Hello and welcome to the VBTCR round three race report. This time it was off to the home of British motorsport, Silverstone in Northamptonshire, England which presented a very different challenge for the drivers this week going from the small, technical circuit of Brands Hatch and onto the 3.66 mile long Grand Prix circuit famous for it’s challenging high speed corners such as the almost flat out right hander that is copse and the ever so challenging maggots and beckets complex. Built on the site of a World War II airfield, Silverstone first hosted the British Grand Prix in 1948, a race which reportedly attracted 100,000 spectators! Silverstone remains as one of only four Grands Prix from the first year of the Formula 1 World Championship to remain a part of today’s F1 calendar. But as we know, this week was all eyes on the VBTCR and who would be able to extract the most performance out of their Audi RS3’s.
qualifying
The qualifying session this week was much more about all out pace, with such a large, open track there was plenty of opportunities for all of the drivers to find some space. However, with drivers wanting to gain every advantage they could, there was a lot of squabbling for track position, knowing that a tow from another car could give them that extra tenth or two needed to get the car on pole. Once again Terje Flåten from Luminous Racing was the driver who managed to get himself on pole position for the second race in a row with another superb lap time of 2:16.074! VBTCR first timer Damien Owen Harris managed to kick of his season almost perfectly by putting his Audi onto the front row alongside Terje, being just under two tenths off of pole. Dan Mould, Martijn Asschert and Freddy Hewitt rounded out the top 5 starting positions.
race One
Terje Flåten’s starts seem to get quicker and quicker each week, with the Luminous Racing driver shooting off the line to build himself a nice gap almost immediately. Damien however dropped all the way down to 5th by turn one, handing second position over to Dan Mould. After a great start, Freddie Hewitt picked up a slow down penalty on the opening lap which unfortunately dropped him right down towards the back of the grid.
Race one presented us with battles all the way through the field for the entire race. We were pleased to see that it was also a very clean race, with lots of superb attacking and defending from all of the 31 drivers on the grid. Everyone finishing on the lead lap with zero retirements was a great sight to see.
Terje Flåten managed to do a fantastic job and hold his lead for the full 20 minutes, bringing it home for his second win of the season. Damien Owen Harris did well to recover from his poor start to get his car back up into second place and just 1.1 seconds behind Terje as they crossed the line! Dan Mould followed to earn his third podium of the season, Christopher Emms in fourth for his best finish so far and Neil Butler rounded out the top 5.
race two - reverse grid race
As always with VBTCR, race two meant a full reverse grid! We’ve already come to love these reverse grid races as not only does it really highlight who is able to fight their way through the field after a good result in race one but it also gives the chance for the drivers who weren’t able to nail that perfect qualifying lap to show their skills when starting up at the front of the grid.
After his unfortunate lap one slow down penalty in race one, the reverse grid put Freddy Hewitt on pole position with Dan Thornton joining him on the front row. Tom Holland, Nick Kent and Dom Cottenham rounded out the top 5. Dan Thornton did not get the start he would of hoped for, dropping back to 8th position off of the line. This was still better than Scott Malcolm’s start to the race though, with the Team Mad Simmortal driver being spun round as he turned into the first corner and dropping him right to the back of the field.
After getting his first VBTCR win at Brands Hatch, Silverstone did not treat Freddie Hewitt well, he entered the pit lane at the end of lap one for an unknown reason handing the race lead over to Tom Holland. The opening part of race two always seems to bring drama and this week was no different, with multiple incidents throughout the field leaving various cars with damage that they would have to carry for the remainder of the race.
Mark McCabe took the lead away from Tom Holland just a couple of laps into the race, which is where he would stay all the way up to the checkered flag, he held the pressure of Martijn Asschert hunting him down throughout the closing stages of the race, managing to just pip him to the line by 0.1 seconds! It was a superb first win for Mark and bumped him way up the championship standings to 11th place. Tom Holland seemed extremely happy with his 3rd place and first VBTCR podium which was great to hear.
summary
After another big points haul, Terje Flåten extended his lead in the drivers championship to Dan Mould in seconds and Martijn Asschert in third. Michael Seale couldn’t attend this round, meaning a zero points score which dropped him from third, all the way down to eleventh showing just how close the championship is already shaping up to be. Impulse Racing have now taken the top spot of the teams championship for the first time this season with Ignium Motorsport being pushed down into second place. Spud Motorsport hold their place to continue to round out the top three, but with Luminous Racing gaining traction as the season goes on we wonder if there will be more changes as we head to Oran Park in just over a weeks time. Jack Newell is still the highest placed rookie driver, however Tom Holland has his eyes on taking that top spot away from Jack and is rapidly closing in.
To witness the full excitement of VBTCR please have a watch of the race broadcast and make sure to come back in two weeks time to see how all the drivers fair as we head down under for a very special trip to Oran Park!
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