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No one seemed more surprised than Nick Crispin to secure a double win at a soggy Brands Hatch.

Only 0.680s covered the top seven in qualifying for the first race of the weekend, with Sandro Proietti leading the way from Lien Davies, Crispin, Matthew Hollis, Pete Sparrow, Ainslie Bousfield and Mick Storey.

But as the grid lined up the dry conditions of qualifying had turned to continuous rain and a very wet track.

It was defending Champion Davies that led the charge through Paddock, before Crispin nosed ahead into Druids. But Sparrow had the edge out of Graham Hill Bend only to run wide through Clearways and hand the advantage back to Crispin.

As the lead trio began to break away, Proietti, Matthew Hollis, Alec Graham and Mick Storey disputed fourth, while Bousfield fell back having led the group on the opening lap.

Hollis spun exiting Paddock on lap four, but a couple of laps later Crispin had a scare at the same spot, which brought Sparrow back onto his tail again. They continued inches apart over the next lap, but Crispin held on until the safety car was scrambled with Nigel Hollis off exiting Paddock.

Proietti had been fourth behind the safety car, but from the green flag rocketed into the lead, only to run wide through Clark Curve a lap later, dropping to third behind Crispin and Sparrow again.

The lead duo got away again as a queue formed behind Proietti. Davies led the pursuers which had grown to seven cars by the end of lap 12.

Crispin had managed to break the tow again from Sparrow, but the action behind went right to the flag. Crispin held on but Sparrow headed for the pitlane on the last lap after being black flagged for not having a fuel cap. “No idea why my car went so well compared with earlier. The pressure was on though and I really messed up the restart,” said Crispin. “I had started the race without the fuel cap on and was spilling fuel out, so got the warning flag,” added Sparrow.

With Sparrow not classified, Proietti off at Clearways two laps from the end, which also caught out the recovering Hollis, Davies’ engine had cut out and Graham had clipped Storey and spun him exiting Paddock, it was David O’Keeffe’s stealth that netted second, from Graham, Nick Roads and Hollis. “They all seemed to get quicker after the safety car, I stayed calm and they started to fall off,” O’Keeffe explained.

“It had been a difficult race with Pete’s fuel spilling onto a wet track, but thought third would be OK. I had a gap, some contact with Alec and the engine cut out,” Davies explained. “I had an awesome restart, they all seemed to slow as we got to the line and I went for it. But I kept losing the back end, held it then spun and Matthew caught me,” said Proietti. “I had spun earlier and then caught Sandro and lost it again,” Hollis confirmed.

Michael Fox completed the top six, with Storey recovering to hold seventh. “I was OK until the safety car and then everyone closed up. I was running OK again though until there was a big bang when Alec hit me,” Storey explained.

Brent Savage, Chris Yates and a “popping and banging” Bousfield rounded off the top 10.

It was still wet for the second race too, but Sparrow and Tom Perry shared the front row, from Storey, Simon Clarke, Fox and Matthew Hollis.

As the lights went out Sparrow held his line to lead through Paddock, with Perry initially second, from Crispin, Storey, Hollis and Clarke.

As Sparrow tried to stretch the field Crispin and Storey exchanged over second and third, similarly Hollis and Perry for fourth and fifth, as Clarke began to lose ground on his rivals.

The safety car was out on the third lap however and closed it all up again, before going green after two laps. While the top four held station, Gadget team mates Perry and Clarke began a duel for fifth.

Gradually Storey began to close in on Sparrow’s lead, leaving Crispin and Hollis duelling for third. But as the leader responded the third placed duo began to reel in Storey.

Crispin went for the inside line through Clearways with Hollis following and as they stormed passed the pits Storey was down to fourth and soon being caught by Perry.

With time running out it suddenly became any one from five for the lead after Storey had fought back to retake Crispin and Hollis two laps from home. Rounding Clearways for the penultimate time Crispin was second and inches from Sparrow, while Storey was in there too.

Perry had been in contention until his engine cut out on the last lap, but at the front Crispin just had it, securing a double win with 0.254 secs to spare over Sparrow and Storey. “I had a good start, but Pete broke the tow and we were all battling. Once I had got away from Mick and Matt I just chased for the lead, then I tripped up with a backmarker at Graham Hill Bend and Mick was there again to retake me. I managed to get him back and then just out dragged Pete to the line, great,” said Crispin.

Hollis came home fourth, “it was so nip and tuck on those last few laps and I couldn’t get through the backmarkers so well to challenge the leaders,” he admitted.

Clarke held on for fifth, from the closing O’Keeffe, while Graham, Marc Grasby and Proietti completed the top 10.

The 2CVs will be back in action again at Oulton Park on June 23^rd.

Full results: Click here

SPARROW DOUBLE BUT GADGET TAKE ENDURO SPOILS

Pete Sparrow proved unbeatable in both 2CV Sprint races at Cadwell Park, but it was master tacticians Gadget Racing to the fore in the two hour Enduro, with Lien Davies and Tom Perry victorious.

[button type=”bd_button btn_middle” url=”http://tsl-timing.com/file/?f=BARC/2018/1815222cv.pdf” target=”on” button_color_fon=”#ff0000″ button_text_color=”#ffffff” ]Full results PDF[/button]

Only 0.212 secs split Sparrow and Sandro Proietti after qualifying, but it was Proietti that nosed ahead onto the Mountain for the first time in race one, with defending Champion Lien Davies in third, from Nick Crispin, Alec Graham and Matthew Hollis.

As they crossed the line to start lap two, Davies got a monumental run down the inside into Coppice, surging passed both Proietti and Sparrow, who then went into Park side by side. “I couldn’t believe how quickly I came upon the leaders,” Davies admitted.

Sparrow stuck to his guns and was into second at Mansfield and quickly began to harass for the lead, as Proietti lost ground to come under pressure from Crispin. “It was exciting, I was on the back of Sparrow and thought we would get away until Lien got that tow. I worked well with Nick though until Pete and Lien worked together and got away again,” Proietti added.

As the lead duo started to escape, Crispin was third into Park on lap four, but Proietti stayed close as Sparrow retook Davies into Park for the lead a lap later.

There were further duels behind the lead quartet as Graham diced with Hollis and Ainslie Bousfield with Mick Storey.

As Sparrow started to build a lead, Davies, Crispin and Proietti ran in formation for second, with Proietti back into third on lap six. “We worked together to catch the leaders, but I was down on power and lost out through Hall Bends after breaking a shock absorber, maybe on the kerbs,” said Crispin.

On lap eight however the safety car was out as Ronald Mears’ car had expired on the crest of the Mountain and he was out of the car.

The safety car took the race to the chequered flag, leaving Sparrow, Davies and Proietti on the podium as Crispin just missed out. “It was all well managed but I didn’t really want to lead onto the last lap. I had a good start and it went to plan,” said Sparrow.

Graham and Hollis completed to the top six, with Bousfield retaining seventh over Storey. “It went noisy part way through the race, didn’t lose any power though,” said Graham. “Awesome start then I lost out in a pincer movement between Crispin and Graham, got sandwiched but managed to stay with Alec,” Hollis explained.

“I was in a perfect position to watch a great race until the safety car but I thought Mick would pass me as he caught me very quickly,” Bousfield added. “I could get close but not enough, the others were just too quick,” Storey replied.

Steve Walford and Nick Roads rounded off the top 10 after an entertaining duel. “I was a bit down on power, lost the tow and they got away,” said Walford.

Sparrow was on pole again for race two, but this time it was Tom Perry alongside, taking over the Davies Team Gadget car.

It was Luca Proietti however that went into Coppice locked in combat with Sparrow, but he soon lost out as Graham and Crispin got by exiting Charlies, before Proietti reclaimed third on the Mountain approach.

Sparrow briefly got away on lap two, the next four paired off, before it became a nine car lead train a lap later.

Graham put Sparrow under pressure through Coppice as Proietti waited in the wings, but Crispin had fallen back in fourth and had Perry closing in, after he had lost out at the start.

Perry was into fourth by lap four and latched onto the Graham and Proietti duel for second, which had given brief respite for Sparrow.

Proietti had second into Gooseneck a lap later, but Graham took it back exiting Charlies, continuing side by side into Park, but Perry had got passed them both.

Six cars as one and Proietti had shot back into contention to challenge for the lead, but it was now Perry in front and Sparrow had dropped to third.

A lap from home it all changed again, Sparrow led out from Proietti with Perry under pressure from Graham for third, after he ran very wide at Hall Bends and peeled part of his bodywork back.

Sparrow held on for win number two, from Proietti, while Graham snatched third on the last lap from Perry.

Crispin managed to hold onto fifth, while Matthew Hollis just held off Simon Clarke for sixth, after he demoted Kris Tovey on the last lap.

Brian Heerey and Martin Riman completed the top 10 after escaping from a three-way fight between Mick Storey, Marc Grasby and Roy Eastwood, but Katy Storey lost a front wing with last lap contact.

The varying tactics in the 2 Hour Enduro left victory uncertain until the very end.

With Graham saving all three of his 3 compulsory stops until the end, he was the hare at the head of the field. He pitted on laps 38, 39 and 40, so the hard work done in the early stages by Davies paid dividends and left Gadget team mate Perry with comfortable lead. “Lien did such a fantastic job it was just left to me to bring it home really,” said Perry after the duo took the win by a healthy 25.808 secs.

The winners may have become clear cut but it certainly wasn’t behind. Sparrow had shared with returning ex Champion Gary Adnitt and Luca Proietti had taken over from Dad Sandro, while the solo running Crispin made it a triple battle.

On the last lap it was side by side with Sparrow and Proietti, but Luca got through at the Gooseneck and allowed Crispin to challenge for third.

“I had a moment at Park, a bit heart stopping but didn’t have Sparrow’s pace either,” said Proietti, who still managed to hold onto second.

For third it was 0.013 secs but Crispin got it, despite the timing screen initially showing Sparrow. “I had got ahead of Luca and Pete, but went wide at Park, then went off at Barn and Pete had to take to the grass to avoid me,” Crispin explained. “I thought he had beaten me on the line too,” he added.

Graham finally finished in fifth ahead of Bousfield/Clarke, with Matthew Hollis seventh and Yates/Ash Carter eighth. “If holding our position was the plan, then it worked,” Yates admitted,

Grasby/Walford were ninth while Heerey/Roads came in tenth, a lap down.

Published by Peter Scherer for the 2CV Racing Club, April 16^th 2018.

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.

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.