BRCA GT12 National Championship Rd5 & Rd6 – Report
The final two rounds of the BRCA GT12 National Championship were held this weekend, at the Chesterfield Auto Racing Society CARS club in Chesterfield. The format for the Championship means the weekend was a Double Header, with Saturday and Sunday being separate rounds of the championship. Excellent turnout, and combining meetings with the F1 Indoor Championship, meant the event was competitive, and grip was good on track. The track the club had laid out was very flowing, yet surprisingly technical to drive, meaning that a good time was had by those of all abilities. Saturday’s racing saw close competition in the GT12 class. Andy Murray was the man to catch from the get go, with a lead of 0.6s in round 1 of qualifying, leading from Adam Mackman, and Nathan Goodban. Round 2 saw Andy extend this lead to a lap.This proved to be unassailable, with Andy taking FTQ, with 29 Laps in 370.57s. Adam Mackman took P2, with super-fast junior Dan Robins taking 3rd position from Nathan Goodban in the final qualifying round.
Finals proved similarly full of surprises; Dan Robins making a mistake and dropping to 10th in turn 1. Nathan Goodban managed to squeeze past Adam Mackman, to take 2nd place. Andy Murray continued to be pushed hard by Nathan and Adam, eventually being able to build a small lead, but around 3s covering 1st to 3rd place for the entire race. A push from Nathan in the last 2 minutes took inroads out of Andy’s lead, but proved to not quite be enough.
This meant that Andy had gained the Championship, as while Nathan and he were equal on points going in to this meeting, both having a 1st and 2nd place each, even if Nathan won Sunday, keeping the points tied, Andy would win on tie-break, having more FTQ spots. Congratulations Andy!
GT12 round 5 final result:
1. Andy Murray
2. Nathan Goodban
3. Adam Mackman
4. Matthew Gammons
5. John Simpson
6. James Taylor
7. Alex King
8. Stan French
9. Daniel Robins
10.Scott Morton
GT12 also sees many Junior Competitors racing; their separate championship calculated on qualifying positions throughout the day.
GT12 Juniors round 5 top 3 result:
1st Daniel Robins
2nd Ewan Thompson
3rd Sam Coult
Moving on to Sunday’s racing, and again the GT12 competition was fast and fierce, with drivers applying what they had learned from the circuit on Saturday and with consistent grip from the off. Andy choosing to concentrate on the F1 Championship on Sunday, meant Nathan Goodban was able to capitalise in GT12, bettering Andy’s Saturday FTQ time in Round 1 – 29 laps in 368.08s. Times dropped over the day, Nathan eventually taking FTQ with 29 laps 363.25s, with Adam Mackman in the 2nd spot, squeezing Matthew Gammons into 3rd by 0.1s.
In the final race, Nathan had a slip off the line, dropping immediately to 3rd and then 4th in the first lap. He immediately began pushing hard to claw back the lost time claiming back 3rd place about halfway through the race, continuing to push hard. Daniel Robins was able to squeeze by Matthew Gammons, and continued to push hard, pressuring Adam Mackman for the lead. The closing stages of the race saw Adam leading from Dan by a hair, and an issue passing through backmarkers meaning Matthew Gammons was able to take 3rd from Nathan in the last seconds.
GT12 round 6 final result:
1. Adam Mackman
2. Daniel Robins
3. Matthew Gammons
4. Nathan Goodban
5. George Brewer
6. John Simpson
7. James Taylor
8. Jonathan Simblet
9. Scott Morton
10.Alex King
Sunday’s Junior Championship was also again hotly contested, with positions from qualifying times.
GT12 Juniors round 6 top 3 result:
1. Daniel Robins
2. Sam Coult
3. Ewan Thompson
Source: BRCA [brca.org]
