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News: Brands Hatch Grand Prix Race Report
GAZ Shocks Production BMW Championship
Rounds 7&8 Brands Hatch Grand Prix 22/05/10
Two more different winners in 2010 Production BMW Championship
The 2010 Production BMW Championship is shaping up as one of the most competitive in recent times as the latest rounds of the Championship, held on the iconic Brands Hatch Grand Prix loop saw another two different race winners.
Image by Snappyracers.com
The qualifying session saw Liam Crilly come away with the fastest time out of the 51 runners, with 44 runners making the start of race 1 with seven drivers ready to step in when required. The fifteen minute session saw a number of cars go off the track, meaning that there were a lot of yellow flags out. Some of the drivers were unhappy with what had happened in the session – even worse when your clutch master cylinder snaps – Robin Welsh had this happen to him after three laps.
Race 1:
The first race of the weekend saw Nick Barke start from the outside of the front row and was able to take the lead on the opening lap – a lead which he didn’t lose until the Safety Car had been withdrawn at the end of the sixth lap. Crilly made his move and claimed the victory ahead of Barke and Mike Tovey.
For Crilly, the race victory hadn’t been an easy one – he started on pole but made a terrible start giving Barke the chance to pass into Paddock Hill Bend. It was a game of cat and mouse between the two of them: Barke was quick on the Indy part of the lap while Crilly was quick out on the faster parts of the track. There was an attempted pass for the lead into Surtees – Barke held on.
The yellow flags which were out gave Robin Welsh the chance to close up and Crilly lost second at Stirlings just before the Safety Car was deployed to recover the car of Clint Bardwell. Once the Safety Car had been withdrawn, Welsh made an unsuccessful pass for the lead, handing second back to Crilly who then caught and took the lead from Barke at Stirlings before securing his first win of the season – just ahead of Crilly and Mike Tovey. Less than one second covered the top three at the end.
Race 2:
The second race of the day saw a new winner in the Production BMW Championship as Barke held off the attentions of Liam Crilly, Rob Smith and Mike Tovey – the top three were covered by less than two seconds at the end of the fifteen minute race.
At the start – Neil Adams had selected reverse instead of first gear and dropped down from twelfth on the grid to almost dead last – thankfully there wasn’t any contact and Adams was soon able to start fighting his way up the field and took the flag in twenty second position.
As in the opening race of the day, there were a number of penalties awarded for drivers putting all four wheels off the track – Rob Smith was one of the unlucky drivers who got penalised, having lost out on a podium finish as he crossed the line ninth.
At the end of the race, there was some confusion – the chequered flag hadn’t been waved at the end of the fifteen minutes so the field went and completed another racing lap even though the race had ended. Not good for Simon Bassford who has a rebuild to do after going off at Paddock Hill Bend after the official race end.
Race Report by Matt Auger (matt_macau_bmw320si@hotmail.com)
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