Nick Padmore Storms to Whitsun Trophy Win at Goodwood Revival

Nick Padmore Storms to Whitsun Trophy Win at Goodwood Revival

Nick Padmore marked his Goodwood Revival debut by taking Phil Hall's 1966 ex-Team Surtees Lola-Chevrolet T70 Spyder to a convincing victory in the Whitsun Trophy on Saturday evening - the very same car in which he set the outright lap record for the West Sussex circuit at the 73rd Members' Meeting back in March.

Starting from pole position, after qualifying 1.1 seconds clear of the 29-car field, Padmore got good traction off the line but dropped to P2 in the second phase of the start, and tucked in behind Pedro Macedo Silva's T70 through Madgwick.

As the field approached Fordwater, Padmore got the run on Macedo Silva and outbraked him with a sensational move for the race lead round the outside at No Name.

By the end of the opening lap, Padmore had pulled a healthy 1.7 second gap, which he continued to stretch out to 3.8 seconds before the safety car was deployed on lap 4 after Tony Sinclair's retirement.

With the field regrouped, the race was restarted on lap 8, and Padmore used his sportscar experience to get the jump on 2nd-placed Oliver Bryant and keep him at bay.

The race was however drawn to a premature end when the red flags came out after 11 laps when Shaun Lynn's Ford GT40 went off at Madgwick, handing the win to a delighted Padmore...

Nick Padmore: "This is a dream come true - I've always wanted to race at the Revival so thank you to Phil, Complete Motorsport Solutions; also Jack Tetley, and of course Lord March - what a fantastic event the Revival is, and this years' was bigger and better than ever - I couldn't be happier.

"Before qualifying on Friday, I hadn't driven the car since the Members' Meeting back in March but it didn't take too long to acclimatise myself. It was a tough race and there was a lot of oil down in both quali and the race which made things interesting. It's a bit of a shame that the race ended under red flags but I knew I had the race under control by that stage.

"I feel very privileged, not only to have been invited to race at the Revival, but also to attend the ball on Saturday night. I still can't quite believe it; it's all a bit of a blur, but I'm absolutely overjoyed and of course I would love to be back if they will have me!"

Padmore also kept his promise to Goodwood commentator and broadcaster, Henry Hope-Frost; should he win, he would take Hope-Frost for a ride aboard the T70 on the celebratory victory lap.

Adding to his Whitsun Trophy pole position, fastest lap and race win, Padmore also received the award for 'Fastest Lap of the Weekend' at the prize-giving on Sunday evening, which he was unfortunately unable to attend and was instead collected by his wife, Claire.

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