Wednesday 15 May 2013

Brands Hatch 4th May


Race one
After a long wait from qualifying we finally got round to race one at 12 pm. Tom was set at the front of the pack ready and raring to go however he was placed within a breath of Sumpter so he knew the battle would begin instantaneously. Marcus running in 7th position was well placed on the right hand side of the track to take the first right corner but being surrounded by 911’s was bound to cause an issue at some point in the race.
Sumpter unfortunately took Tom into the first corner but within a lap he had regained his rightful first place through out braking him coming into paddock. Marcus got a good take off the line ,except due to the traffic out in front of him he was held back but by lap two he had regained the pace and began to climb.  He’d also had a great view of the frantic paint-rubbing battle between Pete Morris & Adrian Slater at the start, and then on the run down from Druids, where Morris slewed sideways and as Slater slowed to avoid him Marcus was able to mug them both, only to over-cook it slightly at Graham Hill bend, allowing Slater back past.  Morris went off & then had to pit due to a broken tyre valve, ending his chances of challenging the front runners.
Unfortunately Chris Dyer’s Cayman having been tipped off at Clearways on lap 4 caused the deployment of the safety car which was there to hold up the race but not just for 1 or two laps for 6 laps (due to a mishap of judging which was the leading car)! Practically restarting the race when it was taken back in, Tom was left with the job of widening the gap between him and now Mark McAleer in a 996. However the holdup caused was beneficial further back allowing places to narrow between each of the drivers giving Marcus a chance to make it up to make it up to 6th place.
From this point on Marcus was left tailing McCullagh Class two leader closely (that close he could see McCullagh’s tail pipe dragging on the floor almost), who’d managed to get past him out of Paddock Hill.  Marcus was putting down some great lap times during this pursuit (proving he had better pace) and nearly managed it past at Druids but McCullagh made it up on the following straight and just got away from the Boxster.
This was the end of what had now become a leading pack, the 2nd pack were having their own battle slightly further back. Five 911’s were fighting in Marcus’ tracks. Following them were the other two Hartech members Gary and Stuart having their own battle constantly interchanging places throughout the race. Gary just swept past Stuart on the last lap putting him in 11th place when the flag came out. However despite the external crusade with Gary, Stuart kept a great pace through the whole race and went from 4th to 2nd place giving him his first ever podium in the championship.
Marcus held on to the place he made up during the race after some great defending skills were shown meaning he finished 5th in class.
Tom held off McAleer and won the race giving him his first win of the championship to go with his pole position and the fastest lap of only 51.9 s breaking the record for the Porsche club at Brands.


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