Race Report 1
Saturday’s race conditions were very wet meaning that the competitors were given two green flag laps as all drivers had qualified in the dry. Olivier Bouche driving the Stratton Motorsports with Immun`age and Osato # 22 car started the 60 minute race, leading the pack round on the green flag laps, the lights went out and Olivier held the lead into Paddock Hill bend, the Aston Martin Racing # 8 entry with Andrew Soper at the wheel also got a fantastic start and held onto his second position, Bolaji Odunsi in car # 20 was third with the MB Racing # 7 entry of Mike Brown in fourth. On lap 2 Mike Brown passed the Track-Club.com # 20 car of Bolaji Odunsi. Desmond Smail in the Mardi Gras Motorsport # 5 car was flying through the field getting up to fifth position by lap 4.
On Lap 6 Andrew Soper driving the Aston Martin Racing # 8 machine pitted to clear a
very steamed up front screen, this was a real shame as it meant he had dropped out of
second place to the tail of the grid. By lap 10 Olivier had created a 45 second lead over
the rest of the field, but the battle for second place was very close with Mike Brown in the
MB Racing # 7 car and Bolaji Odunsi in the Track-Club.com number # 20 car, pushing
each other very hard in the very tricky conditions.
Chris Kemp in the Stratton Motorsports # 91 car was the first to pit on lap 9 for the only mandatory pit stop of this race, there was no refueling allowed in this race. Chris was
driving solo for this weekend so would continue on to the end of the race. Kenneth
Greenberg pitted next in the Stratton Motorsport with team Wrinkle 200 number # 62 car,
handing over driving duties to Dr Andreas Kramer.
On Lap 14 Steven Hendy driving the Generation AMR # 56 car ran wide on the exit of
Clearways ending up in the gravel trap. Race control made the decision to bring out the
Aston Martin DBS safety car to neutralise the situation and to recover the stricken # 56
car as it was very close to the edge of the track on the outside of a blind corner.
With the safety car now on track the rest of the field took their mandatory pit stops for
their driver changes. The only car not to pit was the leader; Olivier Bouche in car # 22
had now built up a lead of over a lap over the rest of the field. After all mandatory stops
had been completed it was Pierre Mantello, now driving the # 22 Stratton Motorsports
with Immun`age and Osato car, leading from Bolaji Odunsi in the # 20 Track-Club.com
machine in second, third was now Paul Cripps in the MB racing # 7 car and fourth was
the Aston Martin Racing # 8 car with Matt Doyle at the wheel, who had fought his way
back up through the field after their early issues.
Bolaji Odunsi was driving absolutely brilliantly in the very tricky conditions and was
putting together some very consistent lap times, this meant that he was catching the
leader at about 6 or 7 seconds per lap and with only ten laps remaining meant he would
potentially catch Pierre Mantello and challenge for the lead.