Lotus Cup Uk Race Report: Silverstone 15/4

Introduction

After a hugely successful inaugural season in 2011, Lotus Cup UK began its second season with a second championship. Rather than one overall title, Production drivers would fight for their own crown, whilst the faster classes would be competing for the Supersport championship. The Exige Cup, 2-Eleven and Open categories remain, but the Evora class has been renamed V6 to include the new Exige S.

Teaming up to drive an Evora in the newly renamed class would be series stalwart Steve Williams and Martin Donnelly, with the new GTN race kit bolted onto a road-going car. Many of last year’s regulars would be returning, with Steve Quick defending his title in the Production class.

Practice & Qualifying

In the initial practice session Adrian Hall placed his Open class Exige at the top of the field, half a second clear of Steve Train, switching to a 2-Eleven from his Production exploits last year. Rob Fenn and James Barclay were a little further off the pace, with Simon Deacon, Glenn Sherwood /Jamie Stanley, Williams/Donnelly, Campbell Cassidy/Chris Randall, Tom Chatterway, Liz Halliday and Mark Gooday completing the top ten.

New Elise Trophy pacesetter Rob Boston was quickest in the Production class, in eleventh, with fellow series rookies Andrew Bentley and Charlotte Burridge/Fulvio Mussi next. However, the order of practice often bears no resemblance to qualifying.

Fenn and Barclay were straight on the pace in qualifying, whilst Cassidy and Randall served notice of intent with the second-fastest time early on. Next time round they were quickest, with practice pacesetter Hall taking second.

Meanwhile the Williams/Donnelly Evora was building up speed, up to fourth at the halfway session, and ahead of the Setters’ Open class Exige, whilst Mark Gooday was leading the 2-Elevens and Boston the Production class.

A fast final lap from Williams/Donnelly wasn’t enough to haul them up the order and they remained in fourth place behind Cassidy/Randall on pole position, Hall and Fenn/Barclay. The Setters Exige lay ahead of Gooday’a pace-setting 2-Eleven, with Simon Deacon and Steve Train behind. Sherwood and Stanley lined up ninth, with Tom Chatterway tenth. Behind him, the Production fight would be led by Boston and Livsey/Bradshaw.

However, after the session had ended, the Cassidy/Randall car was stripped of its fastest time for exceeding the track limits and would start from eleventh place, promoting Hall to pole position, whilst the Livsey/Bradshaw car was sent to the back of the grid following scrutineering.

Race

Hall converted pole position into the lead from the rolling start, with the Fenn/Barclay Motorsport Elise slotting into second place. However the Williams/Donnelly Evora was into the lead halfway through the lap and as Hall tracked the V6 machine and the fast starting Cassidy/Randall Europa followed, the Fenn/Barclay car was under attack from the Setters and Gooday.

As the Europa slowed after less than two laps, Hall tracked the leaders closely, as the Motorsport Elise held third from Gooday and Setters, whilst Deacon and Train kept close company. Boston led Production, with a gap to Quick, who was holding back Andrew Bentley, Warren Scott, Stuart Ratcliff and Ken Savage. Behind them at this early stage, Halliday was clawing her way up the field after a disastrous qualifying session. A spin from Scott, trying to climb the order, provided a brief flashpoint in this battle but did nothing to arrest Halliday’s progress.

Randall was also working his way back after a brief visit to the pits. Making fine progress, he was however bringing himself to the attention of the stewards for exceeding track limits, the same issue he had in qualifying. Meanwhile the second-placed Hall Exige slowed dramatically after 20 minutes and needed a stop in the pits.

As light rain began to fall, another car that had fallen a little down the order, the Setters Exige, was working its way up a few places and as it attacked Gooday, the 2-Eleven slowed, and headed to the pitlane. As the pit window opened, Randall had caught Deacon and Setters, currently battling for the final podium position, and passed them both. However he would need to keep up the pace, having been handed a 5 second penalty.

Some ahead, the leaders were disputing the place in the damp and the Go Green Motorsport Elise headed the race at the halfway point. This triggered the first round of stops, as Donnelly, Randall and Deacon stopped. The leader came in next time round, however in Production, Boston carried on as his pursuers made their mandatory call at the garages.

Desperate to regain the lead, Williams suffered a torrid moment on his out lap and came round seven seconds in arrears to the leader. The gap continued to grow as the Fenn/Barclay Motorsport Elise continued its progress. Behind them , Deacon held third place from Train and the Setters, whilst Boston held the Production class lead.

With the leader seemingly heading towards victory, third place was under dispute as Train caught Deacon and lined up to take the place with ten minutes to go. Halliday too was moving forwards, now up with Cassidy in the Europa and as she took that place, Train did the same for Deacon. He then set off after Williams, who was by now 30 seconds behind the leader. On a spellbinding final lap, the pair fought hard for the place, with Train pulling four seconds clear of the Williams, now fighting off Deacon. He only just salvaged third place, with the Setters taking fifth, ahead of Halliday, Harvey, Cassidy/Randall, Production winner Boston and defending champion Quick.

However, several penalties were handed out after the race, including Deacon, who ended up in 20th place for a short pitstop, whilst Boston pitted after the pit window had closed and dropped to 27th place, with Quick picking up the class win from Scott and Bentley.

Conclusion

A long-awaited first win for the Go Green Motorsport Elise was by no means straightforward, with a big threat from both the Maidstone Sportscars-prepared Exige and the Donnelly/Williams Evora, both of which will surely be forces to be reckoned with this season. Meanwhile Train’s late charge salvaged pride for the 2-Eleven contingent, which will surely strengthen as the year progresses, particularly from a highly promising debut outing from Halliday. Cassidy’s Europa, too, continues to show potential, whilst in the Production class, Quick has shown that he fully intends to defend his title.

The next round of Lotus Cup UK takes place at Brands Hatch on 18-20 May, supporting the DTM.