Brands Hatch Qualifying Results
Pos1
2 3 4 5 6 7 |
DriverWhyte
Meins Dodd Hazell Dodd Whale Smith Wright |
Lap Time1:35.519
1:35.397 1:36.790 1:38.342 1:39.335 1:39.559 1:39.665 1:43.549 |
Brands Hatch Race One Result |
Brands Hatch Race two Result |
Pos1
2 3 4 5 6 7 |
DriverStewart Whyte
James Dodd Graeme Dodd Richard Meins Nick Whale Mark Smith Mark Wright |
Pos
1
2 3 4 5 6 7 |
Driver
James Dodd
Stewart Whyte Graeme Dodd Mark Smith Mark Wright Richard Meins Harry Whale |
Hondas Rule The Show at Brands Hatch
The Hondas of James Dodd and Stewart Whyte were proof of the age-old saying “you only need two cars for a good race” at the Brands Hatch Historic Superprix.
Disappointing entry numbers for the Brands Hatch round meant only eight cars were involved at the Kent circuit, but the action more than made up for the lack of entries.
It seemed like qualifying was going the way of Whyte, who had been at the top of the standings for the entire of the session, lapping 1.4 seconds faster than James Dodd's Honda, and it seemed that both Whyte, Dodd and Graeme Dodd in his Nissan believed that their times would not improve, pulling in to the pits with half the session remaining to preserve their cars for the race. Meanwhile, series newcomer Richard Meins was putting in the laps in his Ford Mondeo, crawling his way up the field before setting a lightning time on the final lap to go just 0.078 seconds behind Whyte in second. Mark Hazell qualified in fifth in his BMW, but mechanical issues forced him out of the weekend's races.
The race was a different story, however, as James Dodd and Whyte engaged in a battle for the lead while Meins attempted to hold off the Nissan Primera of Graeme Dodd. A safety car halfway through the race bunched the field up, but there was to be no changing of position as Whyte streaked away from the restart to take his first victory of the season, followed home by James and Graeme Dodd, with Richard Meins taking fourth.
Come Sunday, James Dodd was a man on a mission, chasing Whyte for the first three laps of the 20 minute race, before diving down the inside at Paddock Hill Bend to take the lead. Whyte would not go down without a fight, though, holding on to the back of the Oulton Park double-winner, and despite some of the closest racing all season, could not find his way past and eventually settled for second. Graeme Dodd completed the podium results once again, while Richard Meins backed off, treating the race as a shakedown ahead of the Silverstone Classic.
Away from the ST1 battles, the GA class featured a thrilling encounter between the two BMW M3s of Harry Whale and Mark Smith. The pair qualified within a tenth of each other and battled nose-to-tail for the entire of Saturday's race, so evenly matched that their fastest laps were separated by just four thousandths of a second. Whale held on to his lead to take victory in the first of the weekend's two races, but could not hold on for race two as a brake issue hampered his progress after being passed by Smith on track.
The absense of John Cleland has now closed the championship right up going in to the Silverstone Classic, with Dodd jumping to the top of the standings just six points ahead of Whyte, with Cleland holding on to third place, just two points shy of his fellow Scotsman.
Words by James Charman of TouringCarTimes.com
Disappointing entry numbers for the Brands Hatch round meant only eight cars were involved at the Kent circuit, but the action more than made up for the lack of entries.
It seemed like qualifying was going the way of Whyte, who had been at the top of the standings for the entire of the session, lapping 1.4 seconds faster than James Dodd's Honda, and it seemed that both Whyte, Dodd and Graeme Dodd in his Nissan believed that their times would not improve, pulling in to the pits with half the session remaining to preserve their cars for the race. Meanwhile, series newcomer Richard Meins was putting in the laps in his Ford Mondeo, crawling his way up the field before setting a lightning time on the final lap to go just 0.078 seconds behind Whyte in second. Mark Hazell qualified in fifth in his BMW, but mechanical issues forced him out of the weekend's races.
The race was a different story, however, as James Dodd and Whyte engaged in a battle for the lead while Meins attempted to hold off the Nissan Primera of Graeme Dodd. A safety car halfway through the race bunched the field up, but there was to be no changing of position as Whyte streaked away from the restart to take his first victory of the season, followed home by James and Graeme Dodd, with Richard Meins taking fourth.
Come Sunday, James Dodd was a man on a mission, chasing Whyte for the first three laps of the 20 minute race, before diving down the inside at Paddock Hill Bend to take the lead. Whyte would not go down without a fight, though, holding on to the back of the Oulton Park double-winner, and despite some of the closest racing all season, could not find his way past and eventually settled for second. Graeme Dodd completed the podium results once again, while Richard Meins backed off, treating the race as a shakedown ahead of the Silverstone Classic.
Away from the ST1 battles, the GA class featured a thrilling encounter between the two BMW M3s of Harry Whale and Mark Smith. The pair qualified within a tenth of each other and battled nose-to-tail for the entire of Saturday's race, so evenly matched that their fastest laps were separated by just four thousandths of a second. Whale held on to his lead to take victory in the first of the weekend's two races, but could not hold on for race two as a brake issue hampered his progress after being passed by Smith on track.
The absense of John Cleland has now closed the championship right up going in to the Silverstone Classic, with Dodd jumping to the top of the standings just six points ahead of Whyte, with Cleland holding on to third place, just two points shy of his fellow Scotsman.
Words by James Charman of TouringCarTimes.com