That is a lot of Lotus cars. 69 of them took to the track at the weekend.
The Lotus Cup UK & Europe, along with the Lotus on Track Elise Trophy took to the Brands Hatch GP circuit over the weekend, a total of 69 cars, where the Lotus Cup UK & Europe provided the largest grid of 2011 at the Kent circuit.
All 4 races provided some close racing, along with some controversy from the podium finishers.
With 29 cars on the grid for the Elise Trophy and a huge 44 car field in the Lotus Cup UK & Europe (the largest grid at Brands Hatch in 2011), all drivers were pretty much guarenteed a race with at least 1 other car on the circuit.
Elise Trophy Races
Close racing at the front of the field in both races for the Elise Trophy
Luigi Mazza, winner of the previous 2 races at Snetterton was demoted from his pole position to 4th on the grid after a qualifying infringement the previous day, leaving Ken Savage to inherit pole position.
Mike Vase made a poor start from row 3 in which he didn’t recover from. Towards the front though, it was a tightly fought battle with 3 wide into Paddock Hill Bend with Steve Quick, Andy Dolan and Luigi Mazza with all 3 of them battling away for the race lead, allowing Dan Plant and Ken Savage to join them to make it a 5 way battle for the race lead.
All 5 drivers swapped and attempted to swap positions fairly and cleanly as the action in the early stages continued. Race leader Quick spun at Westfields on lap 3, joining down the order in 12th place and 12 seconds away from the new race leader, Dolan, followed by Mazza and Savage.
Andy Dolan was the surprise but no less deserved victor in race 2 in the Elise Trophy
This promoted the battle between Dan Plant and Phillip Stratton-Lake to 4th, with Plant pulling away towards the end of the 20 minute race.
Mazza took the race lead and pulled away after Dolan made a mistake at Surtees, with Savage getting past into 2nd on the same lap. The top 3 then spread out slightly while further behind, Quick was recovering, now upto 10th on lap 4, and taking 9th by the end of lap 5. The recovery drive wasn’t to last though, as he pulled off into the pits with 7.5 minutes to go with gearbox problems.
The safety car looked to make an appearance, but this decision was soon retracted within a matter of seconds, catching out a number of drivers, including the race leaders, as Savage was suddenly on the exhaust pipes of Mazza, however, Mazza withstood the pressure and pulled away again slightly to win by 1.7 seconds.
There was a tremendous battle further back for 9th in the closing stages between 5 cars, with an almost coming together down through Pilgrims Drop, however, all cars survived to finish 1.5seconds of each other.
Race 2 saw a 30 minute race, with the same qualifying order from Saturday’s qualifying session, but with the top 8 reversed. Steve Quick was a non-starter due to his earlier gearbox problems, and the cow liveried car of Paul Baker who failed to finish Race 1 was almost a non-starter but made it to start the race from the pitlane.
Stratton-Lake got the jump at the start and lead the field into Paddock Hill Bend. Ken Savage made a good start and took 2nd, with Race 1 winner Mazza following into 3rd. Stratton-Lake had almost 2 seconds on Savage at the end of lap 1, but Savage soon made inroads, mostly through the back of the circuit in the fast corners, as the gap came down to 0.9 at the end of lap 2, with Mazza in his wheel tracks. Savage passed Stratton-Lake who couldn’t hold off the flying yellow perils.
The Exige of Steve Train didn’t complete the first lap as mechanical problems saw him pull off through the back of the pits. This was the first of the many retirements, including Paul Pattison who pulled off at Surtees, and Andy Napier falling off the road at Surtees at the half way stage causing a Safety Car, which definatly made an appearance in this second race.
The Safety Car perhaps coming as a welcome relief for the drivers as their tyres could be a little worse for wear after 30 minutes of racing, especially for Savage who saw Mazza pull away from him in race 1.
Mark Yates pulled off into the pitlane during the Safety Car period to retirement with 12 minutes to go.
With 8.5 minutes to go, the pack was let loose. Couple of laps later saw Race 1 winner Mazza slow over the line, handing Savage some relief, and pulled off on the inside of Druids. Nigel Ayres and Neil Stothert also joining the growing list of retirements as they pulled off into the pits soon after.
Craig Denman was now challenging for the lead with 2 laps to go after earlier overtaken Stratton-Lake for 3rd and kept the leaders in his sights, however, an ambitious move into Surtees on Savage saw the race leader spin off into the gravel, with Denman facing the wrong way on the track. Savage was dissapointingly out, with Denman falling back to 3rd at the line, leaving a very thankful Andy Dolan to claim his first win of 2011, followed by the early race leader, despite smoke in the cabin after the first lap, Phillip Stratton-Lake.
The race stewards though had the final say in the results, with Denman penalised for causing an avoidable collision, dropping him to 8th position.
Lotus UK & Europe Races
Mark Fullalove leads comfortably in the Lotus Cup races
Race 1 saw Mark Fullalove lead the way from pole in his 2-11. Steve Williams, an experienced Lotus Elise Trophy racer, could not quite keep with the pace in the early stages as further back, 2 other 2-11′s of Phillipe Loup and Pete Storey were involved in a battle with the lead non 2-11 Lotus, David Fenn in his Motorsport Elise.
Fenn getting the better of the two 2-11′s early on in the race to move upto 3rd place, with the top 5 in the race pulling away from the rest of the field.
There were a couple of retirements in the early stages. Nicholas Walker out braked himself into the gravel at Druids while running down in 19th space, and Thierry Humbert spun at Hawthorns but continued back to the pits.
Nicholas Walker’s brother, Jon, a former champion in the series and a former Caterham champion was charging through the
field from the back of the grid, having had his extinguisher go off in his car at the start of qualifying, leaving him with no time. By the half way point, he was into the top 10, and picking his victims off one by one, closing in on the podium spots as the leaders were making their way through lapped traffic.
This come back drive would certainly of rewarded him a possible podium had the race being longer than 20 minutes, however, the race leader Mark Fullalove made sure the race was as long as possible by crossing the line with 1 second left on the clock to start his last lap, and drove to a comfortable win of over 6 seconds from Steve Williams. Fenn in his Motorsport Elise completing the podium.
Walker, however, was denied 4th on the last lap, but only just. 4th placed Christophe Lisandre beat Walker to the line by less than a tenth of a second.
Jon Walker found himself at the back of the grid again for Race 2. This time, with a longer race, a podium finish could well be on the cards for the former champion. However, with a variety of winners on the grid, this task could be difficult.
David Fenn who had been running high in Race 1, had a slow start, with Mark Fullalove, Race 1 winner, leading away once again.
Graham Hill bend was the scene of a few spills in this race, starting off with Campbell Cassidy who spun on lap 1. Another spinner at Graham Hill bend, this time Remi Pochauvin who was less fortunate as he made contact with the barrier but recovered back to the pits. Fenn was another to spin at Graham Hill Bend, this time on lap 4.
Jon Walker was making progress through the field, making it to 22nd at the end of lap 1, 16th by the end of lap 2 and 9th by lap 6.
At the half way stage, Walker was upto 3rd closing in on the leader who now had a 2.8s lead over 2nd placed Steve Williams, with Pete Storey in back in 4th having being overtaken by the flying Walker and now seemingly slowing with possible gearbox problems. Storey though getting to the finish in 4th place.
The battle for the lead was hotting up into the last 5 minutes, with Fullalove being caught and Walker looking for a way past Williams, which he duly did with only 3.5 minutes to go. The 5.8 second gap though to Fullalove was too big for Walker to catch, finishing 5.1s behind Fullalove, who took his 2nd win of the weekend.
However, the stewards had a say in the final positions later on in the afternoon, as Walker was penalised for overtaking under yellows, dropping him from 2nd to 3rd.
The Lotus Cup UK & Europe will be back at Brands Hatch alongside the Elise Trophy, this time on the Indy circuit in support of the DTM on September 2nd-4th.
LoTRDC have released the 2012 Elise Trophy calendar, for the sixth season of the series. The technical rules remain essentially unchanged from 2010, with cars running Rover engines up to 151bhp at the hubs and Toyota power plants up to 172bhp. The race format is also retained, with two 20 minute races at each meeting.
2012 Elise Trophy Calendar
LoTRDC (Lotus on Track Racing Drivers Club) celebrate their fifth season of racing from this weekend but there’s little time to relax as this is very much the dawn of a new era. Here are five good reasons why:
