The weather for Sunday’s meeting at Snetterton was a lot better than the previous day which was mostly wet and horrible, being dull and grey in the morning before cheering up in the afternoon. As is often the case with Snetterton, there was a strong wind blowing across the track.
The Itchy Feet OSS (Open Sportscar Series) Championship was out first, with pole being taken by Jim Hutchinson in his Nissan engined Jade, but it was Tony Sinclair who, like the previous day, took the top step of the podium with in his Jade. Graham Cole made it a Jade 1-2-3 with his third position. Itchy Feet sell Motorhomes in case you were wondering!
The Fiat Racing Challenge provided a somewhat depleted grid, with Paul Copeland taking Punto honours, ahead of the two McMahon Puntos, Barry seven seconds off the lead, and just a second ahead of Arthur. Mark Snelling was the leading Uno Roger Esp 30 seconds behind him. Seven finishers in all.
The BRSCC F3 series were out next, everyone was watching the weather and debating whether to go for a fully dry or a compromised setup in case of rain. Alex Craven was on pole once again, but it was 2009 champ Chris Needham who took the lead. Craven incurred a startline penalty which initially brought out a black flag, but this was changed during the race to a 10 second penalty. A spin early on cost him dearly as to win he would need 10 seconds of clear air between him and whoever was 2nd. In the end it was Chris Needham who took the win, with Mark Terry closing to just under a second behind the leader. Craven was classified third 11 seconds adrift (after penalty applied). Mark Harrison had an exciting dice with Alf Skeels in their Dallara F301′s, positions changing several times before Harrison pulled away. Mark said that he wished he’d gone for a fully dry setup afterwards – although the skies did look black and threatening…
The Toyota MR2 series took several goes at getting their first race underway, with a red flag following shortly after the flags went out. A bumper entry of over 35 closely matches cars, many novices, meant that accidents are always a possibility. The race was reduced to 12 minutes after the 2nd red flag. Pole sitter and regular pace setter Alex Gassman lost out with Arron Pullan and Adam Lockwood leapfrogging him on the opening lap. The same trio took the same positions in race two, which was thankfully free of startline drama.
The Dunlop TVR Challenge Cars were sharing a grid with the Quaife Intermarque League of silhouette cars. The TVR’s were headed by a number of ex-Tuscan Challenge racers, with some race cars derived from road car origins close behind, although they were not quite a match for the Silhouette cars which at first glance look like road cars on steroids, but are really purpose built race cars which happen to wear a fibreglass body which looks like an Audi TT, BMW Z4 amongst others.
Steve Hall took the race win with his Audi TT, with Keith White’s BMW Z4 and Mick Robertson’s VW Corrado 2nd and 3rd. Hugh Marshall was first TVR home with Graham Walden and Jamie Golby behind. Race two was again headed by Hall, with Chris Brickhurst’s Peugeot 206 2nd and Dean Cook in his TVR Tuscan taking third overall.
Vaughan Fletcher’s Subaru Impreza took pole and two race wins in the Nippon Challenge. Ian Froggatt, in another Impreza that was wearing a novice cross, took a well deserved 2nd on the grid despite a somewhat wild qualifying session which saw a couple of offs at the end of the Revett Straight, but he lost out during the first race after the Nissan 350Z of Steve Burke and Paul Hughes Honda Integra took 2nd and 3rd.
Race two was a shorter affair as the race was red flagged due to a heavy rain and a couple of offs. Fletcher took the win, with Steward Hutchinson’s Honda Integra 2nd and Darren Hughes’ Impreza third.
The Porsche 924 series (which includes a class for Boxsters) put on a healthy display of cars, with David Clark and Sean Cooper taking Boxster honours apiece, with Jayson Flegg and Andrew Hannington claiming spoils for the 924 class.
Formula Acadamy were the big no-show, the debut event for this series designed for youngsters was cancelled after a problem with fire extinguisher certification. They hope to make their debut at Silverstone on the weekend of the 26/27 June.
The gap in the timetable was partly filled with a hastily arranged 924 non-championship race, with reversed grids and the Boxster class starting 20 seconds after the 924s. It didn’t take long for the Boxsters to sycthe their way through the field with the win going to David Clarke hotly pursued by Richard Sykes. Andrew Hannington took 924 honours.
Photography: Norwich Photo
