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Lotus in the Peak |
| 28th - 30th June 2024 |
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Showing results for tags 'Brands Hatch'.
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Deacon takes emotional win at Lotus Festival as Denman and Bentley shine Simon Deacon took his Datum-Motorsport prepared 2-Eleven to an emotional victory in the Lotus Cup UK race at this year’s Lotus Festival, held once again on the Brands Hatch Grand Prix circuit. The race took place in front of a crowd of Lotus owners and fans, and after demonstrations of Grand Prix-winning Lotus 49 and 91 cars, courtesy of Classic Team Lotus. Jamie Stanley led the initial laps before a brake problem sidelined his charge. Steve Train and Ken Savage’s 2-Elevens then took turns to lead but two safety car interventions just as the pitlane window opened kept the entire field on their toes. Savage retained his position at the front of the field but was passed by a charging Ben Hetherington, who looked to have the race in his pocket until he slowed just a few laps later. This left Deacon, a delayed Rob Fenn and Train to challenge for the honours and the former seized his opportunity with minutes to go. Fenn claimed second on the final lap to add to his Open class win, with the Exige class taken by Matt Bartlett and James Knight. An emotional Deacon said: “This race is dedicated to Anthony (Humphries of Datum Motorsport, who passed away days before the event), it was big shock to us all and the team rallied round, got everything together and this race is dedicated to him and his family, girlfriend and all the supporters that we’ve had.” The Production class was led by Adam Gore from title leader Andy Napier and Craig Denman but after the pitstops the latter led Stuart Plotnek and Dan Plant and they finished in that order. With a pitstop penalty for Napier the points chase has closed up after Plotnek’s high score. Denman also took victory in the opening Elise Trophy race after chasing and passing Andrew Bentley. However Bentley took his revenge in the second contest, with Lugi Mazza and Adam Gore in close attendance. Straight after his win, Bentley took second place in the Lotus Cup Europe race in Adrian Lester’s Evora, despite recovering from a broken wrist! -
Lotus Sport UK had another disappointing weekend at Brands Hatch after a parts failure robbed the team of a strong finish. Throughout practice and qualifying the lone Lotus Evora of Phil Glew and Sailesh Bollisetti looked strong only being pipped to pole position by Alex Osborne in the APO Sport UK Ginetta. Glew set the pace in the warm up heading in to the race so the team were confident of a strong performance to make up for the disappointment of a double DNF at Rockingham. Bolisetti started the race taking the gamble to start on slicks, unfortunately the race track proved to be greasy from the drizzling rain. A safety car period bunched up the pack once again but a front wishbone failure put Bolisetti in to the gravel trap. Sailesh Bolisetti rounded up the weekend: “Well the last two rounds have been a big learning curve for me, and has made me see the highs and lows of competitive motor racing. It was really tricky at the start as it was a little greasy and we were on slicks. When the safety car came out it gave me the chance to bunch back up to the leaders, but the front suspension failed and put me out of the race.” A frustrated Phil Glew, “After I did morning practice the car felt mega and I could see us on the podium no problem at all. It was unfortunate about the suspension failure but at the end of the day that’s racing and sometimes things are out of the hands of the drivers.” Gary Ayles Team Manager remained positive, “We definitely had the pace in the car after we cured the issues from the previous round, and I think our race pace would have been really consistent. It’s a shame the car gave up, but that’s racing and we will be sure to bounce back for the next round at Snetterton.” -
Lotus Sport UK qualified second in the GT4 class in Kent, but failed to make the finish, Sailesh Bolisetti retiring with damaged front suspension. The Evora was 3/10ths off the lead Ginetta in qualifying, with Phil Glew setting the lap for Lotus, but with better long range pace the team was confident it could dominate the race. However, starting driver Bolisetti struggled to match the pace of his rivals and slipped back. An off-track excusion led to the front wishbones being snapped and, after nine laps, it was game over for the Indian. Gary Ayles, team principal: “A disappointing day because we could have won that race by a country mile. The car is great, we’re right on top of it, it’s a proper bit of kit. So we need to look into why Sailesh wasn’t able to extract the maximum on race day. Now we have a long break, as our next race at Snetterton – Lotus’s home track – isn’t until the first weekend of August. It can’t come soon enough.” -
Lotus Sport Uk Ready To Get Back On Track At Brands Hatch
Mark H posted a news article in British GT Championship
Lotus Sport UK head to Brands Hatch looking to make up lost ground following a disappointing performance at Rockingham where the team missed out on points due to technical problems. Once again the team will be running the sole #48 car with regular drivers Phil Glew and Sailesh Bolisetti. Phil Glew is looking forward to moving on and getting back on track, “After a disappointing round at Rockingham we have to put that behind us and look forward. The team have rectified the technical issues so we are hungry for points! I shall be working with Sailesh to get him up to speed with the Brands GP circuit as he is yet to drive it. We work well together, so I’m confident we can get him lapping at good pace come qualifying” Sailesh Bolisetti was disappointed with his time at Rockingham and is looking at the bigger picture. “Rockingham was really disappointing for me as I didn’t really get much time in the car due to the issues we had, and I feel we had good pace for us to be able to take home some good points, but that’s racing, and we must look ahead to the rest of the season!” “I’ve driven the Indy circuit at Brands when I was here supporting DTM in the sirocco cup, but never the GP circuit. Phil will help me with that, so I’m looking forward to getting back in the Evora, and getting back on the podium” added Bolisetti. Team Manager Gary Ayles explained that the team have been busy and are looking forward to a solid performance at the Kent circuit, “It was a tough weekend at Rockingham and losing both cars in the race hurt our championship points haul as it was a double scoring race due to it being a 2 hour race. We’ve stripped the cars, rectified the niggles, and are looking forward to Brands.” -
Britcar Msa British Endurance Championship Race - Brands Hatch
Mark H posted a news article in Group Lotus
Team Bullrun had a text book weekend at Brands Hatch for Round 4 of the MSA Britcar Endurance Championship. Qualifying was tight, but a last minute run sealed pole position by 2 hundredths of a second giving an all important track position on the tight Indy circuit. Martin Byford started the race which saw a number of safety cars in the first hour, but costly safety cars at the last round at Snetterton were replaced by lady luck this time round. After the hour mark, the Evora was comfortably in front. With some skilful driving through traffic, Martin handed over the car with over a thirty second lead, leaving David Green a comfortable drive to victory. Byford’s efforts were also rewarded with the Sunoco Driver of the Day award. The win stretches Team Bullrun's lead to 2 points at the halfway point in the Championship. David Green commented: "It was a great weekend for the team. We did feel a slight bit of pressure to maintain the Championship lead, however, an amazing drive from birthday boy Martin in the first stint set us up nicely for the win. The car was faultless all weekend and seems to be getting stronger as we all get used to it and tweak the set up. We are looking forward to the second half of the season, especially as we are front of the pack."