Lotus Cup Uk Snetterton 300 Race Report

Round 1 of the 2011 Lotus Cup UK held at Snetterton 300 circuit on the 19th and 20th March 2011.

Introduction

Brand new for 2011, Lotus Cup UK is an MSA accredited championship, which brings an extra dimension to Elise racing. With the majority of the races lasting one hour and incorporating a mandatory pitstop, more emphasis is placed on strategy – not just during the race but over the season. Will drivers go all out for race wins or judge the season as a whole?

Making those decisions would be many familiar names from the Elise Trophy and Lotus Cup Europe, the multi-class entry running to the same rules as the latter. Steve Williams and Mark Speller claimed plenty of wins last year and Jamie Stanley pairs up with Glen Sherwood, with David and Rob Fenn running a powerful Exige in the Open class. Marcus Jewell moves up from Production to drive a 2-Eleven, whilst his old class should see a challenge from James Knight and Ken Savage and Andrew Walsh returns to LoTRDC racing.

Practice

Practice was bookended by red flags as the first running of new cars provided a few teething problems. After the first flag Jamie Stanley and Mark Speller traded lines around the new corners as their battle set the scene for Sunday's race. However, whilst Stanley pitted his shared car, Speller carried on circulating and posted the fastest time by two seconds. Behind Stanley, Tom Chatterway lapped almost six seconds off the pace, albeit only practice pace and with very little time to get up to speed. He was still ahead of Williams, Pete Storey, Neil Livesey and Tom Bradshaw's shared car, David Harvey and James Knight, however.

With the second red flag called into service with barely time to complete an out lap, the session was quickly over. The field will no doubt have been hoping for more generous conditions in qualifying later on in the day.

Qualifying

If red flags were not so much in evidence in the second session, there was a Safety Car interruption, whilst Knight was in trouble from a failed oil seal that left him unable to post a competitive lap. However, no such problems for Speller, who improved his earlier time, chased as before, by Stanley. Sherwood took the car at the green flag before handing it over to challenge for pole. Despite the roof blowing off on the pit straight, their time was just over a second off the leader.

Simon Deacon was the closest challenger, nearly five seconds from pole and he led fellow 2-Eleven runners Chatterway, Storey and Williams. The Fenn Open Class Exige put in enough laps for seventh, just ahead of Production leaders Quick, then Neil Livsey and Tom Bradshaw – the latter bringing Formula Palmer Audi and Carrera Cup experience. Marcus Jewell lapped his new 2-Eleven to tenth and David Harvey qualified ahead of the next Production car, Elise Trophy polesitter Vase.

All drivers were buzzing with anticipation for the inaugural Lotus Cup UK race and with a combination of single and twin driver entries, everyone knew that qualifying was just the prelude.

Race

With much more time on track in the hour-long race, the GWS team elected Sherwood to take the start and with Stanley the much faster driver of the pairing, they seemed likely to pit as early as possible and hope that polesitter Speller would be suffering fatigue in the later stages. So whilst the leading car drove away from the lights as fast as possible, Sherwood set about keeping his laptimes up and consistent, whilst losing as few places as he could.

For the Fenns the aim was simple. With little running in qualifying they languished in eighth, so they took aim at the head of the field and went for it. Meanwhile the 2-Elevens of Deacon, Chatterway, Storey and Jewell kept each other company behind Speller, whilst Williams retired at the end of lap three. Behind them, whilst Sherwood was dropping back and the Fenns working their way up, van den Savel and Harvey were followed, remarkably, by Bradshaw in a Production class car. Lap after lap he hung on, putting pressure on those ahead.

QY2J7403 At this early stage Fenn and Jewell were making up the most ground as the pit window opened. Speller got the message as Fenn emerged in second place and this must have been relayed to Sherwood as he picked up his pace too and started taking places back. Catching up with Jewell, they tangled at Murrays, which resulted in a spin from Jewell as Sherwood took to the pitlane for his scheduled stop. Jewell carried on at a reduced pace before making his own stop, at the same time as the Fenns, then Speller came in a few minutes later.

With the fastest classes fairly equal on pace, Production was still led by Bradshaw, whilst Quick was lapping second, with LaMaster in third, both not too far off the class leader. Savage was a little further back, as was Knight, who had already spun at Hamilton and now fighting back. Plotnek wasn't far off this bunch either, but not for long as his car was soon seen stranded on the inside of Hamilton, not far from the apex. With no option but to scramble the Safety Car, surely the rest of the field would pit now and lose less time as everyone circulated at a reduced pace.

Taking full advantage were Deacon, Storey, Savage, Knight and van den Savel, the net effect being that the Fenns and GWS were sitting towards the back of the top ten, whilst Speller's pace and track position relative to the Safety Car had been enough to keep him up front. Stanley was visibly agitated by this turn of events and shot off at the restart, with even the Fenns unable to keep up.

However, this was a race of endurance and with a handful of laps to go Speller's car backed off. Not dramatically but enough to start dropping him down the field. It turned out that he was having problems with gear changes and this enabled first Deacon, then Storey and van den Savel to pass him. As the flag fell both Deacon and Storey were pleasantly surprised at their 1-2 finish, whilst Speller had the consolation of a third place after van den Savel was penalised 15 seconds for entering the pitlane a little too late, after the stop window had closed. However three class winners completed the top four, showing just how competitive they all are.

With Knight spinning again at Riches and electing not to continue, Savage not only claimed victory in the Production class but also a fine fifth overall – with this and his performances in the long distance Elise Trophy races over the last two years he should be strong this year. Simon Atkinson came from the back row to second in class, completing an excellent debut for him, whilst GWS and the Fenns were left to rue what might have been in seventh and eighth places. Chatterway took ninth from Vitthal Chauhan, another starter from the rear of the field in his Open class car.

Race summary – 30 starters, 24 finishers.

Overall

1. Simon Deacon 2. Pete Storey 3. Mark Speller 4. Denis van den Savel 5. Ken Savage 6. Simon Atkinson

Conclusion

The Championship got off to a great start, the top classes very equal on the Snetterton 300 configuration and plenty of action between the drivers. With the Safety Car intervention mixing things up, it will be interesting to see if everyone waits towards the end of their window next time out and with more cars expected it could become very hectic. That will be at Silverstone in a months' time and the Cup UK action from Snetterton can be seen on Motors TV shortly.