RACING EXPOSURE :: Club level motorsport e-magazine

2010 Lotus Racing T127 F1 car will run at Classic Team Lotus Festival

Snetterton to reverberate to the sounds of modern Grand Prix machinery

For the first time in 15 years a contemporary Formula One car will take to the Snetterton track, after it was confirmed that the new Lotus Racing T127 car will run at the Classic Team Lotus Festival on Sunday 20 June.

With current Formula One regulations severely limiting testing away from Grands Prix, this is a rare opportunity for fans to see a current F1 car running in the UK.

Whilst teams are permitted to run short private ‘shakedown’ sessions between races, Lotus Racing have been given special permission by F1′s governing body, the FIA, to conduct its European Grand Prix installation procedure at the festival.

It is not yet known who will drive the car, but both Jarno Trulli and Heikki Kovalainen will be present at the festival, as well as test driver Fairuz Fauzy.

With an example of every Lotus F1 car ever made on display, this is another announcement that will make the festival an unmissable experience for Formula One enthusiasts.

At the end of the event, the T127 F1 car will be loaded onto the Lotus Racing transporter to be waved away by the crowd as it sets off for the European Grand Prix, the 500th race for the Lotus name in F1.

Tickets for the Classic Team Lotus Festival at Snetterton on 20 June are available for £20 for adults, with free entry for children aged 12 and under. For more information call 0870 950 9000 or visit www.snetterton.co.uk.

Comma’s ‘art attack’ to launch £2 million motorsport giveaway

Using a 6-tonne racing truck, single-seater, bike and sportscar as his paintbrushes, artist, Ian Cook, has created a unique 50 square metre work of art.

The painting was commissioned by oil and car care company, Comma, to launch a £2 million motorsport giveaway at www.commaoil.com/tickets.

Cook swapped his signature paint-covered radio-control cars for real vehicles for the first time in his career to generate the giant image which celebrates British motorsport.

After more than 40 hours painting with radio controlled cars in his studio, Cook spent a further eight hours at Brands Hatch circuit, in Kent, using a go kart, a Caterham R300 sportscar, a Formula Two single-seater, a racing bike and a 6-tonne truck to create the 10m x 5m canvas.

Comma’s £2 million motorsport promotion has been launched to celebrate the Company’s continuing technical partnership to the FIA Formula Two Championship.

Tickets for more than 100 different race events between June and November are included in the offer at MotorSport Vision circuits – Brands Hatch in Kent, Oulton Park in Cheshire, Snetterton in Norfolk and Cadwell Park in Lincolnshire – when customers buy selected packs of Comma’s Performance Motor Oil range.

“Motorsport has been in Comma’s DNA since the Company was founded over 40 years ago,” said Comma’s Mike Bewsey. “It also gives us the chance to showcase the technical excellence of our products in the harshest of engine environments.

The variety of vehicles used to paint the artwork is a perfect illustration of the vast array of racing we’re offering fans as part of our promotion.”

For details of how to claim free tickets, visit www.commaoil.com/tickets.

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

Snetterton carries out track resurfacing project

New tarmac for super-quick Riches and Coram corners

Snetterton owner MotorSport Vision has carried out track resurfacing work at Riches and Coram as part of its ongoing commitment to developing facilities for competitors and spectators.

Riches and Coram are two of the fastest corners around the super-quick Norfolk circuit, which has an average lap speed of 125mph, and more than six hundred tonnes of tarmac has been laid over this eight thousand square metre area.

The track resurfacing project, which was completed in two days, will benefit the thousands of two and four wheel competitors that race at the circuit each year, along with Snetterton’s car and bike trackday enthusiasts.

Among the series that will compete on the new track surface in 2010 are the MCE Insurance British Superbike Championship, which takes place in July, and the Dunlop MSA British Touring Car Championship and the British Formula 3 and GT Championships in August.

Jamie Hopper, Snetterton Circuit Manager, said: “We have been working very hard during the first part of the year to maintain and improve our circuit for the thousands of competitors, spectators and other guests that visit Snetterton. Our 2010 calendar is extremely busy with over 25 race meetings still to come this year and we look forward to seeing what effect the new surface has on lap times.”

In addition to resurfacing two key corners, Snetterton has carried out further development work around the circuit including installing new FIA combination kerbing at Russell Bend, whilst new white lining and virtual kerbs have been painted on the exit of Sear Corner.

Spectators will also benefit this season from a new viewing bank overlooking the Esses, Bombhole and Coram, which is due to open in mid-July.

Snetterton to celebrate all things Great and British

Circuit to host festival of UK racing series next weekend

Snetterton will be flying the Union Flag next weekend (8/9 May) when the super-quick 1.95 mile circuit hosts the Dunlop Great & British Festival, a celebration of home-grown vehicles and racing talent.

The festival, which was first launched in 2006, brings together some of the UK’s leading club racing series. This year’s visit to Snetterton will include a packed programme of saloon car, single seater and sports car racing, featuring an exciting mix of rising stars and enthusiastic amateur competitors.

One of Britain’s most iconic cars – the Mini – will be starring at Great & British this year, as there will be track action from the Mini Challenge. The opening round last month produced some close racing, as reigning champion Luke Caudle clinched two wins before Chris Panayiotou snatched victory in the final outing of the day. In addition, there will be action from two other Mini series: Mini Miglia and Mini Se7en.

The Autosport Young Guns series will provide single seater competition from some of the UK’s most promising young motorsport talent, including former T Cars competitor James Nutbrown and 16-year-old former karting ace Josh Webster from Stowmarket in Suffolk.

There will also be racing from the Dunlop Sport Maxx Cup, a saloon and sports coupé racing series for vehicles up to five years old, where Adrian Churchill’s Vauxhall Astra VXR has established a slender points lead over Luca Lorenzini’s Nissan 370Z, along with a sportscar outing from the Quaife Radical Clubman’s Cup.

Tickets for the Great & British Festival at Snetterton on 8/9 May are available from £10 for adults, with free entry for children aged 12 and under. For more information call 0870 950 9000 or visit www.snetterton.co.uk.

BritCar GT Rd 2. Snetterton, 17^th April 2010.

The production race gave us 3 attempts at the start, accidents and the red flag. Surely the GT race couldn’t match that for incidents?

Well, actually it did with the fun and games beginning in qualifying. Going into this event Keith Robinson in the No 1 MJC Ferrari F430 was concerned about the McInerney’s Mosler, explaining, “We think they will have an advantage here due to the long straights. It’s a completely different sort of track to Brands” where the MJC team had won last time out.

The Ginetta G50 of In 2 Racing, to be driven by Alistair Mackinnon, of meeting sponsor Mackinnon construction, and Fiona James unfortunately didn’t make the start of qualifying due to a blown engine.

The number 26 Marcos Mantis of Topcats Racing most certainly made qualifying though, and held provisional pole 15 minutes into the session with a time of 1:08.473 which they had for 5 minutes before being relegated down a place by the Ferrari 430 of Aaron Scott, who was to share racing duties with Arwyn Williams.

The other Mantis wasn’t fairing so well though; the number 36 stopping out on track and bringing out the safety car. By this time the McInerney’s held the provisional pole and the MJC Ferrari had beaten Aaron Scott’s time also.

The safety car came in with three minutes left on the clock. Robinson went out to try and snatch pole, but Sean McInerney followed him out and launched an overtaking move at Sear corner, preventing Robinson from setting a quicker time. While this was happening, the Mantis snatched 3^rd from the Ferrari 430.

So the grid was set. The two class one rivals locking out the front row, with the class 2 Huggins/Fiorentino Mantis heading up the Ferrari 430 of fellow class 2 entry Aaron Scott & Arwyn Williams and the JMH team.

5^th spot was taken by Stephen Brady, who was going to be in for a long hot afternoon as the only driver of the Master Motorsport Ultima. Alongside him were the class 3 leaders, Chris Headlam & Jamie Stanley in the Orbital Sound Lotus Elise.

Row 4 was the TVR of Glynnsport next to the Porsche 997 from Eurotech racing. The remaining cars were all class 3, with the other Topcats Racing Mantis to be driven in the race first by Henry Fletcher, with Owen O’Neill taking the second stint. Another Porsche was in 10^th, this time in a 996 shape from the Neil Garner / Azteca Motorsport stable.

Matt Bell and Richard Dean were in another Ginetta G50, and would be starting from 11^th with runners up in the Production race Keith Gent & Steve Clark in a BMW M3 E46. Rounding off the grid were Jordan & Harrison in the Eurotech Racing Ginetta G50, Clarke / Gibson in Intersport Racing BMW M3 E92 and in 15^th was the Aston Martin N24 from Nicholas Mee Racing, which was to be piloted by Karsten Le Blanc & Christaen Van Lanschot.

Perhaps due to the mishaps at the start of the Production race, Robinson was a bit wary at the off, and this caution dropped him to 6^th by the end of the first lap. Moving in the other direction was Stephan Brady in the Ultima, with a corking first lap taking him up to second place, albeit 2 seconds behind the Mosler already.

The no 36 Mantis driven by Henry Fletcher in the first stint was having some kind of trouble – 30 seconds down on the leader by the end of lap 1, and then into the pits. Fletcher did rejoin, although he was already 3 laps down on the leader. Between himself and Owen O’Neill they managed to bring the car home, a feat many others failed to do, and finished in 6^th position.

Neil Huggins, who was doing the first stint in the other Topcats Racing Mantis was hounding Brady in the Ultima for second place, and managed to get past on lap 21 – the Ultima running wide due to reduced grip – the same complaint Huggins himself had “We went with the soft tyre as we thought the weather would be cooler. My rears were shot when I came in. I could see the Ultima had the same problem, so wasn’t surprised when he dropped it.”

Half an hour in and the Mosler had lapped…. Absolutely everyone. Fuel economy was going to be in issue though – surely the 7 litre engine was going to be more thirsty than everyone else – would an extra stop be needed? At this point the Mantis of Huggins, Brady in the Ultima and Gamski in the recovering MJC Ferrari were separated by only 6 seconds in 2^nd, 3^rd and 4^th respectively.

Much to the surprise of everyone, Gamski came in to pit first of the leading group, handing over to Keith Robinson on lap 42. With Sean McInerney coming in on lap 50 to hand over to Michael, this left Neil Huggins leading in the Topcats Racing Mantis.

It was looking as though an excellent result was on the cards for the Huggins / Raphael Fiorentino pairing with team boss Warren Gilbert convinced that both the Ferrari and Mosler would have to stop twice more. However, attrition was again going to come into play. Oil drops were spotted after the pitstop when Huggins came in to vacate the seat for Fiorentino on lap 72. Whatever the problem was, it got worse. With smoke coming from the back of the car, it was called into the pits to retire.

Issues were also plaguing the Mosler – the air jacks not working on the stop, so being sent back out with old rubber. A puncutre – the fist in 5 years for the team – forced Michael to re-pit on lap 64. Unfortunately the flapping rubber from the puncture caused other damage – enough to spin the Mosler out while entering the Esses, and ending their race.

Pitstop issues for Brady as well, with the team taking tape off from the radiator. The hot weather causing issues with the air box, and forcing a retirement for him also.

Reliability problems for the Orbital Sound / Chris Headlam Lotus Elise forcing them to retire on lap 67 with a faulty wheel bearing while running in 8^th place – “we just need a stronger car” rued Jamie.

The number 87 Jones family entered Porsche fell foul of the track, having a puncture also, forcing them to pit on lap 105. While all this was going on, the MJC Ferrari had things pretty easy, leading by three 3 laps, and pitting for Witt Gamski to take the wheel again for the final half an hour run to the chequered flag. Which he duly took after 121 laps.

Following him across, albeit 2 laps down, were Matt Bell and Richard Dean in the United Autosports Ginetta G50, who had driven an excellent race and managed to avoid the issues going on around them to take the runner up spot.

However, that wasn’t quite the end of the story as with only 10 minutes left, the number 33 Intersport Racing BMW, running third developed a fuel pressure problem. Unable to hold off the Neil Garner / Azteca Motorsport Porsche, who stole the spot with only 3 laps to go. Kevin Clarke was losing ground rapidly, and the recovering Jones Porsche had a lunge down into Russells on the last lap, but couldn’t make it stick.

What had looked a very promising day for the Topcats team ended with a single 6^th place finish for O’Neill & Fletcher, just 4 seconds ahead of Aaron Scott & Arwyn Williams in the JMH Ferrari. Mike Jordan and Gerry Harrison finished only a further 14 seconds back in their Ginetta G50, with the Aston Martin of Nicholas Mee Racing the last of the still-runners.

Not classified was the Glynnsport TVR Sagaris, which retired on lap 37 with gearbox problems, and the other TVR of Tim Hood and Fred Tonge, who only lasted 11 laps before retiring with suspected differential problems.

The MJC team won a race that perhaps they didn’t expect to win, by being one of the few cars to stay out of trouble, and avoid the reliability woes that affected others. Once again in Britcar GT there was some great racing throughout the field, and action all through the 2 ½ hour race.

Roll on Croft in three weeks time.

With thanks to Steve Wood at Britcar for the help in compiling this report.

Words: Alex Ings / Images: Alex Ings.

A slightly chilly spring morning turned into a very warm summers day at Snetterton on Saturday for round 2 of the BritCar production championship. A far cry from the arctic-like conditions at Brands Hatch for round 1 last month.

“The track owed us this one” – so said Peter Moulsdale, and who can blame him – after leading the race last year until two minutes from the end when the engine blew. No such dramas for him and Steve Kent in the BMW E46 M3 this year, although there were certainly dramas elsewhere on the grid during the 90 minute race.

There were two casualties before qualifying even bagan, with the Eurotech Racing Mustang (who was runner up last time out at Brands) not taking part in the meeting due to blowing a piston during testing on the Friday. The Kalmar-Union Volvo S60 withdrew before qualifying, to take no further part in the meeting.

The front five places on the grid were all filled with BMWs, and all within a second of each other. The K G Motorsport / Torquespeed E46 M3 of Gent & Clark took the honours with a time of 1:11.962, set on lap 7. Last years champions Kevin Clarke & Wayne Gibson were alongside for Intersport racing. The first Geoff Steel Racing entry was in third, and that was the E46 M3 of Moulsdale & Kent. Mark Smith and David Cuff were in fourth for JC Racing. Gino Ussi was the last of the set of BMWs in the other Geoff Steel entry.

The Cunninghams were in 6^th with son Mark saying they had issues with stability through the quicker corners, causing them to set a time of 1:13.957 a second behind Ussi. A futher tenth back was the Ginetta GT4 of Mick Mercer & Gary Smith for In2 Racing. Lining up in 8^th was Gary Furst in his Mitsubishi Evo 9.

Row 5 consisted of Angus Dawe & Philip Bennett in the other Intersport / Torquespeed run BMW, with David Green and Richard Adams in the Bullrun Seat Cupra who took the class 2 pole. Row 6 was looked our by pairs, with the Smith / Smith Ginetta ahead of the Cox / Cox Ford Escort Turbo by 2.2 seconds.

Ian Lawson and Anthony Wilds were another 3 tenths back in the ING Sport BMW 320i, ahead of Paul Phipps & Rob Day in their BMW entry. 15^th on the grid was the Nissan 370Z driven by Lorenzini and Tresson, who won a competition set up by Sony Playstation. 16^th on the grid were Owen Thomas and Ashely Woodman in the BPM Racing Renault Clio “We’ve lost out due to the change in classes” said Owen, as they were previously in class 3, which no longer exists. The final place was taken by the Brunswick Automotive BMW 130i of Martin Parsons and James Trett. Martin didn’t even know who his co driver was going to be – a last minute change as the original occupant, Nick Gooch, became a father on Friday evening.

The race actually took three attempts to get going. The first rolling start was deemed unacceptable by the starting official, as the cars were out of position by the time they went across the line. The pace car went back out to pick up the leader for another formation lap.

At the second attempt, all was in order until the number 75 Ginetta GT4 with Mick Mercer at the wheel, and the number 64 Seat Leon of Mark Cunningham tried to occupy the same piece of track. The resulting collision lifted the Ginetta “as high as the Armco barrier” as trackside commentator Brian Jones described it.

The race was red flagged as the mess was cleared away. The Seat Leon looked to be in a mess when seen back in the pits but apparently the Ginetta came off worse. Hopefully the damage for both isn’t bad enough to stop their attendance at Croft in three weeks time.

The race length was reduced by the red flag time, leaving 76 minutes. Peter Moulsdale, who was the starting driver in the Geoff Steel racing BMW, overtook Wayne Gibson on lap 1. He stayed in third place though after losing out to a fast starting David Cuff who made an excellent start to jump from 4^th to 2^nd by the end of the first lap in the JC Racing BMW. Wayne Gibson stayed in 4^th until lap 7, when he was forced to retire.

Moulsdale managed to get past Cuff on lap 6, having been scrapping for a couple of laps beforehand. By lap 20 the leading KG Motorsport / Torquespeed BMW driven by Clark was 6.2 seconds ahead of Moulsdale, but the two of them were now 28 seconds ahead of David Cuff. Moulsdale stopped on lap 31 to hand over to Steve Kent and the number 42 car came in on the following lap, with Gent taking over the hotseat. Their stop wasn’t quick enough however, and Steve Kent had a 29 second lead to try and hold until the end of the race.

Steve Kent put some quick laps in early on to extend his lead to nearly 34 seconds. Gent managed to stabilise the gap, and then reduce it down. The damage was done in the pitstop however, and Steve Kent took the chequered flag by 25 seconds. “The track owed us this one, after last year.” Said a very happy Peter Moulsdale.

Gino Ussi finished off a good day for Geoff Steel racing, taking the final spot on the podium just 4 seconds ahead of David Cuff and Mark Smith, in the other BMW E46 M3. Gary Furst, another driver doing the whole race himself, finished in 5^th spot ahead of class 2 winners Ian Lawson and Anthony Wilds. Dave & Michael Cox made moves from their starting position of 12^th, to finish 7^th, runners up in class 2 and ahead of the class 1 invitation entrees of Peter & Matt Smith in their Ginetta, and the Angus Dawe/Philip Bennett combo. Angus actually coming in to the pits on lap 20, 2 minutes before the lane officially opened. Philip put in some quick laps but then picked up a puncture on lap 47 and had to re-pit while running in 7^th.

Luca Lorenzini, one of the Playstation competition winners and starting driver in the Nissan 370Z, had a good few opening laps, overtaking Peter Smith in the sole remaining Ginetta, on lap 6, having hounded him for the previous 3 laps. Jordan Tresson, who took over as the other Playstation winner, set the faster lap out of the two, on lap 42, and they came in a respectable 10^th, and took third in class.

Owen Thomas and Ashley Woodman had their fears confirmed about not being able to hang on to the other class 2 runners in their Renault Clio, but had a close race with Martin Parsons and James Trett, to finish just 5 seconds ahead of the Brunswick BMW.

The last two classified runners, 37 laps down on the leader, were David Green & Richard Adams in the Bullrun Seat Cupra and the Rob Day/Paul Phipps in the Simmons Printers BMW.

It was good to see that there were 6 more cars on the starting grid than at Brands, and that is without the Mustang from Eurotech Racing, or the Kalmar Union Volvo who were unable to compete this weekend. Hopefully there will be a grid approaching 20 cars for the next round at Croft in 3 weeks time.

GT report to follow.

Words: Alex Ings / Images: Alex Ings.

Stock Hatch stalwart William Hornsey has completed the first 2 rounds of the 2010 championship at Snetterton over the weekend. Coming off the back of a couple of days testing and a last minute engine rebuild Hornsey’s hopes were high coming into the weekend.

However it became apparent that the speed shown in testing was not translating in to race pace, and coupled with a poor qualifying effort, Hornsey found himself down in 17th place for his heat.

“I was disappointed in my driving for the qualifying session, the car has been vey difficult to drive in the wet in the past and although better I still don’t have the confidence to push it as hard as it could go in the wet. Unfortunately in Stock Hatch qualifying determines your weekend and I was always going to be struggling from there on in.”

As is the norm with Stock Hatch, the first heat was red flagged and then run as a two part race where Hornsey finished 15th. This left him 26th for the final but a good race inspite of picking up some accident damage saw him finish 18th.

Sunday’s races were less eventful and a top 30 finish in the final was all that could be mustered.

“the car picked up a lot of ailments during the final including a slipping clutch, misfire and some fuel pressure issues. As well as the accident damage i have a busy couple of weeks to sort the car out for the next round.”

The finals were won by Josh Cook with last years champion Jeff Humphries 2nd.
Full results can be found at http://www.750mc.co.uk/images/uploaded/01_Snetterton_13-14th_March_Stock_Hatch.pdf

Hornsey shows signs of contact during stock hatch final.

A new single make series is being run run by MSVR this year. The events will feature a grid of identical Fiat 500 Abarths and will race at 6 venues across the UK, with a final round to be held at Monza.

In June the series will race at Snetterton for round 4, and will be on the calendar alongside the GT Cup and Formula Palmer Audi Championship.

“This is a great calendar for our first season,” said Championship Organiser Paolo Caellea. “We are running alongside some of the most recognisable racing series in the world and at the same time we are trying some new things. We are really excited that we can offer our teams and drivers the opportunity to drive on six fantastic, different race tracks and be part of some of the UK’s biggest racing weekends.”

3/5 April Oulton Park
17/18 April Silverstone GP
22/23 May Cadwell Park
26/27 June Snetterton
24/25 July Silverstone GP
4/5 September Brands Hatch Indy
23/24 October Monza

A list of provisional dates for the 2010 Dunlop TVR Challenge have appeared on the internet. Pencil the following into your diaries:

• 10th April – Cadwell Park
• 30th/31st May - Snetterton
• 12th/13th June – Brands Hatch
• 18th July – Mallory Park
• 29th/30th August – Rockingham
• 16th October – Oulton Park

Please note that these dates are provisional and may be subject to change.