RACE REPORT
An
excellent start to the racing season for Steve and Stuart at a dry
and windy Brands Hatch. The new Golf Mark IV was only started 3 days
previously and it has already shown its reliability and speed.
Qualifying in the morning was the first time the team had run the
car at full race speeds and against competition. The car was exceptional
and finished in 4th place overall and on pole in their class. It beat
second placed George and Huff in their Honda Integra by 0.88 second.
“ We knew the car was going to be good by comparing lap times
from last year but this was very good.”
The
race start saw the Rouse Mercedes storm into the lead followed by
the Darian and the Cowgill/Lockie BMW. Steve running in fourth was
soon on the BMW's tail and overtook it on lap 3. The Darian then had
a problem with a misfire and Steve took second place whilst it pitted
on lap 10. Steve held on to second place for another 20 laps until
Parson muscled past in his Marcos.
This gave the team the opportunity to actually
lead the race by delaying the driver change over until the Mercedes
and Marcos pitted. Parsons in the Marcos came in first on lap
69 followed by the leader one lap later. With P1 showing on
the pit board Steve stayed out leading the race for 9 laps and
then pitted at the 75 minute mark. At this point Stuart took
over a car that was behaving a little erratically. What the
team did not know was the tyres had worn right down. “If
we had realised the tyres were so badly worn we would have changed
them especially as Stuart sat at the pit lane exit for two laps
whilst the safety car was out.”
Rouse
eventually retired pushing Stuart back up into second place but with
badly damaged tyres the BMW of Redhouse and Wright managed to pass
him on lap 101. Stuart was now racing on tyres worn down to the metal
but he managed to hang on until the chequered flag and keep 4th place
and the class win by one lap.
As
well as the win and pole position the team also got the fastest lap
in their class and the drivers of the day award.
The
next EERC round at Silverstone on 3rd May has been canceled so the
next outing will be at Knockhill in the GTs on 10th/11th May.
