Donington GP – 16/17th September 2023 Race Report, Videos,Images and Results

Posted on: September 21st 2023 • Posted in: Race Results

Rounds 10 and 11 – Donington GP

Race report by Alan Jones.

The SRCC Sports 2000 Championship drew to its conclusion at Donington Park. Having raced there earlier in the season on the National circuit, it was an opportunity for the competitors to sample the full Grand Prix Circuit.
The verdict was mixed amongst the competitors. Some felt the extra loop destroyed the flow they enjoyed with the National circuit. The Fogarty Esses and the Melbourne Hairpin certainly produced challenges with there being a choice of lines into the Hairpin sometimes the diverse options came together leading to some incidents.
At the driver briefing on the Saturday morning drivers were specifically warned about the kerbing at the Esses and the very solid tyre barrier both could seriously damage the car if they came into contact.
In the afternoon competitors were informed of their new tyre supplier for 2024 with the loss of Yokohama. Following extensive testing during the season Hoosier has been chosen for the next season.
A vote of thanks was passed to Yokohama and in particular George and Steve Polley of Polleysport for their support of the Championship, their contribution being greatly appreciated.

Apsley House Capital (PLC) Historics (Pinto) Qualifying

This weekend the entry was again split to give separate races to both Historic and Duratec classes. With the Historics being the first qualifying and race of the weekend with the Duratecs being the last race of the Saturday sessions their race being at 18.35 they would be running into the dusk. An entry of 17 cars took part in the early morning qualifying session for the Historics.
Amongst the entry was Ben Cater, in a Lola T86/90 fielded by Mike Fry. Ben a former Monoposto and F3 cup Champion had been racing a Historic Alfa Romeo, before taking a break. With the Alfa now for sale he was looking for his next competitive venture and Sports 2000 appealed. He appeared to fit into the paddock very well.
For the Besley family Tiga it was a change of driver, with Charlie’s brother Hugo having his turn behind the wheel.
In qualifying it was Charlie Hyett who set the pace driving his dad’s Tiga SC87, Charlie’s Lola undergoing repairs following its Oulton Park outing. Nik Johnson who is always quick but does not necessarily have the best of luck was matching Charlie in the times. Running around the 1m 40secs. On lap 5 Nik dipped into the 1m 39secs to secure Pole bettering his own time 3 laps later. Charlie rose to the challenge to come within 6 tenths of Nik’s best making the race at the front close. Whilst the gap from 3rd to 7th on the grid was covered by a similar margin.
Ben Cater, leading the charge followed by Mike Dodd, ‘Veteran’ Chris Snowdon, Nick Hyett and Mike Fry. Clive Steeper was 8th, Juerg Tobler was 9th having his last race weekend before retiring himself and the car to Switzerland, with Pat Egan completing the top 10. Following qualifying Ben would make a trip to Coppice to retrieve his exhaust which had detached itself.
Sadly we were to lose Andreas Floth from the races. David Axisa spun at the Melbourne hairpin, rolling back onto Andreas as he tried to avoid the stricken car. Both cars retiring from the qualifying but for Andreas his car could not be repaired. David Axisa did have spares available and was able to take to the grid.

BS Burner Services Ltd Duratec Qualifying

Whilst the Historic qualifying had run relatively smoothly the Duratecs had a disrupted qualifying session being interrupted twice when cars were stranded with component failures.
The original entry of 21 was reduced to 20 following testing in the build up to the event. Keith Mizen unfortunately having an accident that seriously damaged his car. On Saturday before the Qualifying session started there was further drama in the paddock when Colin Peach unloaded his car to find an important component was missing. His front bodywork. In a scene reminiscent of a James Bond film his mechanic Rick was strapped into the driver seat of the support vehicle and sent on a mission to Preston to retrieve and bring to Donington the front section. As he roared off, alternative plans were made to qualify Colin out of session should there be delays.
Sadly unlike Singapore there were no fireworks, or flashing lights to set off to announce the arrival of the front section but Colin did get out to qualify. There may have been a beer or two after the race to reward Rick.
As the cars set off on track, James Barwell’s session crawled to a halt very quickly when the car retired at the exit of the old hairpin. The alternator had failed. The session was red flagged, the car put to a place of safety and qualifying started again.
From the outset the two Championship protagonists lit up the track setting the fastest laps of the session in their respective MCRs. Josh Law taking Pole position on only the second lap of the session with Michael Gibbins lining up alongside him having dialed himself in a lap later.
The session would be halted again as Paul Trayhurn in the Gunn TS11 came to a dramatic halt when his rear wheel became detached coming into Redgate. Luckily the wheel stayed inside the track boundary and was quickly recovered. In the three laps Paul had set a time giving him 4th place on the grid.
Richard Johnson was another to have problems a rear suspension arm having become detached he could only manage a 10th place grid position in the three laps. His progress would be something to watch during the race.
With the track cleared again the qualifying session went through to the chequered flag. Michael Gibbins and Josh Law both going out again doing three more laps to pit early. David Houghton took the restart as his opportunity to set a quick time. Giving him 3rd place on the grid. He too ending his session after 4 laps with terrible vibration under braking.
Tim Tudor who was having the university car to himself this weekend, Patrick Sherrington deciding not to take part, saved his best time until late in the session to take the 5th place grid slot. 6th would be Ash Law, having possibly his best run of the season, Colin Peach was 7th in the Van Diemen, 8th would be Tom Stoten in the Gunn TS14, who was separated by mere 100ths of a second from Andy Chittenden in 9th place. Andy being the only driver who had a time deleted for exceeding Track Limits. Alongside him in 10th place would be the aforementioned Richard Johnson. Whilst Paul Trayhurn was heading the times in the DB Class, Peter Williams and Roger Donnan were separated by 100th of a second.
Mike Turner who would have been 4th in the class elected to withdraw from the race. His neck still not fully recovered from the Brands Hatch incident. It was a disappointed Mike who watched from the sidelines for the rest of the weekend.

Apsley House Capital (PLC) Historics (Pinto) Race 1

After the lunch time break the competitors from the Historic classes lined up onto the grid for their standing start. There was a good crowd around the circuit to see them race, on what was a bright sunny afternoon.
Nik Johnson made the perfect getaway to lead into Redgate from Charlie Hyett, Ben Cater positioned himself to the outside of Redgate which cost him dearly as the fast starting Chris Snowdon slipped through into 4th place with Mike Dodd in 3rd place. On the descent through Craners towards the Old Hairpin Chris moved into 3rd place.
At the end of lap one Nik Johnson held the advantage over Charlie Hyett which he continued to extend throughout the race. Chris Snowdon was a man on a mission looking to end his season on a high note.
Charlie Hyett seemed to be lacking the performance he had in the morning qualifying. Despite his best efforts through the corners he was gradually being reeled in by the pursuing pack. Mike Dodd having qualified well was the driver slipping back through the pack to be 6th at the end of lap 2.
Ben Cater having overcome his error at the start was up to 4th place in pursuit of 2nd and 3rd place men. Following Ben, the chasing group were led by Nick Hyett who by lap 3 had Mike Fry following, Clive Steeper was next with Mike Dodd now following. Fry, Steeper and Dodd having quite a scrap.
Pat Egan was next in line with Jurg Tobler in close company, with a gap back to Hugo Besley, who was followed by Richard Cooke, David Muse, Nick Bailey, the repaired David Axisa and David Hobbs who was struggling with a misfire despite the best efforts of Chris Snowdon racing to help sort the car for him.
By lap 4 Charlie Hyett had his mirrors filled by the sight of Chris Snowdon’s Tiga. Charlie appeared to be a sitting duck. On lap 5 Chris Snowdon swept through on the exit of Redgate to take second place but looking back Ben Cater had got closer.
On lap 5 Jurg Tobler and Pat Egan had a coming together at the Melbourne Hairpin, this dropped Pat behind Hugo Besley, with Richard Cooke following whilst Mark Hobbs pulled into the pits to retire. Hugo would later make a mistake at the Esses that let both Pat Egan and Richard Cooke through
Nik Johnson now had a lead of over 6 seconds back to Chris Snowdon in second place. Nik continued to extend this advantage to over 10 seconds at the finish. The dice between Charie Hyett and Chris Snowdon had slowed the pair down allowing Ben Cater to draw closer. Ben having a 6 second advantage over Charlie’s brother Nick who had a small advantage over the following trio of Fry, Dodd and Steeper.
On lap 8 Ben Cater finally followed Chris Snowdon in overtaking Charlie Hyett but the three were now running together in a close train. Charlie continuing to look for the chance to regain his lost positions. With the three battling all the way to the line.
The dice between Mike Fry, Mike Dodd and Clive Steeper, would come to an end on lap 9. With Mike Fry leading the trio, he took a wide line into the Melbourne Hairpin. Mike Dodd who was busily defending his position from Clive Steeper, went for the tighter inside line hoping to pass Mike Fry. Unfortunately he had missed his braking point the resulting collision left Mike Fry’s car disabled on the outside of the circuit, whilst Mike Dodd limped round to retire into the pit.
The stranded car of Mike Fry remained on the edge of the circuit until the end of the race with the area being covered by waved yellows.
It was a long awaited win for Nik Johnson who controlled the race from start to finish. Behind Chris Snowdon claimed second place despite the best efforts of Ben Cater and an obviously hampered Charlie Hyett in 3rd and 4th place. Nick Hyett had been closing on the trio but he was a little too distant to gain the time to join the fray. Clive Steeper finished 6th Jurg Tobler 7th with Pat Egan 8th. The very close contest between Richard Cooke and Hugo Besley went in favour of Richard at the line to complete the top 10.

BS Burner Services Ltd Duratec Race 1

With the sun starting to descend, Kevin the club photographer was relishing the prospect of some photographs to conclude what had been a long day. The Duratec grid after its hectic practice session assembled onto the grid for what proved to be a very scarey start, not least of all for pole sitter Josh Law.
As the lights went out he could not select a gear and the pack with lightning reactions all managed to avoid him. Tim Tudor who was immediately behind Josh made a fantastic start whilst Josh Needham who had been blind to the stationary car managed to keep everything pointed the right way as he took to the grass. A very relieved Josh did get going before he was passed by everyone and at the start it was Michael Gibbins who led away from David Houghton, Tim Tudor from Richard Johnson. Paul Trayhurn slipping back rapidly. The issue with his rear wheel again appearing Paul retiring without completing a lap.
In 8th position having started from the back was James Barwell, whose alternator failure in qualifying had provided the first Red flag. In 12th position following his starting problem was Josh Law. How far would the former champion get in this race?
The top 3 were quickly pulling away from the pursuing pack headed by Johnson AshLaw and Colin Peach with James Barwell in hot pursuit. Josh Law was having a terrific recovery drive, working his way up to 4th by lap 5.
On lap 6 John Illey came into retire his University of Wales MCR. Earlier contact had damaged the steering arm on his car, coming into the Old Hairpin John found the car did not want to steer right. Luckily he was able to gain some control and limp the car to the pit. But it had been a very hairy moment.
On the following lap John Owen would come into the pits with a blocked radiator. John had the problem cleared and returned a lap down to be the final finisher in the race.
With the top 4 pulling clear Ash Law had Colin Peach in his mirrors the Class B Van Diemen looking for a top 5 finish. James Barwell was next down the line with the Derek Bell Class leader Peter Williams holding station behind. Following his pit lane start Tom Stoten had made his way up to 9th place by lap 8 gradually closing the gap to James Barwell.
As the race drew to its close attention turned to the front of the field. Michael Gibbins controlled the race perfectly not putting a wheel wrong with David Houghton following on behind. With his students watching from the pit wall it was now down to Tim Tudor to demonstrate the art of defensive driving as Josh Law closed in looking for that final podium position.
It was a great demonstration of car positioning but eventually Josh Law deployed his counter strategy to take over third spot on the podium. With only two laps remaining it would require a mistake from those in front for Josh to catch but did close the gap.
Michael Gibbins came home 1st from David Hougton with Josh Law in 3rd place. Josh unsurprisingly setting the fastest lap of the race. Tim Tudor was 4th from Richard Johnson who had been managing an understeer problem during the race. The team were unsure why but hoped to be able to improve the handling for Race 2.
6th was Ash Law who had held off the attentions of Colin Peach throughout the race. 8th was Tom Stoten, 9th James Barwell, with Andy Chittenden 10th. Andy finding the opening laps a little fraught with some unintentional contact as competitors scrabbled for space. Some damage to the rear of his car to be rectified overnight. Peter Williams won the Derek Bell Class. In the absence of Paul Trayhurn in this race the contest for the class title was getting quite close.

Apsley House Capital (PLC) Historics (Pinto) Race 2

The Sunday race for the Historic cars meant another early morning rise with the cars taking to the track at 9.00 a.m. the grid forming in the finishing order of Race 1. Following the accident of Race1 Mike Dodd was withdrawn but a repaired Mike Fry started from the rear. At first Mike had feared his weekend was over but assistance from across the paddock had the car repaired before the Duratec race on Saturday evening.
At the start Nik Johnson again made a clean getaway but Chris Snowdon, Ben Cater and Charlie Hyett were battling it out to be the head of the chasing group. Clive Steeper had made a good start and slipped past Nick Hyett to be onto the tail of the battling three. They were three wide out of Macleans heading up to Coppice with some accidental contact taking place down the order as they looked for track space.
On the approach into the Esses Clive Steeper found himself in a Hyett sandwich which resulted in his front bodywork becoming unclipped on one side. Not enough to cause a problem or be a risk, but it did spoil the lines of the white Tiga giving it a wonky look.
Jurg Tobler was again running 7th close to the action occurring in front. Mark Hobbs came into the pits to retire another disappointing weekend for the newcomer. Who wrote his own end of term report “could do better”. Which he most certainly will next season.
Entering Redgate on lap 2, with Charlie Hyett on the outside Clive Steeper had to take a much tighter line. The back come round on him. With the following pack close behind he slid backwards towards the outside of the track. Jurg Tobler and David Muse both taking quick avoiding action to avoid contact. The double avoidance for Dave resulted in Pat Egan coming into contact with Mike Fry, the hapless Mike retiring for the second time. It had been a miserable weekend for him. Clive regained the track and set off in pursuit of a finish. His Class Championship win being the prize.
Lap 2 Nik Johnson led from Ben Cater, Chris Snowdon, Nick Hyett. Nick’s brother Charlie retiring into the pits behind him with a broken gear linkage. Next up was Pat Egan, leading Hugo Besley, David Muse, Richard Cooke, Clive Steeper Jurg Tobler, Nick Bailey and David Axisa.
Nik Johnson continued on his way to make it a weekend double for him at last showing the true pace of the Lola. Behind him Chris Snowdon and Ben Cater battled on as they slowed each other down it brought Nick Hyett into contention for a podium position.
With two laps to go Ben Cater tried to take a tight inside line at Redgate, which caused him to hang the tail out wide into a spin which he caught directing the car to the grass on the inside. This created enough of a delay for the pursuing Nick Hyett to come through into the third spot ensuring the Hyett family would be on the podium at the end of the day.
Behind Ben Cater finishing in 4th place was Pat Egan in the third of the Pegasus prepared cars. After a tough Saturday Pat came through to 5th place Clive Steeper was next following his spin to take third in Class and clinch the Class C Championship. Hugo Besley was 7th Jorg Tobler in his last race was 8th David Muse 9th from Richard Cooke in 10th place with David Axisa and Nick Bailey completing the finishers. Both having enjoyed their weekend of dicing together they shook hands at the end. It was a frenetic end to the Championship.

BS Burner Services Ltd Duratec Race 2

Lining up in the finishing order from Race 1 one of the questions would be, could Josh Law make a good start and give Michael Gibbins one last race of the season? Josh starting from 3rd would be behind Michael on the grid, with David Houghton lined up in second alongside looking for a top 5 finish to cement his third in the Championship class.
At the start Michael made another good start holding off a challenge from Tim Tudor from 4th on the grid, Tim running wide at Redgate allowed Richard Johnson from 5th on the grid to slot into 2nd place David Houghton was briefly 4th before Josh Law slipped ahead of him to once again face the problem of how to get past Tim Tudor and go after both Ricard and Michael at the head of the field.
Ash Law had been passed by Tom Stoten, but in the Grand Prix loop Ash reasserted his hold on 6th place.
Paul Trayhurn starting from the back of the grid had moved up 4 places on the first lap, whilst Colin Peach found he had the attentions of fellow Van Diemen racer Josh Needham before Colin began his pursuit of James Barwell.
The dice between Tim Tudor and Josh Law ended on lap 4 when Josh finally found the gap to slip through at Redgate and complete the move on the Craner Curves. The pair had started to close on Richard Johnson in second place, now Josh was free to chase in earnest, whilst his Championship rival for this season Michael Gibbins was continuing to extend his lead.
On lap 5 Colin Peach passed James Barwell for 7th place, but James was not to have any rest as Paul Trayhurn was now hunting him down in 9th position his positive progression continuing through the field. Paul passed James on the following who was not having a good race as Josh Needham slipped past him on the following lap.
On lap 7 Josh finally managed to get into second place. He was over 5 seconds behind the leader. In the following laps Josh managed to reduce the gap to just over 3 seconds but the weekend belonged to Michael Gibbins with a two clear wins.
The top 7 order remained set for a number of laps with Richard Johnson 3rd Tim Tudor 4th and David Houghton where he needed to be in 5th place. 6th place would be Ash Law with Tom Stoten 7th who was being caught by fellow Gunn runner Paul Trayhurn who had moved up to 8th place.
It was not going to be a good day for the Gunn runners. On lap 11 Paul’s Gunn ran out of brakes going into the Melbourne Hairpin burying his car into the gravel trap. Race control looked at the time and position of the car and decided for what would potentially be three laps maximum it was safe to continue the race.
On the following lap, Tom Stoten found the track surface had changed at the Esses. The back stepped out on the car and he was pitched into the very solid tyre barrier the drivers had been warned about at the briefing. Tom was out and safe. The race continued.
Unfortunately whatever had caused Tom to spin the surface change continued after the Esses too as Colin Peach and Josh Needham found as they approached the Melbourne hairpin. Both avoiding each other and the gravel trap, but it did require a brief visit to the Clerk following the meeting to clarify what had happened.
With the Top 6 order having remained the same to the flag Colin came home in 7th place with class rival Josh Needham 8th. James Barwell was 9th with Steve Ough 10th following a spirited dice with Andy Chittenden.
With the demise of Paul Trayhurn Peter Williams won the the Derek Bell class in the race and took the Championship title too.
Once again we had Nick Bates on hand to be Master of Ceremonies for the prize presentation. The Driver of the Day was David Houghton.

Many thanks to Alan Jones for this report.

Full results are available via the Results Page. Here

Race Images

Many thanks to Kevin Gibson of KJG Photograpy for these Images from the event. To view the full set or purchase copies visit https://www.kjgphotography.co.uk