Modified Ford Series & TCR UK Snetterton 8th & 9th April 2023
Modified Ford Series - SIERRAS SEAL VICTORY AT SNETTERTON
The Modified Ford Series' second weekend of action in 2023 took them to Snetterton over the Easter weekend, competing on the 300 layout. A healthy entry of 37 cars lined up for their fifteen minutes of qualifying and it was James Allen who left it late to top the times, going round in 2 minutes 03.628 seconds right at the end of the session. The car he pipped by a narrow 0.175 seconds was the Sierra RS500 of Steve Scott-Dunwoodie, who would share the front row with the Focus RS. David Matthias’ Sapphire Cosworth and Neil Jessop’s 2-litre Mk2 Escort formed the second row, with the Mk2 Escort of local man Martin Reynolds and Paul Nevill’s RS2000 making up the third row. Jack Gadd was seventh fastest despite a misfire, he would be looking to move forward in the races having done a 2-minute flat lap in Friday testing. Two fancied runners in Class B+ failed to set a time, Olly Allen’s 2.4-litre Fiesta doing a solitary lap and the Mk2 Escort of Piers Grange didn’t even make it out of the pitlane.
Race One: At the rolling start, the turbocharged Steve Scott-Dunwoodie Sierra powered into the lead by Riches, ahead of poleman James Allen. That was as far as Allen would get, however. The Focus slewed sideways and a chain reaction caused mayhem as he attempted to gather the slide, the unfortunate Paul Nevill’s droop-snoot RS2000 collected the Focus and was also tagged by the Mike Thurley Mk1 Escort. AJ Howe's Focus Estate was then pitched into the barriers approaching Agostini as the red flags flew. Piers Grange never really got going from the rear of the field, cruising into retirement behind the incident. The field reformed for a twelve-minute restart and Scott-Dunwoodie once again blasted into the lead by Riches. David Matthias' Sapphire was a close second, whilst Neil Jessop secured third on the outside of Riches ahead of Martin Reynolds' Escort Mk2 and a fast-starting Mk2 Cortina of Josh Payton. Exiting the Wilson hairpin for the first time, Payton drew alongside Reynolds and moved into fourth around the outside of Palmer, a great first lap for the Cortina saw it move up to pressurise Jessop for third by the end of the opening lap. Lloyd Jamieson was also going well to finish lap one in sixth, ahead of Harry Hardy’s Puma and Cliff Pellin’s Mk7 Fiesta ST. Payton improved to third starting lap two, using his 300+ Millington horses to usurp Jessop past the pits. Reynolds also began closing in on Jessop on lap three, which ended with Payton marginally setting the then-fastest lap - going just 1/1000th faster than leader Scott-Dunwoodie, but the leading Cosworths then start to edge away. A worsening misfire for Jessop saw the black Mk2 Escort fall behind Reynolds on the Bentley Straight for the third time. Ending the third lap, Olly Allen’s overheating Fiesta dropped fluid at Murrays, the Fiesta of Alex Boam and Chris Baker’s Mk3 Escort suffered spins on the dropped fluid but both continued. On lap four, the Escort Maxi Cosworth 4x4 of Jamieson also went by Jessop, whose pace was dropping drastically. Up ahead, Scott-Dunwoodie's Class A Sierra RS500 reeled off the remaining minutes to win by 4.263 seconds. Matthias was a similarly comfortable second ahead of Payton, who took third and won Class B+. The Cortina finished 9.717 seconds ahead of Reynolds’ Mk2 Escort in fourth. Jamieson topped Class SA with fifth, whilst Jessop managed to claim the Class B win in sixth. David Guthrie’s Class B+ Fiesta Ecoboost was closing fast on the Zakspeed Escort in seventh, finishing within two seconds of the struggling Escort. Class B runner-up Harry Hardy was only another 2.886 seconds back in eighth. Boam still won class C despite his spin in seventeenth, one place ahead of Jimmy Neophytou’s Mk1 Fiesta X-Flow. Lone Class SB entrant Jack Gadd didn’t take the start in his rapid Mk1 Escort RSR after a misfire in qualifying.
Race One: At the rolling start, the turbocharged Steve Scott-Dunwoodie Sierra powered into the lead by Riches, ahead of poleman James Allen. That was as far as Allen would get, however. The Focus slewed sideways and a chain reaction caused mayhem as he attempted to gather the slide, the unfortunate Paul Nevill’s droop-snoot RS2000 collected the Focus and was also tagged by the Mike Thurley Mk1 Escort. AJ Howe's Focus Estate was then pitched into the barriers approaching Agostini as the red flags flew. Piers Grange never really got going from the rear of the field, cruising into retirement behind the incident. The field reformed for a twelve-minute restart and Scott-Dunwoodie once again blasted into the lead by Riches. David Matthias' Sapphire was a close second, whilst Neil Jessop secured third on the outside of Riches ahead of Martin Reynolds' Escort Mk2 and a fast-starting Mk2 Cortina of Josh Payton. Exiting the Wilson hairpin for the first time, Payton drew alongside Reynolds and moved into fourth around the outside of Palmer, a great first lap for the Cortina saw it move up to pressurise Jessop for third by the end of the opening lap. Lloyd Jamieson was also going well to finish lap one in sixth, ahead of Harry Hardy’s Puma and Cliff Pellin’s Mk7 Fiesta ST. Payton improved to third starting lap two, using his 300+ Millington horses to usurp Jessop past the pits. Reynolds also began closing in on Jessop on lap three, which ended with Payton marginally setting the then-fastest lap - going just 1/1000th faster than leader Scott-Dunwoodie, but the leading Cosworths then start to edge away. A worsening misfire for Jessop saw the black Mk2 Escort fall behind Reynolds on the Bentley Straight for the third time. Ending the third lap, Olly Allen’s overheating Fiesta dropped fluid at Murrays, the Fiesta of Alex Boam and Chris Baker’s Mk3 Escort suffered spins on the dropped fluid but both continued. On lap four, the Escort Maxi Cosworth 4x4 of Jamieson also went by Jessop, whose pace was dropping drastically. Up ahead, Scott-Dunwoodie's Class A Sierra RS500 reeled off the remaining minutes to win by 4.263 seconds. Matthias was a similarly comfortable second ahead of Payton, who took third and won Class B+. The Cortina finished 9.717 seconds ahead of Reynolds’ Mk2 Escort in fourth. Jamieson topped Class SA with fifth, whilst Jessop managed to claim the Class B win in sixth. David Guthrie’s Class B+ Fiesta Ecoboost was closing fast on the Zakspeed Escort in seventh, finishing within two seconds of the struggling Escort. Class B runner-up Harry Hardy was only another 2.886 seconds back in eighth. Boam still won class C despite his spin in seventeenth, one place ahead of Jimmy Neophytou’s Mk1 Fiesta X-Flow. Lone Class SB entrant Jack Gadd didn’t take the start in his rapid Mk1 Escort RSR after a misfire in qualifying.
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Race Two: 32 cars lined up for the start of race two on Sunday morning, with five quick cars looking to progress from the rear of the field after trouble on Saturday. Olly Allen's Fiesta, James Allen's Focus RS, Mike Thurley's Zakspeed Mk1 Escort, Jack Gadd's Mk1 Escort RSR and Neil Argrave's Mk2 Escort would go from the 13th, 14th and 16th rows, the very back in Argrave's case. The Scott-Dunwoodie Sierra took the initiative into Riches as the bout got underway, Matthias slotting into second ahead of Payton. The Cortina challenged Matthias around the outside of Palmer but the Sapphire retained the place on the run down to Agostini, despite a lock-up under braking. Reynolds fended off Jessop for fourth in a battle that would rumble on for the majority of the race. The leading Sierra completed lap one 1.093 seconds to the good from Matthias and Payton but all eyes were turning to a quite incredible drive from Jack Gadd. The flying RSR Mk1 Escort ended the lap in seventh, having made up twenty one places from his grid spot! His rapid rise continued as he took sixth from Lloyd Jamieson at the Wilson hairpin before sailing past the Reynolds/Jessop wrestling match on lap two. Gadd then relieved Payton of third starting lap three and he soon dispensed with Matthias’ Sapphire for second later in the lap exiting Agostini and looked a shoo-in for the race win. After recording a fastest lap of 2:02.041 to close in on Scott-Dunwoodie's Sierra, the RSR looped into a spin at Riches beginning lap four. The car briefly rose up onto two wheels before pirouetting wildly on the dewy grass. He dropped behind the Reynolds/Jessop tussle and Lloyd Jamieson as he rejoined but soon fought back up to fourth, passing the Jessop/Reynolds fight in one go starting the fifth tour. Unfortunately, his storming drive came to nought when he retired with a left-rear puncture with one lap to go after packing a season’s worth of action into one race! Scott-Dunwoodie had built a small advantage of 3.508 seconds ending lap four but Matthias and Payton started to come back at the RS500 in the closing minutes as its pace began to dwindle. The Sierra was still ahead starting the last lap but the race win disappeared in a cloud of smoke approaching Agostini. Matthias gratefully took the win with Payton not very far behind in second, a mere 1.312 seconds in arrears. The recovering James Allen Focus just pipped Lloyd Jamieson’s Escort Maxi for third by 0.061 seconds after a drag race to the line. Jessop again claimed Class B in fifth, the car running as it should this time. Reynolds came home in sixth after holding off Jessop for a good chunk of the race - the bewinged Jessop Mk2 Escort had gone the long way around Coram to claim the inside of Murray’s ending the fourth lap but Reynolds used his power advantage to repass Jessop on the Senna Straight, just as Gadd breezed by them both! Their fighting brought Jamieson back up to them and the turbocharged Escort blazed past the pair on the Bentley Straight, Jessop finally got by Reynolds into the Brundle/Nelson sequence just after. Allen's Focus was now starting to loom large behind them with two laps remaining, having risen from starting 26th, and split the pair during the penultimate tour. The power of the Focus RS then took Allen charging by Jessop along the pit straight starting the last lap and into his successful pursuit of Jamieson. Neil Argrave took a brilliant seventh from dead last in his Mk2 Escort Warrior, ahead of David Guthrie - who scored another top ten finish in his Fiesta. Race one non-finisher Olly Allen made it through to ninth in his 2.4-litre Fiesta Mk6, with Mike Thurley, another of the casualties in the race one stoppage, rising through the pack to finish tenth overall, second in Class B, aboard his Castrol Mk1 Escort. Alex Boam made it two from two in Class C in his Mk6 Fiesta, coming home in 22nd overall.
The next event for the popular series is on the swooping Brands Hatch GP circuit on the 30th of April, with another over-subscribed entry looking likely.
The next event for the popular series is on the swooping Brands Hatch GP circuit on the 30th of April, with another over-subscribed entry looking likely.
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TCR UK Touring Car Championship
Preview: A 24-car field packed with quality converged on Norfolk for the opening rounds of the blossoming TCR UK Championship. The momentum behind the series has been building over the past couple of seasons, with Maximum Motorsport’s Stuart and Nicki Lines running the show. That success has brought the championship back into the BRSCC’s portfolio of events. 2022 champion Chris Smiley was back in a brand new FL5-shape Honda Civic, the model making its worldwide competitive debut. 2022 race winners Bruce Winfield and Alex Ley also returned in a pair of Hyundai i30s, other sophomores would include Adam Shepherd, Bradley Hutchison, Callum Newsham, Jac Constable and Bradley Kent in the lone Hyundai Veloster campaigned by elder sibling Lewis in 2022. Ley and Kent were also named as part of the 2023 Hyundai Motorsport Customer Racing Junior Driver initiative. A newcomer to keep an eye on would be former Fiesta Junior and reigning Fiesta ST240 champion Jenson Brickley in a Cupra Leon Competicion. More Cupras looking to put the cat amongst the pigeons would be in the hands of former BTCC racer and four-time National Hot Rod world champion Carl Boardley, along with the similar car of Lewis Brown. Another surely worth watching would be Josh Files, a multiple TCR champion in Europe and further afield, piloting a Hyundai Elantra in a one-off appearance as the car made its UK TCR debut.
Preview: A 24-car field packed with quality converged on Norfolk for the opening rounds of the blossoming TCR UK Championship. The momentum behind the series has been building over the past couple of seasons, with Maximum Motorsport’s Stuart and Nicki Lines running the show. That success has brought the championship back into the BRSCC’s portfolio of events. 2022 champion Chris Smiley was back in a brand new FL5-shape Honda Civic, the model making its worldwide competitive debut. 2022 race winners Bruce Winfield and Alex Ley also returned in a pair of Hyundai i30s, other sophomores would include Adam Shepherd, Bradley Hutchison, Callum Newsham, Jac Constable and Bradley Kent in the lone Hyundai Veloster campaigned by elder sibling Lewis in 2022. Ley and Kent were also named as part of the 2023 Hyundai Motorsport Customer Racing Junior Driver initiative. A newcomer to keep an eye on would be former Fiesta Junior and reigning Fiesta ST240 champion Jenson Brickley in a Cupra Leon Competicion. More Cupras looking to put the cat amongst the pigeons would be in the hands of former BTCC racer and four-time National Hot Rod world champion Carl Boardley, along with the similar car of Lewis Brown. Another surely worth watching would be Josh Files, a multiple TCR champion in Europe and further afield, piloting a Hyundai Elantra in a one-off appearance as the car made its UK TCR debut.
Qualifying/Race One: The Hyundai Veloster of Bradley Kent rallied to take pole position from Area Motorsport's Josh Files by 0.078 seconds in a red flag-interrupted 30-minute session. The red flag was necessary to remove George Jaxon's stranded Cupra, which was facing the oncoming traffic at Murrays after contact with Lewis Brown. The session restarted with a little under seven minutes remaining and Files' Elantra had been the benchmark until the last-minute flyer from Kent knocked him off the top spot. The third different Hyundai model in the top three would be the i30 in the hands of Bruce Winfield, who was second until Kent’s demon late lap. Defending champion Chris Smiley placed his Honda fifth for its debut behind Adam Shepherd, who was set for a front-row spot with two minutes left. Free Practice pacesetter Alex Ley qualified sixth on his eighteenth birthday and was the fourth Area Motorsport car in the top six. Filling the next four slots would be Lewis Brown, Callum Newsham, Jenson Brickley and Joe Marshall-Binks, with the top ten covered by a little over one second. On Sunday morning it emerged that polesitter Bradley Kent had been excluded from qualifying for a technical infringement, reportedly a wheel speed sensor failure, which moved Josh Files onto pole position with Bruce Winfield alongside. Winfield got away best to head the field into Riches. Shepherd also jumped ahead of the bogged-down Files, who chopped across the nose of Smiley to hold third. The Honda then had to defend from Brown into the Wilson hairpin as Ley completed the top six. Winfield's Hyundai headed the field by 1.2 seconds after a storming opening lap but the leading trio began to compress at the completion of lap three after fastest laps for Shepherd on lap two and Files on lap three shrunk Winfield's advantage. Just behind the lead three, the Cupra of Brown arrowed past Smiley for P4 up the inside of Williams for the fourth time. A lap later and the Elantra of Files dived inside Shepherd for second at Oggies, the i30 of Shepherd slowed almost immediately and pitted with a suspected puncture. Now released, Files started catching Winfield and was quickly within a second of the front-running i30 but was unable to find a clear-cut passing opportunity. Into the last five minutes and Files began turning the screw as he sought a TCR UK debut victory, the Elantra appeared better on the brakes but the Winfield's i30 had better traction out of the slower corners so was able to drive his own line without defending. Winfield eked out a small margin of 0.718 seconds heading onto the last lap and the i30 took the flag by half a second from Files for an emotional victory after the recent loss of his father. Northern Irishman Smiley began closing back up on Brown for third in the second half of the race and when the Cupra had a dusty moment in traffic at the Bomb Hole with a couple of minutes remaining, Smiley was through to score a debut podium in Civic FL5 chassis #001. Brown followed the Honda home in fourth, with Alex Ley and Carl Boardley completing the top six. Having been sent to the back of the grid with a ten-second penalty, Bradley Kent rose through the pack to finish twelfth in the Veloster after choosing to start from the pitlane. The Hyundai was catching the squabbling Alistair Camp and Brad Hutchison throughout the last lap, the three covered by 0.544 seconds in the battle for the race two pole, which Hutchison took. After missing qualifying with an engine issue, the Gen II Audi RS3 of Jac Constable went from the back of the grid and had risen to ninth before retiring at the Wilson hairpin.
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Race Two: For the TCR UK championship's second race of the day, the top ten would be switched to form the starting grid. The partially reversed grid placed Alistair Camp on pole position thanks to a late change to the overall result of the first race. On-the-road ninth-placed finisher Scott Sumpton was disqualified from the results after a misdemeanour with tyre marking forced his exclusion. Brad Hutchison both gained and lost from the Honda's disappearance and would start second to the Pro Alloys Hyundai. Jenson Brickley, on his nineteenth birthday, and Joe Marshall-Binks' Audi would form row two. When the lights went out, Camp and Hutchison were level-pegging up front until the Hutchison Audi swept around the outside to head the field into Riches. Marshall-Binks tried to do the same but a slide on cold rear tyres dropped him behind Camp, Brickley and Lewis Brown. Further back, the Civic of Chris Smiley spun into the inside Armco at Riches before crossing the circuit in front of the midfield, miraculously without being collected. The man on the move was Josh Files, who'd flown up to fifth from ninth. The Elantra had outdragged Smiley's Honda off the line and got by Carl Boardley and Brown on the inside of Riches, before passing Joe Marshall-Binks at the Wilson hairpin - after the Audi tried to regain its lost ground on the outside. Whilst Brickley's Cupra fended off Files' Hyundai towards Palmer, Marshall-Binks passed the pair of them and dived into second at Agostini, Files got by Brickley too before dispensing with Camp running up to Hamilton. Brown and Alex Ley further deposed Brickley by Oggies. Hutchison continued to lead with Files charging up to second at Williams, just as the Safety Car is called for the stranded Smiley Honda at Riches. Quick work from the recovery crews saw the field released after a single lap and Hutchison delayed making his break until well after Murrays. The Gen I Audi RS3 was able to eke out a small margin initially but Files was back with the lead Audi at Agostini. The Elantra went to the outside of Hutchison and simultaneously came under attack from Marshall-Binks on the inside but the order stayed the same. Towards the end of the lap, Hutchison refused to cede the lead to Files through Coram so Marshall-Binks was able get up the inside of Files at Murrays, with a defensive Hutchison backing the pack up. Files' Elantra was forced onto the dust on the exit but stayed alongside the Gen II Audi. Lewis Brown and Alastair Camp both had a run on the pair of them and the Cupra of Brown dived for the inside of Files at Riches. Contact was made and sent Files sliding wide, whilst Camp also moved by the Audi into Riches. Slow exits for the trio ahead saw Marshall-Binks get back up the inside of all of them and into second place at Wilson! Ley also dived inside Camp and Brown for fourth. Marshall-Binks set off in pursuit of the race lead but skated off at Brundle attempting to wrest the lead off Hutchison, having been side-by-side down the Bentley Straight. The Audi’s grassy moment delayed Hutchison and allowed Files to run the long way around Coram to take the lead into Murrays with fourteen minutes left. Brown mirrored Files' move and climbed up to third with the same manoeuvre on Ley. The Elantra immediately started pulling away from the bunfight behind, as Hutchison hung Brown out to dry on the outside of Riches but the Cupra stayed with the move and finished it at Wilson. Carl Boardley and race one winner Bruce Winfield had latched onto the group too, with Boardley going around Ley at Wilson but ran wide at the exit. Ley immediately repassed the former oval racer and the youngster's teammate Winfield also went through. Ley dispensed with Hutchison at Oggies and Winfield followed him by at Williams, the Audi had gone into into freefall as Boardley also got past at Brundle. Another to make progress through all the fighting ahead, Bradley Kent moved up to seventh at the end of the lap by passing Camp's Hyundai through the Bomb Hole. Up ahead, Files went over a second clear with a fastest lap but Brown kept him in sight with a fastest lap of his own next time around. Into the last ten minutes and the lead pair set identical lap times to the thousandth, with Brown keeping the lead Hyundai more than honest but is still being kept at arm's length. Inside the last three minutes of the twenty five, Files was suddenly caught by Brown and a grandstand finish was looking likely but the Elantra smokily expired on the penultimate lap at Riches. An ecstatic Brown cruised to the win by 6.843 seconds to cap an impressive debut weekend in the category. Ley took second from teammate Winfield in third. The lone Veloster of Kent secured fourth, from twelfth on the grid, having passed Boardley at Wilson/Palmer with just under eight minutes remaining. Boardley just held off Shepherd for fifth after a typically hectic reversed-grid race.
The next rounds for the championship take place at Croft over the weekend of the 6th and 7th of May.
The next rounds for the championship take place at Croft over the weekend of the 6th and 7th of May.
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Other Highlights
The supporting race card featured the Honda Civic Cup - Dan Thackeray headed Will Redford in race one and Jack Harding came out on top of a busy race two from Max Edmunson, the Fiesta ST240 championship - Zachary Lucas won the first two races before 2016 champion Alastair Kellett took the third, the Fiesta ST150 championship - Ethan Rogers twice claimed the spoils before a DNF in race three allowed Matthew Pimlott to win, the Fiesta Junior championship - Luke Hilton took the first victory with Ryan Micallef getting the second after a bruising encounter was called after only two racing laps, the City Car Cup - Elliot Lettis twice bested Stuart Bliss before the tables were turned in race three with Bliss grabbing the glory, and the new SuperSport Endurance Cup - Julian McBride's BMW M3 E46 appeared to scamper to a clear 28.4-second winning margin from the Keir McOnomy/Bart Horsten BMW 1 Series but a one-minute penalty for a pitstop error swapped their finishing positions.
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