Harper & Finlay win at BRCA season opener

Round 1 of the 2014 BRCA Touring Car Nationals was held this past weekend at the West London circuit situated near Heathrow airport. Known as the home of touring car racing by many of the UK drivers, it is one of the more technical and challenging circuits on the series calendar. Before the event all the talk was on how the weather would treat the drivers, and it decided to be somewhat cruel by giving all the drivers challenging and mixed weather conditions throughout the weekend.

In the Super Touring class the weather changed mid round washing out any hopes of the top heat drivers getting a good opening qualifying score to their names. Making the most of the weather upsetting the top heat drivers was the up and coming twelve year old racer Harley Eldridge with her T.O.P chassis. One to watch for the future as she is making outstanding progress in the Super Touring class. In round two, Elliot Harper and his ORCA-powered Durango DETC410 secured TQ followed by the Schumacher pairing of Colin Price and current UK champion Chris Grainger. After five rounds of qualifying it was Elliot Harper who took TQ ahead of Chris Grainger and Colin price.

Super Touring qualifying result
1. Elliot Harper – Team Durango
2. Chris Grainger – Schumacher
3. Colin Price – Schumacher
4. Olly Jefferies – Xray
5. Ashley Wiffen
6. James Hart – Xray
7. Matthew White – Schumacher
8. Andy Moore – HB/HPI Racing
9. Stefan Chodzynski – HB/HPI Racing
10.Brian Eldridge – T.O.P.

In first two finals Elliot was able to convert his TQ into two wins followed by Chris Grainger who was not far behind in both legs. In the final leg Elliot suffered a retirement but having already secured two wins, this did not affect him taking the win overall. Colin price was able to win the third leg which would give him second overall in front of team mate Chris Grainger.

Super Touring A-final result
1. Elliot Harper – Team Durango
2. Colin Price – Schumacher
3. Chris Grainger – Schumacher
4. Olly Jefferies – Xray
5. Andy Moore – HB/HPI Racing
6. James Hart – Xray
7. Ashley Wiffen
8. Stefan Chodzynski – HB/HPI Racing
9. Matthew White – Schumacher
10.Brian Eldridge – T.O.P.

In the Pro Stock class the weather also played havoc affecting qualifying dramatically in some rounds. But it was the current UK champion Zak Finlay that got his 2014 campaign off to a great start by securing TQ and winning all three legs with his ORCA Powered Xray T4’14. Tony Broad was next up converting his second place grid position into three solid second place finishes. Lee Price and his Schumacher MI5 took the final step of the podium in third place.

Pro Stock A-final result
1. Zak Finlay – Xray
2. Tony Broad
3. Lee Price – Schumacher
4. Ben Putt – Capricorn
5. Chris Gunter – Schumacher
6. Nathan Wilson
7. David Usher
8. Mark Wallace – Schumacher
9. Tim Langdell – Xray
10-Leigh Dibble – Team Durango

Thanks to Stefan Chodzynski for sending the report.