Race Report
The circuit conditions for the 2-hour race were very tricky as the track was wet but
drying, most cars opted for slick tyres, Tim Eakin driving the # 56 Ultimate Speed
car pitted at the end of the green flag lap to change from wets to slicks, and this
meant he would have to start from the pit lane. Alan Bonner started the race in the
Vantage Racing # 24 car from pole position, leading the pack into Redgate on the
first lap. The gap left by Tim Eakin starting from the pit lane was soon filled by the
TrackClub.com # 20 car of Bolaji Odunsi taking second position and the MB Racing
# 7 entry of Mike Brown in third. At the end of lap 3 the # 47 Stratton Motorsport car of
Stuart Patterson had fought his way through the field to second position, he had opted
for wet tyres and this proved to be a good choice in the early stages of the race. On lap
4 Bolaji spun on the entry to Redgate beaching the car in the gravel, the car was
recovered and made its way back to the pits and later would rejoin the race.
Olivier Bouche in the Stratton Motorsports with Immun`age and Osato # 22 car was
flying through the field and by lap 7 was hunting down the leader, then on lap 9 Olivier
found a way passed Alan to take the lead. Mike Brown in car # 7 ran wide on the exit of
Mcleans on lap 10 ending up on the very wet grass and hitting the barrier, Mike
managed to recover the car and returned to the pits and the MB racing crew made
some repairs to the front of the car and sent him back into the race. On Lap 11 Cars 14
and 56 came together on the entry to the Craner curves and both cars span off on the
grass, the # 14 car of Adrian Johnson returned to the pits for repairs while the # 56 car
of Tim Eakin continued without any problem. By Lap 15 the track was starting to dry out
and Alan Bonner in car # 24 was starting to close in on Olivier Bouche in the # 22 car.
The pit window opened at the 30 minute mark and the first to pit for stop one of the two
mandatory stops was Mike Brown in the # 7 car handing over to Paul Cripps for the
second stint. Sid Sadique in the # 88 Stratton Motorsport with 88 racing car was next to
stop but Sid remained behind the wheel for stint two. The # 47 Stratton Motorsport car
of Stuart Patterson stopped next to hand over to Mark Walker, Stuart overshot the pit
area and had to reverse back to his mark, as reversing is not allowed in the pit lane
race control gave the 47 crew a drive through penalty. On lap 27 the leader pitted with
Olivier Bouche handing over to Pierre Mantello.
Desmond Smail in the # 5 Mardi Gras car was having a great battle with Chris Kemp in
the # 91 Stratton Motorsport car and the # 62 Stratton Motorsport with TeamWrinkle200
entry of Kenneth Greenberg.
Alan Bonner pitted from the lead on lap 42 to hand over to Tom Black in the Vantage
Racing # 24 car and two laps later Tom pitted again to take the teams second
mandatory stop. Desmond Smail hadn’t pitted at this stage and was now the leader at
the 45 lap mark; Chris Kemp in car # 91 was second and third was the # 22 car of
Pierre Mantello now at the wheel. On lap 47 Desmond pitted to hand over to Julian
Reddyhough in the Mardi Gras # 5 car and two laps later Chris Kemp pitted in the
Stratton Motorsport # 47 entry for the first of his stops, Chris was driving on his own for
this event so still had a lot of work to do.
Paul Cripps pitted on lap 47 to hand over driving duties to Dave West for the final stint in
the # 7 MB racing car. The news came through from race control that the Vantage
racing 24 car had received a drive through penalty for not earthing the car while
refuelling, so Tom Black had to return to the pit lane for the third time.
On Lap 58 the rain returned making the conditions very treacherous again Tom Black in
car 24 span on the exit of Redgate just managing to get the car off the wet grass and
returning to the race, The Mardi Gras # 5 car of Julian Reddyhough went off at
Goddards hitting the barriers and unfortunately there was too much damage for the car
to continue in the race. On Lap 60 Pierre Mantello pitted from the lead to hand back
over to Olivier Bouche to finish the race in the # 22 car.