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The Brands Hatch MG Car Club was a major event attended by some very recent formula one machinery, which were lapping the Indy circuit in not much more than 40 seconds…..so it was a credit to the qualities of the Porsche 924 cars that they were taking a bare 10 seconds more.
The weekend was hot and sunny with soaring track temperatures so it was a certainty that tyre and overheating problems would occur. Qualifying saw Kamal Kalsi take poll position followed by the usual suspects of Will Penrose, Matt Davies and Matt Upchurch. The first race took place just before lunch when track temperatures were very high. The consequent lack of grip resulted in a fairly orderly race where no one was quite able to get on terms with the car in front to make a pass and the win was taken by Will Penrose followed by Kamal Kalsi and Matt Davies. The major casualty, amongst many on a mechanically fraught day, was Matt Upchurch who, after gaining the lead at the start from Row 2 on the grid, ground to a halt at about half distance with wheel bearing failure.
Will Penrose also took the win in race two from Matt Upchurch and Seb Ferrari, while Kamal and Matt Davies were casualties of bad fortune. Kamal finished well down the order in sixth after a spin and Matt Davies ground to a halt on the penultimate lap with a burst oil cooler feed causing a spectacular smoke cloud when the oil met the hot exhaust pipe.
The race was marred by a serious incident involving Nico Ferrari whose car hit the tyre wall at the entrance to Clearways. Nico was taken to hospital after the incident but thankfully his injuries were not grave and he was allowed home after he had been checked over. Everyone in the championship wishes him a swift recovery and we hope to see him back out racing again soon. |
