What an opening weekend that was! Scherer Race and Rally News perfectly summed up rounds 1 & 2 of the 2026 season, read the full report below. Bring on Mallory Park next month!
SNETTERTON – ROUNDS 1 & 2 RACE REPORT
CRISPIN & BULL SHARE THE SPOILS IN TERRIFIC SEASON OPENER
It was action all the way from lights out to the chequered flag, in both races for the Classic 2CV Racing opening rounds and their debut on the BRSCC programme.
Defending Champion Nick Crispin led into Riches at the start of race one, from Ethan Sparrow. But Andrew Bull was soon challenging for second as they went into the Wilson Hairpin, Sparrow just holding on as they exited.
But Brian Heerey joined in to with a tight line into Agostini, taking Bull on the exit, with Simon Clarke following through Coram, as the lead pair were already making a break at the end of lap one.
Clarke finished the opening lap in third, from Bull, Heerey, George Broadhurst, Seb Jones-White, Martin Riman, Keith Oswin and Nick Clarke.
Into Riches for the second time Clarke was off on the inside and dropped to 15th, which increased the gap at the front, as Sparrow started to challenge for the lead. Bull and Heerey continued nose to tail for third and Broadhurst and Jones-White shared a couple of exchanges in their battle for fifth, having broken clear of a huge pack for seventh with Riman under pressure from Oswin and Howard Wright.
By the end of lap three Clarke’s recovery brought him back into seventh exiting Coram, but the top six had all paired off.
Further down the order there was some door handle battling, three abreast into the Bombhole on lap five between David O’Keeffe, Sam Archer and Simon Turner for ninth, after both Riman and Oswin lost ground.
A lap later Archer retired, while Wright recovered to rechallenge O’Keeffe again.
Jones-White and Broadhurst’s dual had also allowed Clarke’s recovery to continue and he was back into fifth after six laps.
Sparrow had shadowed Crispin for the entire race but not really made a move until Wilson on the last lap. He dived down the inside, exited first but his speed had been compromised and Crispin was back in front.
Into Agostini Sparrow went for the inside again, but this time he held on as they exited, only to run wide at Oggies, touch the grass and seal the win in Crispin’s favour.
“A typical 2CV race, very close. I could see the other battles when we came out of Agostini, so we had to work together to get away. He was better in the corners though, so I had to try and slow him down. He gave me plenty of room though,” Crispin explained.
“I tried my best, we worked well together to get that break, then I decided it was time to make my move. But I lost it, my brake pedal was to the floor and I was into the greenery,” Sparrow replied.
The gap at the flag was 0.651 secs while the battle for third was almost nine seconds back, with Bull just keeping Heerey at bay. “The car dropped off a bit towards the end, but I had touched a bollard under the bridge and damaged some bodywork. We lost out on the lead though when Simon Clarke went off at Riches though,” said Bull.
Clarke managed to retain a solid fifth after his excursion and Jones-White managed to escape from Broadhurst in the closing laps.
Wright also managed to reclaim eighth from O’Keeffe with a lap to go, leaving Turner to round off the top 10.
Behind them Oswin demoted Chris Yates on the last lap and Riman just held off Chris Hall, Oliver Grantham, Roy Eastwood and Matthew Hollis, while Shirley Hennessy completed the finishers.
RACE TWO
Tom Perry had taken over the Team Gadget car from Clarke and started from pole. But there were two casualties before the race got under way with both Hennessy and Jennifer Hall pulling off.
It was Crispin again that made the best of the start, leading Bull, Perry and Heerey through Riches. But Heerey started to lose places on the run to Wilson and somehow Sparrow shot though the intensity and was second as they reached Agostini.
Perry then took Bull for third through Oggies, with the top four starting to show a slight break as they completed the opening lap, with Steve Walford in fifth, closely followed by Heerey, before another gap to Wright, Turner, Jones-White and Oswin, as they ran line astern.
Sparrow was back onto Crispin’s tail and led through Williams on lap two, while Bull was challenging Perry for third again, both managing to keep the chasing Heerey and Walford at a safe distance, after they had swapped too.
Jones-White had taken Wright and Turner for seventh, while Oswin completed the early top 10 until he pulled off a lap later. Contact at Riches then put Jones-White on the grass, but Wright was then under pressure from Turner.
Sparrow had only managed to hold his lead for a lap, as Crispin outdragged him on the Bentley Straight and retook the lead into Brundle. But it was three abreast for third through Coram, with Walford heading the trio over the line from Bull and Heerey, as Perry slipped to sixth.
As the fight for third continued the lead pair finally started to increase the gap, but now it was Bull leading the chase from Perry, Walford and Heerey and it was just as close for seventh, where Jones-White, led Wright and Turner, as well as being caught by O’Keeffe and Archer.
With a lap to go Perry had dropped Bull and started to close on the leaders, but it came down to an unbelievable finale. Sparrow went for the lead into Brundle, with Perry challenging Crispin too, while both Bull and Heerey joined in again.
Sparrow was the one to lose out though with Crispin and Bull side by side through Coram, before a touch at Murray’s made it a drag to the line, with Bull edging it by just 0.047 secs, followed very closely by Crispin, Heerey, Perry and Sparrow.
“That was always going to be an exciting last lap, but I didn’t think my car had it in it tis weekend, as Nick had much better straightline speed,” said Bull.
“Gutted, I would rather have been 10 secs behind. Five or six of us in a tow and that was so important. But every time I got away they caught up again,” Crispin replied.
Walford was still a clear sixth after losing ground in the closing laps. Jones-White retook Archer and Turner on the last lap to take seventh, with Archer, O’Keeffe and Turner the rest of the top 10, after Wright had a spectacular spin at Riches, dropping him to 14th behind Yates, Riman and Robert Dawson.
Hollis, Eastwood, Martin Sunderland and Laurence Broadhurst competed the finishers as we now look forward to Mallory Park on Spring Bank Holiday weekend.
IMAGES BY RICHARD STYLES