Brands Hatch Grand Prix - 1 August 2009

3 HOUR THRILLER AS SPEED SERIES HEATS UP DAMP BRANDS HATCH GP

In changing conditions the SPEED Series pilots battled the elements and each other for every minute of the 3 hour race as the teams paid their annual visit to the iconic Brands GP circuit. Ultimately it was Rob Garofall who topped the results sheet once again in his Juno SSE-CN2009 but that does not tell the whole story of what was a thoroughly entertaining race.

Round 3 of the SPEED Sports Prototype Series saw an 18 car entry tackle the Kent track. Qualifying was run in fine conditions which enabled several drivers, returning to action for the first time in 2009, a brief but crucial opportunity to get the feel of the car and the lay of the track. Chris Ward, the vastly experienced co-driver of Norma’s Simon Phillips, secured the pole position with a time of 1:25.684 in the Norma M20F-2008, but he didn’t have it easy; Sam Hancock’s Jota Sport Ligier JS49 2008 was just 0.217 seconds behind whilst Garofall, winner at Round 1 in Anglesey, qualified 1.074 seconds off pole time in the Juno SSE-CN2009 he shared for the first time with Chris Bialan.

The race was expected to be run in very different conditions and it did not disappoint. Starting on a dry track, Phillips led the cars around behind the pace car for the rolling start. As the pack charged down to the first corner, the winning car at Round 2 in Spa, the Ligier JS49 driven by Barry Gates which had started in third position, locked up and began to spin right in front of the field. Incredibly everyone close by managed to miss him and the Swiss-based driver was soon back in control having only lost a handful of positions and he was soon back on the charge.

At the front, Simon Dolan in the Jota Sport Ligier had made a lightning start and pulled into a lead ahead of Bialan and the rapid Ryan Hooker who had taken his Norma from the fourth row up to third place by the end of lap 1. He hunted down and passed Bialan and set about Dolan, getting past on lap 3. He extended that lead over the next 5 laps to over 15 seconds when, on lap 8, the Ligier of Phil Hall and Ian Simmonds suffered a terminal suspension failure at Druids resulting in a safety car period that bunched the field back up. Five laps later the safety car pulled off and the field was racing again and, once more, Hooker pulled away, opening up a significant lead for some twenty laps that put him nearly 20 seconds in front.

The race behind the leaders was enthralling with several cars running nose to tail lap after lap for much of the race. Bialan, Phillips, Ian Ford, Jean Lou Rihon, Sarah Reader and Luc Paillard in the Lanan Racing Pilbeam were battling royally much to the delight of the crowd who, on lap 30, had started to get damp as the rain started to fall. On lap 30, series newcomer Anthony Newman (RLR MSport Ligier) and Xero Competitions Chris Clayton had a coming together at Clearways which resulted in the Newman car getting lodged in the gravel trap and brought out the second safety car period of the day, this had the effect of bunching up the field for just a lap whilst the car was recovered to the pits. Once the green lights came back on, the cars got back to business but it was short-lived as Barry Gates’ Ligier suffered complete electrical failure and ground to a halt at Sheen Curve. The safety car was redeployed and the rain started to come down harder.

The race then lost the Norma of Jean Lou Rihon who went backwards into the barrier hard. Happily he was OK but the car looked badly bent out of shape. After 1 hour’s racing just 10 seconds separated the front 10 cars and then, on lap 47, the pit stops started. The various change-overs saw Hancock back in the Jota Sport Ligier and back battling the Pilbeam of Damien Chavariat which held the lead for a strong period and looked capable of producing a stunning victory in its first outing of 2009 before cruel luck dropped it back down the pack to finish 8th by the end of the race.

As the teams entered the final hour it was tyre choices that looked to be determining the result. The Lanan Racing was on slicks with Hancock on wets and Garofall was over a minute back also on slicks. Another safety car period bunched everything up again and inspired Garofall who, remarkably, took the lead on lap 84.

In tricky conditions he pulled away by some 23 seconds. The Counter Solutions Racing team were feeling confident but then the heaviest rain shower of the day began and Garofall radioed to the pits that he was coming in for wet tyres. Everyone knew that he was throwing away the win. Graham Fennymore, now having an inspired stint at the wheel of the TFL Racing Juno, and Hancock – both on wets, looked to be worthwhile inheritors of the top two podium positions. Amazingly though, with just 8 minutes remaining and as Garofall was just about to come into the pits, the Derek Collin/Ryan Hooker Norma M20F, the pace setter at the very outset of the race, left the circuit in the wet and beached in the gravel. Elsewhere, two other cars were off the track as the conditions worsened and, with the Norma in a dangerous location, the Race Director David Scott threw the red flag bringing the race, and TFL’s dreams of a win, to an end.

Given the conditions and the incidents, it is testament to the superb competition levels in SPEED that 4 cars finished on the lead lap after 3 hours of racing. The Phillips/Ward Norma came home fourth ahead of Lee Atkins and impressive newcomer, James Rigby with Toby Newton and Chris Clayton 6th, their best finish of the season in the Ligier. Satellite Racing’s Norma, piloted by Ben Clucas and Christophe Burrick were ahead of the Pilbeam with Andrew Derodra/Trevor Knight in 9th. Ian Ford and Ross Kaiser, thwarted by a pitlane regulation, were 10th ahead of Newman/Cunningham. Massimo Vignali and Ivor McCullough’s Ligier, winner of the Turtle Wax Most Polished Performance Award, rounded out the finishers.

The next round of the SPEED Series, Le Many-style racing for the UK is a six-hour marathon at Snetterton in Norfolk on 22 August.