All picture courtesy of James Roberts

For most drivers, it's been 5 long months since the end of last season, and here we are back at Snetterton, just where we left off. For some drivers, maybe the season has started too early, the 76 registrations for the championship translated into 38 entries, a full grid at Snetterton with at least one third of the grid new to LMA this year.

Qualifying
The LMA Euro Saloon and Sports Car Championship were first out on Sunday morning, and the expected wet weather did not materialize with the day going on to be warm & sunny. However, the track was still very slippery as a result of multiple oil spills from racing the day before. The session was red flagged almost immediately as Trevor Nicosia spun at the Bomb Hole on the 2nd lap, Mal Davison was unable to avoid him and the incident ended with Nicosia's Lancia parked on top of Davison's Noble.

Davison did get back out to complete the mandatory 3 laps, but was well off the front -running pace. Nick Williamson (Escort Cosworth) set the pace at the front with Richard Gould's Noble M12 fully 1.5 seconds further back. Douglas Ellwood (Marcos Mantis) headed Class B in 4th overall but with Joss Ronchetti (Sunbeam Lotus) and Rhys Lloyd (Seat Leon) within 0.13 seconds of Ellwood, the race for Class B honours looked to be a good one. Angus Dawe's BMW M3 headed Class C by two seconds from Ian Craig's similar car with Julian Long (Peugeot 306) setting a marker in Class D 2 seconds clear of Andrew Neal (Honda Integra Type R) and 3 ahead of 2007 Champion Simon Taylor (Honda Civic Type R). John Hammersley (Honda Accord ST) succumbed to bearing failure after 4 laps and to make himself useful during the races helped out veteran commentator Brian Jones with plenty of inside information.

Race 1
Nick Williamson led the pack round for the Rolling Start and went on to lead from start to finish, but it was far from an easy win. A poor starting Richard Gould finished lap 1 in 5th place and took a few laps to recover. By lap 6 Gould was on the move, up into 3rd place but nearly 9 seconds off the front. A string of quick laps, including setting a new lap record, brought the gap down to 2.4 seconds with one lap to go. On the final lap, Gould was almost broadside out of Russell, but Williamson held on to win by 1.2 seconds. Richard Hawken (Nissan Primera ST) and Derek Hale (Honda Accord ST) were involved in a race long battle which Hawken won by 0.17 seconds to take 3rd in Class A and 4th overall. Rex Stamp (Lotus Exige) starting from the pit lane, as the pack roared past, worked his way up to a creditable 6th overall and 5th in Class. Peter Challis (Nissan Primera ST) completed one lap before his new engine lost oil pressure & Mal Davison's Noble broke down on the first lap with an intermittent electrical fault.

Rhys Lloyd made a fine start from 8th on the grid to end lap 1 in 3rd place, and although he succumbed to Gould on lap 10, he too smashed the class lap record on his way to taking his first LMA Class win. Douglas Ellwood also smashed the old lap record and got to within 0.1 second of Lloyd's new record on his way to 2nd in class from Joss Ronchetti (Sunbeam Lotus). Stephen Oliver was another to start from the pit lane but dropped out after 5 laps with a fuel problem.

Angus Dawe took a comfortable Class C win from Ian Craig with Dave Roberts (Rover Tomcat) coming in 3rd, while Class D saw an easy win for Julian Long, the battle for second in class being a much closer affair that eventually went to Andrew Neal from Simon Taylor. Jim Mepham came home 6th in class pleased to finish in one piece after an incident packed race and burning the midnight oil on Saturday.

Other retirements were John Waples (Porsche 965) after 3 laps, Antony Harrison (Rover Tomcat) after 6 laps & Jack Towler (Tommy Kaira) after 12 laps.

Race 2
Williamson and Gould were confident for race 2, both playing their jokers to score double points. This time Gould was even further handicapped at the start by finishing the first lap in 10th place, 11 seconds down on Williamson. The safety car came out on lap 3, after Mal Davison had electrical failure around the back of the circuit, bunching all the drivers back up so the gap was down to 3.8 seconds after lap 4, but Gould still back in 9th place. At the re-start Gould again chased through the pack to reach 2nd place but this time 8 seconds back from Williamson who took his second overall win of the day.

Starting from 3rd this time, Rhys Lloyd found himself 2nd after the first lap, a position he held until lap 10 when Gould's Noble finally got by. Lloyd fell to 4th overall two laps from the end when Rex Stamp's Lotus Exige moved up to 3rd, but Lloyd recorded his second class win of the day with Douglas Ellwood six seconds back in 5th. Angus Dawe took 8th overall and the Class C win from Ian Craig while Julian Long took the Class D win from Simon Taylor after the hard charging Andy Neal spun at the Esses out of second place.

Non-finishers in Race 2 were John Waples after 1 lap, Alex Schooledge (Vauxhall Vectra ST) after 3 laps, Richard Hawken after 4 laps, Paul Overton (Vauxhall Vectra Sri) after 8 laps and Stephen Oliver after 11 laps.

The Joker playing Williamson and Gould, scoring double points, head the championship after rounds 1 & 2 with 60 points apiece, but 2 class wins each for Lloyd (44), Dawe (42) and Long (44) give them the Class B, C and D leads.

For more race pictures see the Photo Gallery page

Race 1 Result:
Winner: Nick Williamson (Ford Escort Cosworth), 2nd Richard Gould (Noble M12), 3rd Rhys Lloyd (Seat Leon), 4th Richard Hawken (Nissan Primera), 5th Derek Hale (Honda Accord), 6th Rex Stamp (Lotus Exige), 7th Douglas Ellwood (Marcos Mantis), 8th Joss Ronchetti (Talbot Sunbeam Lotus), 9th Angus Dawe (BMW M3), 10th Alex Heynes (BMW M3)

Class Winners: Class A Williamson, Class B Lloyd, Class C Dawe, Class D Julian Long (Peugeot 306)

Fastest lap: Gould 1:13.487 (95.62mph) – new lap record

Race 2 Result:
Winner: Nick Williamson (Ford Escort Cosworth), 2nd Richard Gould (Noble M12), 3rd Rex Stamp (Lotus Exige), 4th Rhys Lloyd (Seat Leon), 5th Douglas Ellwood (Marcos Mantis), 6th Derek Hale (Honda Accord), 7th Alex Heynes (BMW M3), 8th Angus Dawe (BMW M3), 9th Julian Long (Peugeot 306), 10th Bernard Hogarth (Ford Mondeo ST)

Class Winners: Class A Williamson, Class B Lloyd, Class C Dawe, Class D Long

Fastest lap: Gould 1:14.102 (94.83mph)

Next race at Oulton Park on the 19th April

With support from Whizz Stitch & MSE-Performance.com