October 2009

Reigning McLaren Autosport BRDC Young Driver of the Year Alexander Sims gave a display of his undoubted talents, by taking his works run SR8 to a double victory on his sports car racing debut.

The UK Cup and European Masters annual UK get together assembled a magnificent 39 car grid. Derek Johnston/Stuart Moseley’s SR8 lined up on pole for the first race, 0.5secs quicker than Sims, while John Stanley/James Swift’s SR8LM shared row two with Terrence Woodward/Ross Kaiser’s SR8.

RACE 1
Summer had arrived again as the cars lined up, blue skies and sunshine plus rising temperatures as the cars began their formation lap. For Sims it was his first rolling start, but it was four abreast in the charge to Copse, with Moseley, heading Sims, Kaiser and Stanley. The top three had started to pull clear after three laps, leaving Stanley in a solitary fourth. Jeff Collier’s SR8LM was next up, with Jamie Patterson’s similar car consolidating sixth after taking Cameron MacDonald’s SR8 on the second lap. But there had been early casualties with Christian Drop spinning his SR8LM at Copse on the opening lap, where he was collected by Ross Allen’s SR3. “I was over ambitious, spun and was hit,” admitted Drop. “He was spinning and I couldn’t avoid him,” added Allen.

Patterson continued to close on Collier and Sims began to set his sights on Moseley’s lead. MacDonald was an early pit visitor to sort out his gear selection, which moved returning former UK Champion Richard Ince up to seventh in his SR8. Ben Jackson was flying on his debut in the PR6, while the SR8s of Phil Abbott and Filip Berg-Nielsen began to close up in ninth and tenth.
Moseley had slowed a little on lap six, which left the top three covered by only 0.7scecs. Sims seized his chance and led out of Becketts, with Kaiser almost following. “An inspection cover came adrift and got under my feet, so I had to back off a bit,” said Moseley. Kaiser made it through a lap later at Abbey but Sims lead continued to grow. Ince closed on Patterson, but they held station too until the pitstops started on lap 10. Woodward emerged with the lead over Sims, Johnston, Alex Kapadia in the Collier car, Swift, Patterson, Roger Bromiley in for Abbott and Austin Kinsella having taken over from Ince. Kapadia soon picked off Johnston and both he and Sims started to reel in Woodward. Sims went back ahead into Stowe on the 18th lap, despite Woodward doing his best to fightback at Club. “After he took me I got him back and he went around the outside and got me again, he is good,” admitted Woodward.

Kapadia was next to threaten which left Johnston solo fourth. Having taken second on lap 20 Kapadia continued to close in on Sims, but as the F3 Euro Series ace took the flag, Kapadia was still 2.892secs adrift. “I was surprised but please how it went, the SR8 wasn’t dissimilar to a single seater with the downforce and it’s a lovely car to drive, you just have to brake a bit earlier,” he said. “Jeff did well in his stint and handed it to me in reach of a win. I caught Derek and Terrence but reckon we were two laps short in the end,” said Kapadia.

Woodward held onto a clear third, with Patterson claiming fourth from Johnston with a couple of laps to go. Swift, Bromiley and Kinsella were next up, before SR3 class winners Bassam Kronfli/Christophe Hissette in ninth. “The car felt really good and we had no problems at all,” said Kronfli. Manhal Allos completed the top 10 in his SR8. Mike Gardner/Alex Mortimer had to settle for second in the SR3’s after a delayed pitstop. “I came in almost touching the class leader, we should have won but couldn’t restart and lost 30 seconds,” Gardner explained. Charles Loughran/Paul Thomas were third in class on the road, but a two minute penalty dropped them to 10th leaving Jordan Grogor/Andrew Howard in third, from Andrew/Jeremy Ferguson and Colin Noble. Giorgio Rosa had over 34secs in hand over Tatiana Calderon in the SR5s and Don Patterson/Don Morrison took the PR6 class after the Jacksons made a couple of stops.

RESULTS, RACE ONE: 1 Alexander Sims (SR8) 24 laps in 45m00.444s (164.453kph); 2 Jeff Collier/Alex Kapadia (SR8LM) +2.892s; 3 Terrence Woodward/Ross Kaiser (SR8); 4 Jamie Paterson (SR8LM); 5 Stuart Moseley/Derek Johnson (SR8); 6 John Stanley/James Swift (SR8LM); 7 Phil Abbott/Roger Bromiley (SR8); 8 Richard Ince/Austin Kinsella (SR8); 9 Bassam Kronfli/Christophe Hessette (SR3); 10 Manhal Allos (SR8). Class winners: SR8LM: 1 Collier/Kapadia; 2 Patterson; 3 Stanley/Swift; 4 Cameron Macdonald/Nigel Greensall. SR3: 1 Kronfli/Hissette: 2 Mike Gardner/Alex Mortimer; 3 Jordan Grogar/Andrew Howard; 4 Andrew Ferguson/Jeremy Ferguson. PR6: 1 Don Patterson/Nigel Morrison (PR6); 2 Ben Jackson/Michael Jackson; no other starters. SR5: 1Giorgio Rosa (SR5). 2 Tatiana Calderon; 3 Vincent Nicolet/Jean-Francois Ruchonnet; 4 Thomas Meidinger. Invitation: 1Tony Freeman/Duncan Williams (PR6). Fastest lap: Sims 1m47.190s (172.628kph). Starters: 39.

RACE 2
It was Sims and Kapadia sharing the front row for the second race, with Patterson and Johnston behind. Both Kapadia and Greensall made a flying start and pulled out a sizeable first lap lead, while Sims positioned himself in third, over Patterson, Bromiley and Berg-Nielsen. As Kapadia became firmly established at the front, Sims started to close in on Greensall, and took second around the outside at Abbey on lap five. “I had a good start and built a lead but kept losing out in traffic and got caught,” said Kapadia.

Bromiley was able to consolidate fifth place too, when Berg-Nielsen slipped up on lap six and fell behind Johnston, before coming under pressure from Ince, who had just managed to battle past Allos himself, while Stanley and Woodward closed too. But as the pitstop window approached Kapadia started to come under pressure from the closing Sims. “I got him at Luffield and then tried to pull away,” said Sims after taking the lead from lap 11. The lead was still intact following the stops and it continued to grow. Collier had taken over the second place car, while in third MacDonald had Patterson and Moseley closing in. Patterson was into third at Club and Moseley followed after going past the pits side by side with inches to spare from MacDonald. Sims had a last minute fright before taking his second win of the weekend. “A backmarker spun right in front of me, I slightly touched him but got away with it,” he explained. Collier was still 18 seconds back at the flag.
Patterson was caught by Moseley in the closing laps but still held onto third. “We came hoping just to race, but it was very stressful and both Stuart and I had to drive for the championships,” said Johnston. Macdonald retained fourth, with Berg-Nielsen consolidating sixth over Kinsella during the second half. Allos came home eighth and after starting from the very back Chris Hyman came through for ninth. Swift was a late retirement when they ran out of brakes and Abbott lost time in the pits when a gearbox plug came out, which despite ace mechanic Woody’s charge through the paddock to repair it, cost them dearly.

The SR3 class went down the wire with James Saggers/Ross Allen snatching a last lap victory over Mortimer/Gardner. “It was go for it or finish second, but I was alongside a backmarker, we touched and he spun,” said Allen. “Ross had got me at the chicane, he was just too quick after I lost time among some of the SR8’s. But then he touched another car in front of me and I thought I might get him back. But the car he touched spun and came back in front of me,” said Gardner. AUH Motorsport teammates Kronfli/Hissette and Grogor/Howard completed the top four. Rosa took his second win of the weekend in the SR5s over Meidinger and Calderon, while the Jackson’s topped the PR6s

RESULTS, RACE TWO: 1 Sims 24 laps in 45m00.768s (164.433kph); 2 Kapadia/Collier +18.130s; 3 J.Patterson; 4 Johnston/Moseley; 5 Greensall/Macdonald (SR8); 6 Flip Berg-Nielsen (SR8); 7 Ince/Kinsella; 8 Allos; 9 Chris Hyman (SR8); 10 James Saggers/Ross Allen (SR3). Class winners: SR8LM: 1 Kapadia/Collier; 2 Patterson; 3 Macdonald/Greensall; 4 Bernd Rosenschon/Christian Drop. SR3: 1 Saggers/Allen; 2 Mortimer/Gardner; 3 Kronfli/Hissette; 4 Grogor/Howard. SR5: 1 Rosa; 2 Meidinger; 3 Calderon; 4 Nicolet/Ruchonnet. PR6: 1 Jackson/Jackson; 2 Patterson/Morrison. Invitation: Freeman/Williams. Fastest lap: Sims 1m46.475s (173.787kph). Starters: 38.

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