CTCRC Donington Park 22nd October 2022
The Classic Touring Car Racing Club’s various championships reached their conclusion on the Grand Prix circuit at Donington Park over the weekend of the 22nd and 23rd of October.
Classic Thunder/BOSS Qualifying and Race One: 2022 Classic Thunder pace setter Jason Davies slithered to pole position on the damp track by 1.003 seconds from the BMW M3 E36 of Kirk Armitage, with Andy Wilson’s mighty Holden Monaro and Jonathan Everard’s rebuilt BMW M3 E30 putting in a fine performance to qualify on row two. Top qualifier Davies non-started after issues late in qualifying couldn't be fixed. The first attempt at getting underway was unfortunately red-flagged as a startline incident between the Robert Salisbury Honda Accord and the Chris Brown Fiesta XR2 saw the Super Touring Honda hit the pit wall, fortunately without injury. 7-litres of V8 power saw Andy Wilson surge into the lead by Redgate at the restart. Also making a storming start was leading BOSS runner Malcolm Harding, who had climbed up to second overall by the Old Hairpin. Armitage wrestled second from Harding into the Melbourne Hairpin for the first time and Simon Light's 5-litre Capri V8 powered past the Escort on lap two. Light set off in pursuit of the BMW in second and took the spot on lap four, the rumbling Capri followed Wilson home a couple of seconds adrift with Armitage in third. Sam Wilson climbed up the order from twelfth to fourth aboard the pale blue Aston Martin V8. Harding’s quest to steal the BOSS championship got off to a great start by bagging the win ahead of Modified Ford Series regular Ashley Shelswell in his gruff Sierra XR4i.
Classic Thunder/BOSS Qualifying and Race One: 2022 Classic Thunder pace setter Jason Davies slithered to pole position on the damp track by 1.003 seconds from the BMW M3 E36 of Kirk Armitage, with Andy Wilson’s mighty Holden Monaro and Jonathan Everard’s rebuilt BMW M3 E30 putting in a fine performance to qualify on row two. Top qualifier Davies non-started after issues late in qualifying couldn't be fixed. The first attempt at getting underway was unfortunately red-flagged as a startline incident between the Robert Salisbury Honda Accord and the Chris Brown Fiesta XR2 saw the Super Touring Honda hit the pit wall, fortunately without injury. 7-litres of V8 power saw Andy Wilson surge into the lead by Redgate at the restart. Also making a storming start was leading BOSS runner Malcolm Harding, who had climbed up to second overall by the Old Hairpin. Armitage wrestled second from Harding into the Melbourne Hairpin for the first time and Simon Light's 5-litre Capri V8 powered past the Escort on lap two. Light set off in pursuit of the BMW in second and took the spot on lap four, the rumbling Capri followed Wilson home a couple of seconds adrift with Armitage in third. Sam Wilson climbed up the order from twelfth to fourth aboard the pale blue Aston Martin V8. Harding’s quest to steal the BOSS championship got off to a great start by bagging the win ahead of Modified Ford Series regular Ashley Shelswell in his gruff Sierra XR4i.
Race Two: The Andy Wilson Holden led the field into Redgate for the first time but Light's Capri would soon burst past at Hollywood and stretched out a useful margin around the opening lap. That advantage grew when Wilson pulled off at the top of the Craners on lap two but then drama struck at the end of the lap as Light slid off at Goddards and nosed into the tyre wall, promoting the BMW of Kirk Armitage into a lead he wasn’t to lose. Top BOSS runner Mike Manning came home second in his Texaco-liveried Ford Sierra RS500, just ahead of Sam Wilson’s Aston Martin V8 and Ian Craig’s E46 M3. Jason Davies non-started again and combined with two class wins for AJ Owen meant that the Honda Civic Type-R pilot took the overall crown, or so he thought. After a post-season review of the Snetterton meeting points scores, where double-victor Jason Davies was awarded half-points, the Sapphire Cosworth pilot was eventually handed a full score which secured him the title. Meanwhile, Malcolm Harding’s mission to bag the BOSS title fell apart as he slithered to third in class on rooted wets to ensure that the Fiesta XR2 of James Dunkley wrapped up the championship.
Super Touring/Pre '93/Pre '03 Qualifying and Race One: Seven of the crowd-pleasing Super Tourers turned out for qualifying and it was the Vauxhall Vectra of series prime-mover Jason Hughes which sealed pole position by 0.754 seconds from Stewart Whyte’s Honda Accord. The field of six set off towards Redgate as dusk descended, the Robert Salisbury Honda Accord missed the race after the Classic Thunder startline incident and the Richard Wheeler Nissan Primera started from the pitlane. Hughes won the battle on the brakes into Redgate to lead before Whyte got ahead exiting Coppice on the fourth tour. The ex-Tom Kristensen Honda led the closely matched pair until the last corner when Whyte skated wide in traffic which allowed Hughes to pip him on the run to the flag. The concurrent Pre '93 and Pre '03 categories were topped by James Everard’s E30 M3 and Gary Prebble’s rapid Civic.
Race Two: Stewart Whyte dominated as race one victor Jason Hughes non-started the damp but drying race, Richard Wheeler’s Nissan overcame a cautious opening lap and finished three seconds up the road from Mark Jones’ Renault Laguna to fill out the podium positions. The winning Pre '93 and Pre '03 runners split the pair from the victorious Whyte. Everard again led home the Pre '93s, whilst the Civic of Chris Southcott took the Pre '03 trophy as Gary Prebble’s older version failed to finish. Prebble had briefly challenged the Super Touring Honda Accord of Whyte on the opening lap before getting embroiled in a dice with the M3 E30 of Everard.
Pre '83: Stephen Primett came through from his fourth qualifying spot aboard his 2-litre Mk1 Escort to take the sodden race one spoils, as the 1600cc Mk1 Escort of Tom Harvey followed him home 13.896 seconds adrift. A spirited drive from Dave Thomas was rewarded with third in his Mk1 Capri V6. Primett completed the double in a restarted Race Two, with the Triumph Dolomite of Mark Osborne giving chase some 2.975 seconds behind in much drier conditions.
Pre '66: Barry Sime, in a Mini Cooper S, came out on top of an entertaining scrap with the Lotus Cortina of Garry Townsend, the decisive moment being a brave dive up the inside from Sime turning onto the Melbourne loop for the final time. James Ibbotson’s Hillman Imp came home in third, having qualified on pole position in their damp session by a staggering 5.655 seconds! A wet surface brought Ibbotson to the fore once more in race two, the 2021 champion burst between Sime and Townsend at the start before stretching away to an eleven-second victory from Sime and drifted the little Imp superbly as he went.
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Other Highlights
The meeting also featured races for the British Endurance Championship, the Praga Cup, the Britcar Trophy and the Mini Challenge Trophy Series.
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