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Mick Storey‘s 22 year wait for a win in the 2CVParts.com Championship came to an end with a dominant victory at Brands Hatch.

He had qualified his Rose Rosie 2 car on pole for the first of the weekend’s races, with 0.400s in hand over Nick Crispin.

But the next five qualifiers could hardly be separated, with Nick Clarke, heading Julie Walford, Alec Graham, Matthew Hollis and Sandro Proietti.

Ash Carter was next up, with Chris Yates ninth, despite losing his rear wing. The top 10 was completed by Rebellion WEC mechanic Tom Burgess, usually found tending Nicolas Prost and Bruno Senna’s car, but at Brands Hatch for his seasonal debut.

RACE ONE
Storey made an excellent start but there was chaos behind, before Hollis took up the chase. “I went from sixth to second through Paddock, great start,” start Hollis.

He had Proietti chasing too but contact with Clarke and Alec Graham soon had him sidelined. “Alec was on my inside and Sandro on my left, there was contact and I ran over my own wing and didn’t realise,” said Clarke.

“I got hit at the back by Nick and it turned me round as Alec caught me. I tried to continue but went straight on at Druids as there was no air in one of my front tyres,” Proietti added.

With Storey’s lead growing the second place battle intensified. Graham briefly escaped in second, before being hauled back as Hollis slipped down the order. “I messed up through Cascades, but still managed to stay in the group,” said Hollis.

Crispin took charge of the chasing group on lap five, but Chris Yates, Graham, Clarke and Hollis were all covered by inches.

With Proietti’s car still parked at Druids, Clarke pulled off too and brought out the safety car. “I had a good start, it was brilliant and thought I was home and dry until my team mate brought the safety car out. Then I spent the rest of the race watching my mirrors. Fantastic, 22 years of trying and I finally get my first sprint race win,” said Storey.

From the green flag Crispin and Hollis worked together and were poised to challenge Storey’s lead when the flag came out. Crispin had dived into second at Druids ahead of Yates on lap 10, but it was still a five car scrap.

Graham ousted Yates from third, but Hollis’ fightback had brought him back into contention for a podium finish. “I got a great run and took two cars on the straight. I was back to second and then braked too late at Paddock, ran wide and gave Nick the run up to Druids where he got me back, on the last lap,” Hollis explained.

“We were four wide up to Surtees on one lap, but couldn’t get anywhere near Mick until the end as there were challengers on both sides of you. I lost out a bit after the safety car, but got it back at Druids on the last lap,” said Crispin.

Graham’s charge for the podium ended over the last three laps after contact, taking the flag fifth after losing out to the recovering Yates with a lap to go.

Defending Champion Lien Davies had started at the back after plug problems in qualifying, but had climbed to sixth, before contact with Graham. “It was going well but after the safety car I seemed to have a blocked injector, so just poodled around to the end,” he explained after taking the flag ninth.

Burgess completed the top six, with Julie Walford seventh with inches to spare over Ash Carter. “I started the race in fourth gear, not good but at least it was better than neutral,” said Julie.

Marc Grasby finally secured his first top 10 finish, “I had a worse start than Julie but better than James Dartiailh,” he said. Despite running as high as eighth, he was both delighted and relieved with 10th. “It may be just 10th but it was like a win for me,” he added.

After just losing outing in his duel with Grasby, Dartiailh was still full of praise. “That was a great scrap with Marc and I was almost alongside him at the flag,” he said after losing out by 0.107 secs.

Simon Crook was 12th, with Nigel Hollis 13th after being caught up in a first lap incident with team mate Jon Widdowson and Chris Hall, when the latter spun and was t-boned.

Christine Savage was 14th on her seasonal debut, with Hall next home and Widdowson completing the finishers, despite having broken the chassis in his first lap incident with Hall.

Luca Proietti was on pole for most of the wet session for race two, but was pipped in the closing minutes by both Ainslie Bousefield and Burgess. Less than 0.5 secs covered the top five, with Steve Walford fourth and Graham fifth.

There was little to split the next group too, with Carter just edging Matthew Hollis. Mick Storey had taken over from Clarke and was eighth best, with Dartiailh and Crispin completing the top 10.

RACE TWO
Having just missed out on pole, Proietti Jnr started his race in determined fashion and headed the charge through Paddock Hill Bend, after initially entering side by side with Bousefield.

As the lead began to grow Graham was through into second at Clearways on lap two and quickly reeled in Proietti, as Crispin then ousted Bousefield from third, to head the pursuing group. “I made a fabulous start but didn’t know Alec was getting that close.” Proietti admitted.

But exiting Graham Hill Bend for the fourth time Graham was on the grass, just holding on without a spin, but rejoining down in eighth. “After the damage in the first race we used an old wheel on that rear corner and it just didn’t like that corner, so maybe it was a mistake,” said Graham.

Crispin was the new second man but couldn’t break the tow. “I just had to draft and not fight,” he said, as Hollis, Bousefield and Storey were in there too.

The pressure then began to build on the leader. With Hollis taking charge and Crispin following, through Surtees while Proietti fought back from third.

While Bousefield and Storey were just holding on in fourth and fifth, Carter held onto sixth, while the recovering Graham ousted Walford. But Walford continued to have his hands full with Grasby and Burgess for eighth and Dartiailh ran wheel to wheel with Katy Storey for 12th, which allowed Crook to get away.

Proietti managed to wrest the lead back on lap 12th, but Crispin and Hollis wouldn’t surrender. They began to work together and edged away to continue their three way battle, but with four laps to go it was back to a five car train.

Crispin was looking for his first win of the year and Proietti for his first ever. “I had it all planned, Luca got by into Druids with a lap to go and I planned to sit behind and challenge on the last lap, but then Matthew got between us,” he explained.

“I was happier with Nick behind me as we seemed to work together. So when Matthew got through I had to be defensive over that last lap. Tremendous though,” said Proietti after heading Hollis to the flag by 0.226s.

Crispin retained a comfortable if disappointing third, while Bousefield fell away in the closing laps, taking sixth from the closing Carter, having lost out earlier to the Storey and the recovering Graham whose duel went right to the flag. “That was close enough, but I had been relying on others mistakes,” said Storey.

Walford kept Grasby at bay to take eighth, with Crook completing the top10 after Burgess lost power in the closing stages.
Katy Storey came out on top of her duel with Dartiailh for 12th, while Nigel Hollis, Hall, Savage and Argentinian guest Nestor Marcote completed the finishers.

Patience, strategies, experience and little bit of luck once again proved the winning formula as Team Lion’s Peter Sparrow, David O’Keeffe and Alec Graham won the 28th 2CV 24hr race at Snetterton.

In the early laps the leading UK teams were caught up with the Mini’s, as Sandro Proietti tried to gain an advantage for Baycon Racing, but had Chris Bassett (Team Rebellion) and Pete Sparrow (Team Lion 1) following him through.

Bassett upped his pace still further and was a clear leader after 30 minutes, with Proietti, Simon Clarke (Team Gadget), Chris Yates (Blueberry Muffins) and Sparrow running line astern behind.
“We didn’t want him to be leading at this stage, it will use our fuel up quicker,” said the Rebellion crew.
But one hour down and Bassett was a still out front but only 2/10ths up on Sparrow, while Clarke and Proietti were still in their shadow, with Yates and Freddie Martin-Dye (Team ECAS) the early top six.

15 minutes later it was the first safety car, both Sparrow and Proietti took the opportunity for a quick fuel stop. “I was surprised we were staying with the Mini’s, but can only just stay with Rebellion’s pace, I think we will get better times in the tow and save fuel too of course,” said Sparrow.

Having started late the Steve Walford Racing entry had Mick Storey in for the first stint, but despite starting from the pitlane he was already up to seventh. “We had a loose wheel and only found it late on, so didn’t make the grid,” he said.

The GR Racing car of Mick Moore also had to make an scheduled stop from 18th place, “the exhaust came off and it was hanging as we pitted, so we had to use bigger springs,” said team leader Marc Grasby.

Keith Issatt also headed pitwards for the Vision/JPC/SRR/CSA Team from 16th. “The time goes quickly, but we seem to have got a misfire,” he said as Martin Wykes took over.

Bassett made his stop after 1 ¾ hrs, “I know they didn’t really want me to lead,” admitted the Rebellion driver.

It was a new leader though as the two hour distance was completed, with Chris Yates out in front for Blueberry Muffins, having a lap on Gadget Racing, Baycon and Rebellion, with Walford’s up to fifth and Glenn Burtenshaw sixth for Hollis Motorsport.

There were more driver changes into the third hour. But Blueberry Muffins still had a lap lead, with Christer Hallgren having taken over from Yates.

Baycon were back up to second with Philip Myatt having swapped with Proietti senior. “I did 2 ¼ hrs and that was such hard work,” Proietti admitted.

Walford’s climb continued as they rose to third, “it just went our way and we had a nice run through,” said second stinter Nick Clarke.

ECAS were fourth with Dan Willan taking the second stint. Jelly Snake Racing had swapped Ash Carter for Malcolm Best in fifth, with Tete Rouge rounding off the top six.

Going down the order however were Rebellion, into ninth while Team Gadget had dropped to 19th. “It had all been very good and working to plan, we refuelled at the first safety car and I stayed in as I intended doing three hours, then it just stopped on the Bentley Straight. It was probably electrical but we changed the engine,” said Clarke after handing the car to team boss Wayne Cowling.

Hollis Motorsport also lost extra times in the pits, “it was going well and then sounded awful, the manifold had split,” said Burtenshaw as he handed to Nigel Hollis.

Team Lion hadn’t escaped either, with the number 2 car having early problems, before the throttle car broke with their number 1 as O’Keeffe took over.

Into the darkness but still dry Blueberry Muffins continued to hold the advantage through the fourth and fifth hour, but Team ECAS had worked their way up to second.

The Walford crew were in trouble though and Julie had to pit with a broken exhaust, which after a temporary repair was welded.

Jelly Snake became the new third placed team, with Rebellion back up to fourth, from Tete Rouge, with Lion 1 back up to sixth too.

Blueberry Muffins hopes of glory came to an end however when their car was wiped out in a collision in the sixth hour, which gave the lead back to Rebellion once more. “James Dartiailh was having a problem with the throttle cable, stuck open and then stuck closed. We sent him out for another lap while we sourced a replacement. But it broke on the Bentley Straight and he pulled off, but was hit by Glen Oswin’s Tete Rouge car. The impact was about 60mph but both drivers were OK apart from being shaken, as the cars stood up remarkably well,” explained Blueberry Muffins team leader Chris Yates.

Into the eighth hour and Lion 1 took charge, having won for the last couple of years too, once again Sparrow, O’Keeffe and Graham had a plan that proved to be dominant once again.

With Paul Crosby and Philip Martin-Dye following Willan’s for ECAS they too became established at the head of the field.

5am and the halfway point arrived with Lion 1 six laps up on ECAS, Rebellion were a further three laps back in third and the Baycon trio of Myatt and the Proietti’s had once again clawed back to fourth and was on the same lap as MIM Racing’s Nick Crispin, Dave Watson and John Cutmore.

Jelly Snake had fallen back to eighth, which promoted the Scottish Rambo team and Pork Pie Racing, while Hollis Motorsport and GR Racing completed the top ten.

As dawn broke and the hours were gradually ticked off the Team Lion 1 trio of Sparrow/O’Keeffe and Graham reigned supreme, for Sparrow it was win number 10, with victory by seven laps over the ECAS quartet of Freddie and Philip Martin-Dye, Paul Crosby and Dan Willan. “Alec had a few problems with the brakes overheating, but we only used 2 litres of oil and the engine was perfect,” said Sparrow.

Graham also managed to collect one of the Liqui Moly cardboard promo girls on his last lap, taking the flag with her in the passenger seat.

Team Rebellion held third from the 10th hour, with Bassett, Tom Burgess and Phil Jose joined for the night stints by ex Legends Champion Oli Poyser, who had commuted to and from Cadwell Park and his duties at a British Superbike race engineer.

The Rambo Team of Derek Coghill, Ian Gibbon and John Paul Wilkinson stemmed the Jelly Snake recovery, taking third place away with three hours remaining.

The Ash Carter, Malcom Best, Alan Wiltshire car, finally taking sixth, after Gadget’s Clarke, Cowling, Ainslie Bousefield and Lien Davies pipped them two hours from home. It also crowned Davies as the overall Champion too for the second successive year.

The Pork Pie racing quartet of Chris and Don Hall with Colin Wilson and Jon Harmer held seventh over the last four hours, with Hollis Motorsport’s Matthew, Richard and Nigel Hollis joined by Burtenshaw eighth and Walford’s were ninth following two engine changes, which included putting the rebuilt original back in.

The Blueberry Tarts team also made it home 13th with Maria Cooke, Shirley Hennessy, Jess Owen and Katy Storey, having fuelled and done a driver change at every stop and only having replaced the gear linkage.

Vision/JPC/SRR/CSA completed the top 10 with Kev Fulbrook, Keith Issatt, Martin Wykes, Rob Rees and James Poulton, as the Baycon trio lost out on a probable eighth with a late engine change.

Away from the UK Championship the BNLL trio of Thierry de Bonhomme, Laurent Joussiaux and Rudy Coppetiers took the overall win in their Dyane Hybrid and the Mini class went to Ade and Simon Tuckley with Alan Eason and Ashley Shelswell.