A revival of the Formula 1 legends, numerous prominent spectators and enthusiastic fans ensured the Scirocco R-Cup returned to Brands Hatch and offered top-calibre racing over the weekend.
The deserving winner was Swedish driver Ola Nilsson, who now sits second in the championship, overtaking young Briton Daniel Lloyd in the standings. Former F1-driver Johnny Herbert finished fifth overall and claimed the coveted first place in the hard-fought Legends class with a convincing performance.
The race took place on the fast 1.929-kilometre Brands Hatch Indy circuit but was interrupted with a red flag on the first lap. Junior driver Thomas Schöffler, who had started from third on the grid, spun on the exit of Graham Hill Bend, coming to a halt facing the oncoming traffic. In the group that immediately followed, Maiken Rasmussen was unable to avoid a collision. Following the accident, the young Dane was taken to hospital as a precautionary measure.When the race was re-started Jann-Hendrik Ubben was initially able to maintain his lead with a strong showing. Over the laps that followed, the lead three cars broke away from the rest of the grid and battled hard for the lead. An impressive overtaking manoeuvre into the notorious Paddock Hill Bend saw Nilsson take the lead from Ubben in the closing laps and he crossed the line first to take his second victory of the season.
Behind the lead group, former Formula 1 racers Johnny Herbert, Mark Blundell and Tiff Needell and three-time British Rally Champion Mark Higgins, fought a fantastic battle in the near-275-hp bio natural gas-powered Scirocco. Over the 24 lap race, the British motorsport legends treated the fans to fantastically close racing and some spectacular overtaking manoeuvres. In the process, Johnny Herbert was able to take care of some special unfinished business by taking revenge for last year’s defeat to Mark Blundell and deciding the Legends classification in his favour by finishing the race in fifth place overall. Tiff Needell had a strong race, moving forward through the field to claim 12th while Mark Higgins and Mark Blundell completed the Legends classification in 19th and 22nd places respectively.
In the overall standings Lisowski (288 points) continues to lead the championship, now in front of Nilsson (247),with Lloyd (229) in third place after finishing his home race in eighth place.
The Scirocco R-Cup returns to Germany for rounds Eight and Nine which take place at Oschersleben over the weekend of 16-18 September 2011.
