BRSCC Finals Weekend Donington Park

A blustery but (thankfully) dry Donington Park played host to the BRSCC Finals Weekend. The action was a combination of single make racing, sports prototypes and historic cars. With several of the championships still to be decided, the racing was close fought and very exciting.

The Excool OSS Trophy boasted a grid of fantastic sports prototypes. It was a particular pleasure to see Scott Couper’s Group C2 Tiga GC288/9 out in qualifying, but a bit disappointing that it didn’t make the races. A damp track for qualifying saw a slightly mixed up grid, with Tim Gray in his Spire Gt-3 taking pole by over 3 seconds. Despite ending the qualifying session in the gravel, Mike Jenvey in his Jenvey-Gunn TS6 took the lead of the first race on the first lap and led all the way to the chequered flag. Tim Gray held on to second for a few laps but unfortunately had to retire after an engine failure. Duncan Williams in his Juno Sportscar finished in second with Simon Tilling completing the podium in his Ligier JS49T. The second race was a close battle between Duncan Williams and Mike Jenvey until lap 13 when the Jenvey-Gunn stopped at Schwantz Curve. Duncan Williams went on to win the race by over 46 seconds from Jon-Paul Ivey in a Radical PR6 and Tim Gray who had switched to a Radical SR4 for the second race.

“Gray in his Spire Gt-3 took pole by over 3 seconds…”

The Mazda MX-5 Supercup arrived at Donington with the title to be decided between Abbie Eaton and Tom Roche. In the first race Liam Murphy converted pole to his maiden Supercup victory, championship contender Tom Roche was in second and Clint Bardwell third. Unfortunately, Abbie Eaton retired with engine failure, this meant an engine change was required for race 2. With the grid based on the race 1 results, Abbie Eaton started in 20th. Liam Murphy was able to break away early on, leaving Tom Roche to fight it out in the highly competitive pack. Roche was determined to keep second place and, despite numerous place changes, he crossed the line in second behind a dominate Liam Murphy, with Simon Goddard in third. Despite another DNF in race 2 Abbie Eaton seized the crown by a single point.

“Eaton crowned Champion by single point.”

The Donington Mighty Mini and Super Mighty Mini races were the usual hotly contested affairs with places changing multiple times a lap. Paul Inch clinched victory in the first Mighty Mini race with Ian Slark winning the second race along with the 2014 title.

In race 1 of the Super Mighty Minis, Jamie White managed to break away from the pack, leaving the rest of the field to compete for second place. White finished 16 seconds clear with Elliot Stafford in second and Mark Burnett very close behind in third. The second race was a tight tussle between a group of around 6 cars. Neven Kirkpatrick eventually held on to take the win ahead of Scott Kendall and Elliot Stafford. This meant that Jamie White was crowned the Super Mighty Mini Champion.

We were treated to no less than 6 BRSCC Mazda MX5 races. The races were the typical action packed contests and thoroughly entertaining! James Blake-Baldwin took the title along with 2 Group A wins, the other A race was won by Alan Henderson. The Group B races had 3 different winners, Darron Lewis, Simon Baldwin and Jason Greatrex.

“The 6 BRSCC Mazda MX5 races were all action packed contests”

Some of Germany’s finest engineering was on display in the shape of 3 BRSCC Porsche Championship races. Each race had a different winner with Ed Hayes, Richard Avery and Adam Southgate all taking to the top step of the podium. Despite this, Jonathan Greensmith won the championship courtesy of two second places and a seventh in the final race of the season.

Race 1 of the Production GTi Championship was red flagged on lap 1 following a clash between several cars after the Old Hairpin. The track was quickly cleared and the re-started race saw Martyn Walsh take victory ahead of Simon Hill and Josh Smith. Martyn Walsh repeated this feat in race 2 with Josh Smith moving up to second and Nick Porter in third. Simon Hill secured the 16V title and Craig Roberts the 8V.

We were lucky enough to be joined by the HRDC Touring Greats and Allstars who entertained us with some immaculate classic cars and great racing action. In the Allstars race Mike Whitaker took the win comfortably in his TVR Griffith, followed by Matt Nicoll-Jones in his Jaguar E-Type and John Spiers in another TVR Griffith.

Andrew Jordan led the HRDC Touring Greats race from the start in his Austin A40, following the pitstops Mike Jordan was in second behind Mark Dainell also in an Austin A40. The pair battled it out with Mike Jordan coming out on top and Mark Dainell in a close second. Richard Butterfield and Rob Gravett finishing a few seconds back in their Mk1 Jaguar.

Congratulations to all the 2014 BRSCC championship winners!

With only one meeting left at Donington Park, another season is nearly over at the Leicestershire venue. The repaired spectator infield area has really taken shape, hopefully this will re-open next season and so allow the circuit to put the events of the recent past well and truly behind them. Donington has a special place in my heart, being the first circuit where I attended a race meeting. I’m sure many of us have good memories of spending a summer’s day sitting on the bank overlooking the wonderful Craner Curves and the Old Hairpin just enjoying the racing. It will be so good to be able to do this again, albeit without the company of the Spitfire and spark plug.