3 Wins Out Of 3 For Nick Williamson

Class Wins For Andrew Morrison, Ian Craig and Andrew Neal

Another bumper entry saw 33 cars contest the second round of the 2008 LMA Euro Saloon and Sports Car Championship on the Oulton Park International circuit.

Qualifying
With a lap time not far off 2 minutes, a 15 minute qualifying session meant drivers had just 7 laps to get in a good time. This was reduced to just 5 laps courtesy of a 2 lap red flag incidents during qualifying, meaning some drivers qualified lower down the grid than they might have expected. Not Nick Williamson though, a storming lap crashing across kerbs everywhere saw his Escort Cosworth take pole by 1.7 seconds from Rex Stamp (Lotus Exige), with Simon Scuffham (Lotus Elise) a further 0.7 seconds back. Joint championship leader Richard Gould was fourth in his Noble M12, with Mal Davison (Noble M400) just behind.

Ian Craig (BMW M3) headed Class C in 6th overall, with Douglas Ellwood (Marcos Mantis) heading Class B in 7th place. Julian Long headed the Class D times in 10th overall in his Peugeot 306. The Vauxhall Vectra contingent turned up in force with no fewer than 5 of the ex-Vectra Challenge cars partaking in this race, Simon Parker setting the fastest time in 12th overall. Fastest of the six Renault Clio Cup cars in the Mark Fish Clio Challenge was Andrew Glossop, but only by 0.25 second from Fergus Trenholme.

Race
With second place man Rex Stamp starting from the pitlane, Nick Williamson was free to make his usual good start unhindered by his strongest competitor and led from Simon Scuffham by 2 seconds after lap 1. Ian Craig made a storming start from 6th and ended lap 1 in third place, ahead of Derek Hale and Andrew Morrison, already 10 seconds off the lead having lost time when Richard Gould left the circuit. More spinners on the second lap meant the introduction of the safety car on lap 3, slowing the cars to almost half normal speed and allowing them all to bunch up. By now Ian Craig was up to second as we lost Simon Scuffham, with Andrew Morrison third and Derek Hale fourth. Rex Stamp was up to 17th by the end of lap 2 having started from the pitlane in 32nd.

From the restart, Morrison and Hale both got past Craig quickly, while Stamp was racing through the pack, finishing lap 5 in 9th, lap 6 in 6th and lap 7 in 4th, still some 6 seconds adrift of third place Hale. Williamson was able to control the race up front and recorded his third win in three races by just over a second from Morrison. Two stunning laps in the 1:49s saw Stamp close up and pass Hale on the last lap and finish 3rd, just 2 seconds off the win. Douglas Ellwood drove a steady race to finish 2nd in Class B and 5th overall while Ian Craig won Class C and finished 6th, some 10 seconds clear of 7th place and Class D winner Andrew Neal, who won Class D from Julian Long by just 0.14 seconds after a race long battle with the pair never far apart.

Andrew Glossop took the win in the Mark Fish Renault Clio Challenge, with nearest qualifier Fergus Trenholme having spun off on lap 2, and Antony Sullivan the next Clio 9 seconds (and three places) further back. Glossop also finished 3rd in Class B thus making good use of having played his joker for this race. Simon Parker got the best of the Vauxhall Vectras, finishing 14th overall (and third in Class C) from Craig Odams by less than 0.3 seconds, the two Vectras being sandwiched by the two leading Clios.

Williamson now leads the championship (80 points) from Julian Long (64) and Richard Gould and Angus Dawe (60). The Class leaders are Williamson, Douglas Ellwood (54), Dawe and Long.

Race Result:
Winner: Nick Williamson (Ford Escort Cosworth), 2nd Andrew Morrison (Seat Leon), 3rd Rex Stamp (Lotus Exige), 4th Derek Hale (Honda Accord), 5th Douglas Ellwood (Marcos Mantis), 6th Ian Craig (BMW M3), 7th Andrew Neal (Honda Integra Type R), 8th Julian Long (Peugeot 306), 9th Simon Taylor (Honda Civic Type R), 10th Angus Dawe (BMW M3)

Class Winners: Class A Williamson, Class B Morrison, Class C Craig, Class D Neal

Fastest lap: Stamp 1:49.341 (88.63mph)

Next race: Castle Combe 5th May
 

With support from Mark Fish Motorsport, AMG TV and Whizz Stitch

Report by Trevor Nicosia, Car 10 ( www.nyssaracing.com )