. The BOSS runner-up Reynolds took third from three further Pre ‘93 BMWs in the hands of Davison, Morris and Willis. The Pre '03 lead changed at Paddock Hill Bend for the fourth time after poleman Don Hughes passed early leader Joe Dorrington. The second-placed Civic started to pressure the leading Peugeot 306 again in the second half but the Honda was under threat of being pinged for track limits. Hughes opened his lead to 1.486 seconds as he took the flag for the category win from Dorrington, the Pre '03 winner’s 306 was ignominiously taken back back to the paddock on a flatbed after a temperature sensor caused its engine to flood and the motor wouldn’t fire up again in parc ferme. David Cave made a cautious start to his first ever race in his BMW but came through a battle with Byron Aldous' Pre '03 VW Corrado and Robert Taylor's BOSS Fiesta, as well as a dice with Cliff Pellin's Fiesta, to almost catch tenth-placed Daniel Gandesha's Pre ‘93 M3 on the line as he won Class A in his maiden race. Tim Mizen spun to the inside of Graham Hill Bend for the first time when in battle with Hughes' Peugeot before the Fiesta fought back to claim the BOSS Class D victory in thirteenth overall, a short distance behind the Class C-winning Ecoboost Fiesta of Pellin.
Race Two: The first categories in action on Sunday morning would be the Pre '93/'03/BOSS field again. Piers Grange got away tardily from pole position like he had on Saturday but the Mk2 Escort reclaimed the lead from Ian Bower into Druids for the first time. William Davison also attacked Bower on the outside of Graham Hill Bend, briefly getting his nose in front, but had to fall back into line by Surtees. However, the car making progress in the opening stages was the Mk2 Escort of Martin Reynolds. The Escort got off the line smartly enough and got round the slow away Grange but the similar Escort, along with the Pre '93 M3s of Davison and Kevin Willis, had got ahead of the East Anglian by Paddock Hill Bend. Reynolds sped past Willis over the start/finish line starting the second circulation and outran Davison past the pits again a lap later to move up to third before moving swiftly onto the tail of Bower. The straightline speed advantage for the leading Mk2 kept the chasing Bower and Reynolds pair at bay but the duo were able to draw back up to Grange around the rest of the lap as if attached by an elastic band. Reynolds started to press Bower harder for second place around half-distance and the BMW’s defence allowed Grange to open his lead further. After holding on to second, Bower set the fastest lap with four minutes left to move back within one second of Grange. Grange was baulked into Paddock Hill Bend with two-and-a-half minutes to go to bring Bower closer still and the Pre '93 front man even chanced his arm at Clearways but the race leader dealt with a group of traffic starting the penultimate lap more easily to ease some of the pressure on the Escort. Bower then came under attack from behind, with Reynolds moving up to second after the BMW ran wide at Clearways and the Escort didn't need a second invitation to power past going onto the final lap. Grange was eventually victorious by 3.122 seconds from Reynolds both overall and in BOSS, with the leading Pre '93 competitor Bower 0.881 seconds behind Reynolds in third. Pre '93 runner-up Davison settled for a lonely fourth overall after gradually falling away from the lead tussle. Shaun Morris closed on Willis for fourth among the Pre '93s but the Bastos BMW went out before making a move during the final few minutes when his clutch pedal went to the floor. Don Hughes' Peugeot won the Pre '03s comfortably in sixth overall after chief rival Joe Dorrington went out in the early stages on lap three when the Civic’s clutch gave out whilst running second. Daniel Gandesha and Cliff Pellin's squabble for eighth overall was resolved when the Pre '93 BMW got down the inside of the third-placed BOSS Fiesta at Graham Hill Bend with four minutes to go. David Cave came home second of the Pre '03s in tenth overall and became a two-time Class A winner to cap an impressive debut weekend, the BMW was delayed on the opening lap when Rob Taylor's Fiesta rotated at Surtees and Byron Aldous' VW Corrado spun in sympathy ahead of the Salisbury man. Tim Mizen bemoaned rooted rear tyres on his way to a second Class D BOSS win just outside of the top ten in eleventh, ahead of the recovering Taylor Fiesta. Simon Mann took third in the Pre '03s with thirteenth overall and the Cadbury's E46 BMW was second in Class A as he headed home final finisher Todd Hawkins' BOSS Fiesta.
Qualifying: The combined Pre’93/‘03/BOSS categories were the first cars out to qualify on Saturday morning. Seven exclusively BMW-mounted Pre ‘93 drivers entered and seven cars would also form the Blue Oval Saloon Series grid. After a pair of entries represented the Pre ‘03 field at Donington Park, there was an upturn in numbers for Brands Hatch as six cars turned out to qualify. The BOSS-contending Mk2 Escort of Piers Grange sped to the overall pole position time by 0.351 seconds from a clutch of Pre ‘93 M3s that were headed by Ian Bower in second. William Davison lined up in third overall some 0.613 seconds clear of Shaun Morris, who was just 0.158 seconds quicker than Kevin Willis. The latter had bumped the second-fastest BOSS Mk2 Escort of Martin Reynolds by 0.345 seconds with the E36 M3’s last lap of the session. Don Hughes’ Peugeot set the seventh overall fastest time and would be the Pre ‘03 polesitter, the 306 a slim 0.194 seconds ahead of Joe Dorrington’s Honda. The top three Pre ‘03 cars qualified within a second of each other as novice David Cave’s placed his BMW 328 ninth. The top ten was completed by Daniel Gandesha’s Pre ‘93 BMW. The third BOSS category car of 2024 champion Tim Mizen started behind the Pre ‘03 Honda Civic Type R of Andy Woods-Dean in twelfth.
Race One: Polesitter Piers Grange was slow off the line and was swamped by the leading Pre '93 BMWs but the Mk2 Escort had powered back into the lead by Paddock Hill Bend. The silver Mk2 and Bower pulled away from a train behind Martin Reynolds' Escort Mk2, who had gone the long way around a locked-up William Davison for fourth at Druids on lap one before powering alongside Shaun Morris on the run to Paddock Hill Bend for the third time and completed the move exiting Druids. Davison passed Morris for second in Pre '93 at Clearways on lap four, with Davison pulling away from Morris and Kevin Willis as Reynolds' Escort moved clear of Davison also. The top two continued to lap closely during the opening half of the fifteen minutes before BOSS victor Grange eased away to win overall from the leading Pre ‘93 contender Bower by 2.419 seconds. The BOSS runner-up Reynolds took third from three further Pre ‘93 BMWs in the hands of Davison, Morris and Willis. The Pre '03 lead changed at Paddock Hill Bend for the fourth time after poleman Don Hughes passed early leader Joe Dorrington. The second-placed Civic started to pressure the leading Peugeot 306 again in the second half but the Honda was under threat of being pinged for track limits. Hughes opened his lead to 1.486 seconds as he took the flag for the category win from Dorrington, the Pre '03 winner’s 306 was ignominiously taken back back to the paddock on a flatbed after a temperature sensor caused its engine to flood and the motor wouldn’t fire up again in parc ferme. David Cave made a cautious start to his first ever race in his BMW but came through a battle with Byron Aldous' Pre '03 VW Corrado and Robert Taylor's BOSS Fiesta, as well as a dice with Cliff Pellin's Fiesta, to almost catch tenth-placed Daniel Gandesha's Pre ‘93 M3 on the line as he won Class A in his maiden race. Tim Mizen spun to the inside of Graham Hill Bend for the first time when in battle with Hughes' Peugeot before the Fiesta fought back to claim the BOSS Class D victory in thirteenth overall, a short distance behind the Class C-winning Ecoboost Fiesta of Pellin.
Race Two: The first categories in action on Sunday morning would be the Pre '93/'03/BOSS field again. Piers Grange got away tardily from pole position like he had on Saturday but the Mk2 Escort reclaimed the lead from Ian Bower into Druids for the first time. William Davison also attacked Bower on the outside of Graham Hill Bend, briefly getting his nose in front, but had to fall back into line by Surtees. However, the car making progress in the opening stages was the Mk2 Escort of Martin Reynolds. The Escort got off the line smartly enough and got round the slow away Grange but the similar Escort, along with the Pre '93 M3s of Davison and Kevin Willis, had got ahead of the East Anglian by Paddock Hill Bend. Reynolds sped past Willis over the start/finish line starting the second circulation and outran Davison past the pits again a lap later to move up to third before moving swiftly onto the tail of Bower. The straightline speed advantage for the leading Mk2 kept the chasing Bower and Reynolds pair at bay but the duo were able to draw back up to Grange around the rest of the lap as if attached by an elastic band. Reynolds started to press Bower harder for second place around half-distance and the BMW’s defence allowed Grange to open his lead further. After holding on to second, Bower set the fastest lap with four minutes left to move back within one second of Grange. Grange was baulked into Paddock Hill Bend with two-and-a-half minutes to go to bring Bower closer still and the Pre '93 front man even chanced his arm at Clearways but the race leader dealt with a group of traffic starting the penultimate lap more easily to ease some of the pressure on the Escort. Bower then came under attack from behind, with Reynolds moving up to second after the BMW ran wide at Clearways and the Escort didn't need a second invitation to power past going onto the final lap. Grange was eventually victorious by 3.122 seconds from Reynolds both overall and in BOSS, with the leading Pre '93 competitor Bower 0.881 seconds behind Reynolds in third. Pre '93 runner-up Davison settled for a lonely fourth overall after gradually falling away from the lead tussle. Shaun Morris closed on Willis for fourth among the Pre '93s but the Bastos BMW went out before making a move during the final few minutes when his clutch pedal went to the floor. Don Hughes' Peugeot won the Pre '03s comfortably in sixth overall after chief rival Joe Dorrington went out in the early stages on lap three when the Civic’s clutch gave out whilst running second. Daniel Gandesha and Cliff Pellin's squabble for eighth overall was resolved when the Pre '93 BMW got down the inside of the third-placed BOSS Fiesta at Graham Hill Bend with four minutes to go. David Cave came home second of the Pre '03s in tenth overall and became a two-time Class A winner to cap an impressive debut weekend, the BMW was delayed on the opening lap when Rob Taylor's Fiesta rotated at Surtees and Byron Aldous' VW Corrado spun in sympathy ahead of the Salisbury man. Tim Mizen bemoaned rooted rear tyres on his way to a second Class D BOSS win just outside of the top ten in eleventh, ahead of the recovering Taylor Fiesta. Simon Mann took third in the Pre '03s with thirteenth overall and the Cadbury's E46 BMW was second in Class A as he headed home final finisher Todd Hawkins' BOSS Fiesta.
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The next racing action for the Classic Touring Car Racing Club comes at Pembrey in South Wales over the weekend of the 17th and 18th of May, with the meeting featuring three races and double point scores to encourage larger entries.