Britcar Production  Report – Brands Hatch 7/10/09



Intersport Win the Race and the Championship

Kevin Clarke and Wayne Gibson sealed the 2009 Britcar Production title with a masterful performance in Saturday’s 90-minute race, but it didn’t go their way in qualifying.

The Intersport BMW M3 was pipped to pole by just 0.008 seconds by David Fenn in the JDR Lotus Elise. David, however, having qualified himself in both of the JDR team’s cars, elected to hand the pole car to son Robert and James Barclay, whilst he debuted the classic Honda NSX, sharing with TV personality Vicky Butler-Henderson, who is becoming quite a regular Britcar co-driver of late.

Mark Lemmer annexed Class 2 pole in the invitation Barwell Honda Integra, sharing with car owner, and ace Barwell spannerman Mike Brown, whilst top of the Class 2 points-scorers was Torquespeed-run BMW 320i of Ian Lawson and Mike Wilds. Class 3 pole went to the 888 Solutions Honda Civic, the team pooling their two pro-drivers into the remaining reliable car, with a serious shot at the overall crown in prospect.

Sadly, Rob Fenn tripped over himself on the pace lap, throwing the Lotus off, and, as the field bunched-up for the green lights, and Wayne Gibson powered freely into the lead, the blue and orange Lotus was pitbound for some patching-up; once in the vanguard, now in the guards van.

Gibson has some semblance of a lead – just a couple of seconds over Steve Wood, who started in the CBT/JordanSport Ford Mustang, who in turn was a similar distance ahead of Steve Clark, guesting in Keith Gent’s BMW M3.

A clash at Graham Hill Bend between Tim Saunders Honda Civic and Matthew Hampson’s BMW saw the BMW heading for the pits, but the Civic coming to a rest at the edge of the track just by the rear pit escape road.  The ensuing three-lap Safety Car period put the top three nose-to-tail, and once the course went green again, Clark snatched second place from Wood, and began to eke out an advantage. Capitalising on the caution to get his pit stop out of the way was Gino Ussi, the single-seater veteran making his Britcar debut in the red Geoff Steel BMW M3.

Sadly retiring onto the grass at the bottom of Paddock Hill Bend was the Seat Supercopa of Mark Cunningham – a newly reconditioned differential was suspected of causing gearbox woes, and, after a fraught qualifying session, it was always touch-and-go for the race. 

Behind the top three – Gibson and Clark still only seconds apart, but Wood now around 13 seconds adrift – was, no surprise, Mark Lemmer’s Integra, which was in front of a real battle between David Fenn’s Honda  NSX and Rob Carvell’s Seat Cupra.

Twenty-five laps in, and Ian Lawson pitted his BMW 320i for an unscheduled stop; he rejoined four laps down, but was back in again later, this time straight into the garage. “I got thumped by somebody, and I tried to carry on, but it was undriveable”   rued Lawson later – a sad end to a miserable season for him and Mike Wilds.

Gino Ussi, on the move after his early stop, had the leaders gradually catching him, but was in no mood to go a further lap down, holding off the inevitable for long enough to let Clark latch on to Gibson’s tail, the pair sweeping past as one  when the chance came. The lead changed at Druids on lap 46, with 50 minutes of the race left, but Gibson was on a wind-down, pitting the black E46 for Kevin Clarke to take over. Rejoining in ninth position, the remainder of the field started their pit stops progressively, significantly, Lemmer coming in from second place on lap 55, to hand over to Mike Brown.  With the pit lane fairly busy, Clarke made the most of a relatively clear track, punching in a series of fastest laps, and breaching the 50-second mark for the first time in the race. Steve Clark was the last to take a mandatory stop, handing the Torquespeed E46 to Keith Gent with just 34 minutes to go. The timing screens kept the #60 BMW at the top all through it pit stop, then identified that it still led by 13 seconds over Kevin Clark once back on the track, causing disbelieving Autosport hack Dud Candler to pay the timekeepers a visit, where a print-out showed that, whilst Gent’s pit stop had been on the button, the Intersport stop had been a tad overlong.

Nevertheless, veteran Clarke brought the gap down rapidly – 9.3s, 7.3s, 1.9s on successive laps, then took the lead on lap 72, down the inside of Paddock, with 26 minutes to go. Such was Clarke’s unrelenting pace, not only did he pull away, but actually lap second-place man Gent  - that’s around a  50-second advantage, - on lap 99, and by lap 103, it was all over. Clarke, Gibson, and Intersport had retained their Production title in convincing style.

Behind the Gent/Clark Torquespeed BMW, Gino Ussi had driven a remarkable race to come home third in the Geoff Steel BMW M3, possibly the best performance ever in the old-faithful red machine, whilst Mike Jordan, who had relieved Steve Wood in the Mustang, couldn’t take the fight to the leading BMWs, Wood’s fastest lap, set early in the race, being fourth-fastest in the race.

Another year, another class win, for Mark Lemmer in the Barwell Honda Civic – the cheeky team boss, for the last few years with Mike Brown, just rocks up every November to mix it with the Class 1 machines, and show his class. No points, though, since they were invitees.

Rob Fenn recovered well after his early indiscretion, and James Barclay picked up the pieces to finish sixth in the JDR Lotus Elise, in front of their stablemates David Fenn and Vicky Butler-Henderson in the stunning Honda NSX. David encountered gearbox problems during his stint; “I found a gear – it was third – so I slammed it in and kept it there”, and so it remained for the rest of the race.

Gary Smith had an atypical trouble-free run in his invitation-entry MG ZR, sharing with Simon Byrne, and headed the Class 3 cars home, whilst lone driver Dave Allan headed  the Class 2 points scorers in the Synchro Motorsport Honda Civic, atoning for the dismal engine woes of the last few outings. He had battled in the race with Class 3 points-scoring victors Martin Byford and David Green, in the older-shaped 888 Solutions Civic, who narrowly missed the overall title by just one point, but carried off the class honours. It seemed a long way from the team’s low-key first-round showing back in March. Splitting the Hondas, 10th overall, was the Carvell brothers Seat; starting driver Rob was in the top three mid-race, but Ian’s closing stint was marred by a two-lap penalty for a short pit stop, dropping them probably three places down the order, whilst Jabba stablemates Luke Schlewitz and Kevin Glover, in the ex-Cunningham Seat Cupra, had a solid run to 12th.

Second in Class 3, Owen Thomas and Ashley Woodman made no mistakes in the BPM Renault Clio, ending a satisfying second season, finishing nine seconds ahead of the Lunar Racing MG ZS of Cassey Watson and Rob Hedley, the father-to-be wringing the neck of the student-run machine, but ruing the lack of available power. Last classified finisher was the Ford Escort Turbo of Dave and Michael Cox, suffering from a late pit stop, and being largely untested after an engine rebuild following a blow-up at the Nurburgring the previous weekend.

Unclassified, but running at the end, was the Matthew  Hampson/Andy Schulz BMW, victim of an early clash, but retiring early was the Mitsubishi  Evo X of James Kaye and James Emmett.

STEVE WOOD