The Avon Tyres/Image Wheels intermarque silhouettes ventured to Donington for the prestigious “convoy in the park” meeting. Qualifying saw 21 cars take to track in dry conditions. The battle for pole position was between the Smith brothers Lewis and Daniel, with the latter snatching it by just 0.431 of a second. Slotting into third would be Ian Hales, followed by Colin Smith, Russell Humphrey and Reuben Taylor. Keith White was the leading senior in 7th, closely pursued by Richard Smith and Phil Spinks. The rest of the times are here: tsl-timing.com/file/?f=BARC/2023/233222qu1itm.pdf
Race one was late on Saturday afternoon, on a track which was drying out. Colin Smith was a non-starter due to engine maladies. The live stream followed the action which showed Lewis Smith snatching the lead from Daniel. Taylor had an incident which resulted in him being stuck in the gravel going down the Craner Curves. The safety car bunched everyone up, whilst the Peugeot was dragged to safety. The re-start saw Lewis maintain a one second gap to his brother, with Hales having a lonely run to take third. The battle for fourth was close, as White took the spot and the senior class from York, Knight and Humphrey. These four were only a few seconds apart. Luffarelli charged through from the back of the grid to take his invitation class Corrado into 8th, with Lee Rogers (in Brian Loram’s Tigra) driving very well to come home 9th. The top ten were completed by Aprigliano, having a good race to hold off Robertson, Young, Price and Johnson. Phillips completed the finishers in his Fiesta, as the retirements included Spinks (a last minute spin into the gravel), Richard Smith (after a couple of spins) Dan Fisher (in Chris Ayling’s Tigra) and Blackford.
The top 7 were reversed for the second race, which took part on a very wet track on Sunday. Humphrey capitalised on pole position by surging into the lead. Knight had a few wobbles going through the Craner Curves which inevitably led to some bunching. Exiting the old hairpin the cars went three abreast, with Knight ending up on the grass and spinning into the gravel trap. Cue the safety car again. At this stage there was a lot going on, as some cars had started on a mixture of wet and slick tyres. A couple dived into the pit lane, whilst Hales was an earlier visitor when he struggled the maintain his position at the rolling start. Humphrey made a good re-start, but soon had Lewis on his tailgate. The white Mercedes took the lead on lap 5 and gradually extended his lead to take the chequered flag. Humphrey maintained to his pace to take a well-deserved runner up spot. The battle for the final step on the podium was intense as York just managed to hold off Daniel Smith. Spinks was initially classified fifth after a strong drive from the back, but along with White they were excluded. This gave the senior class win to a rather surprised Robertson. Taylor was promoted to fifth and Aprigliano to sixth. The next car across the line, Rogers, was also excluded which meant Luffarelli was classified 7th. Hales recovered to take 8th, followed by Fisher, Robertson and Price. Completing the finishers were Richard Smith, Johnson, Young and Phillips.
The next meeting is back at Brands Hatch on September 16th