Outright win for Rhys Lloyd in race of attrition

Class wins for John Hammersley, Angus Dawe and Andrew Neal

Only 4 points separates top 5 drivers

A measure of the success of the LMA Euro Saloon and Sports Car Championship is that the Castle Combe Racing Club invited us to race at Castle Combe shortly after the 2007 season completed. Another 33 car entry justified their faith.

More photos can be found at : dd-photography.co.uk

Qualifying
A wet overnight track started drying as the morning pushed on, and by 10am most LMA drivers faced a difficult choice of tyres – would the track be dry enough for their dry tyre option, or too dry for the wet
option? Qualifying times plainly show the track was still slippery in places although this didn't stop Castle Combe regulars Mark Funnell (Lotus Exige) and LMA championship leader Nick Williamson (Escort Cosworth) from setting stunning lap times, 1:11.989 for Mark, with Nick just ¾ second adrift. A measure of their dominance was that 3rd in qualifying, and another local driver, Mark Harrison (Mitsubishi Evo 8) was over 5 seconds back from pole. Fastest Class B car was Alex Heynes (BMW M3) in 4th place, just 3/100ths of Harrison's pace.

Angus Dawe (BMW M3) headed Class C in 5th, just 2/10th behind Heynes and ahead of a multitude of Class A and B cars. Pole man in Class D was Andrew Neal (Honda Integra) back in 15th place on 1:21 .304. But even as qualifying was drawing to a close, the weather was visibly improving giving optimism for the afternoon race.

Race
Mark Funnell stormed away from the start and held an incredible 5 second lead at the end of the first lap. Fellow front row man Nick Williamson bogged down and was 4th coming into Quarry for the first time, but had repassed Mark Harrison and Angus Dawe by the end of the first lap. Funnell increased his lead by 2 seconds on lap 2, and a further 4 seconds on lap 3. Behind Williamson, Doug Ellwood (Marcos Mantis) was heading the BMW M3s of Dawe and Ian Craig, but on lap 4 the DNFs started with Ellwood pulling off the track after Quarry with fan belt failure. Almost straight after this we lost Gareth Porter (Peugeot 205GTi Turbo) to the infield as he and Rhys Lloyd (Seat Leon) both darted sideways to the same piece of track. As if Funnell wasn't pulling away quick enough, Williamson slowed dramatically on lap 4 as his alternator had failed and the battery could not provide sufficient power.

With Ellwood's demise, Rhys Lloyd was leading Class B but Joss Ronchetti was pulling through the pack from last on the grid after a driveshaft broke in qualifying. His team did an excellent job to repair the little Sunbeam but on lap 6 a front wheel collapsed on the entry to Quarry and the Sunbeam parked in the tyre wall. The BMW M3s of Dawe and Craig were running in formation challenging Harrison for 2nd place while battling over Class C honours. Back in Class D, Jim Mepham (Renault Megane) was tapped into the infield and last (33rd) position on the opening lap before storming back through the pack to miss second in class D (Simon Taylor – Honda Civic) by 3/10th and gain 21 places on his way to 12th, with Taylor 11th and Class D winner Andrew Neal 9th.

The real drama started on lap 6, Funnell was already 32 seconds clear of second place Harrison after 5 laps, but after rounding Quarry slowly, Funnell parked up the Elise, also an alternator belt failure. This left Harrison leading from Dawe, Lloyd and Craig, less than 2 seconds covering the four places. Lloyd was looking favourite, but Hammersley (9 seconds back after 6 laps) was on a charge and started to bring the gap down. By lap 12 he was on the pack of the leading pack, by the end of lap 13 he was second, just half a second behind Harrison. An overtaking manoeuvre at Old Paddock Bend saw Hammersley lose the Honda Accord's front bumper during an excursion to the grass and drop to 4th behind Craig, while Lloyd got by both drivers to take the lead. Hammersley managed to recover to 2nd place on the final lap and win Class A, but finished some 12 seconds adrift of winner and Class B winner Lloyd. Craig was challenging Harrison for 3rd but lost brakes on the final lap and the ensuing collision allowed Dawe to retake 3rd and the Class C win, with Harrison 4th and Craig 5th.  

In the Mark Fish Motorsport Clio Challenge, honours fell to Fergus Trenholme from Jason Tarling and Mark Crook.

Williamson's DNF means he now only jointly leads the championship (80 points) with Dawe while Craig, Richard Gould (Noble M12) and Andrew Neal (Honda Integra) are all in close attendance on 76 points. The Class leaders are Williamson, Lloyd (66), Dawe and Neal.

Race Result:
Winner: Rhys Lloyd (Seat Leon Cupra R), 2nd John Hammersley (Honda Accord ST), 3rd Angus Dawe (BMW M3), 4th Mark Harrison (Mitsubishi Evo 8), 5th Ian Craig (BMW M3), 6th Julian Long (Peugeot 306), 7th Ilsa Cox (Peugeot 206Gti), 8th Brian Cox (Peugeot 206Gti), 9th Neal (Honda Integra Type R), 10th Richard Gould (Noble M12)

Class Winners: Class A Hammersley, Class B Lloyd, Class C Dawe, Class D Neal

Fastest lap: Mark Funnell 1:10.481 (94.49mph)

Next race: Brands Hatch 15th June
 

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

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