Musselle bounces back from big crash to best finish of the season!
Rounds 15 and 16 of the CPC Legends Championship brought the 5/8th scale pocket-rockets season to a fascinating close at Brands Hatch over the weekend in front of 10,000 willing spectators.
TV Presenter Paul Musselle settled in behind the wheel of his scarlet number 14 CPC Legend for the first race on Saturday in what would prove to be extremely slippery conditions for the entire field on the tremendous Indy Circuit. For race 1 of 3, Paul had drawn a grid starting position back in 18th spot. A frantic start saw him pick up a handful of places, following team mate John Mickel in the RSCapp / MTS car. On the 2nd lap though it all went ‘pear-shaped’ at Paddock Hill bend when Paul’s car suffered brake failure and he thundered into the tyre wall on the outside of the track at over 80 mph.
Sterling efforts by the Mickel Motorsport pit crew miraculously got the car repaired having used sledgehammers, grinders plus a fair amount of welding skill and gaffer tape to put the car into a shape reasonable enough for Paul to at least attempt to drive. And drive he did, nursing his sorely injured Ford ’34 Coupe to a season best, an incredible 5th place!
As he arrived back at the packed Mickel Motorsport Hospitality unit, many of the 72 VIP guests welcomed him with rapturous applause but Paul was quick to credit what felt like a win, to the efforts of his pit crew saying “The work that these guys did in less than an hour is nothing short of incredible, how on earth they did it I have no idea but they are the best and this 5th place under those circumstances proves it!”
With the first and second race points added together for all drivers, Paul started the Saturday final on the fifth row and exited Paddock Hill Bend on the first lap in 4th place – a cracking start! Unfortunately, with six cars in the now notorious Paddock Hill gravel trap, officials deployed the red flag to stop the race, resulting in a disgruntled Musselle.
Those cars that had put themselves in the gravel trap were allowed to take up their original grid positions for a restart, one that did not afford Paul the same breaks but he battled on in the very slippery conditions to finish 12th and to consolidate his 11th place in the Championship.
Sunday – RSCapp Trophy Day
Race 1
With track conditions deteriorating due to regular rainfall and the effects of the Truck Racing compounding the slippery conditions, Paul and the Mickel Motorsport team hunkered down to find a set-up that would provide them with as much grip as possible.
The grid had once again been drawn with Paul starting on the 8th row but despite another good start, Paul just couldn’t get the power down and endured a frustrating race to eventually finish fifteenth.
Race 2
Given the very unusual conditions, the Mickel Motorsport team mates and crew were scratching their heads trying to work out how to find some grip before the cars took to the grid for race two. Paul started on the third row with John Mickel out on pole. Paul and John continued to struggle with the lack of adhesion but still managed to finish in 12th and 5th respectively.
Final
For the final race of the 2010 CPC Legends Championship, Paul started on the third row and again made an excellent start battling hard in 4th, 5th and 6th place for the first 3 laps until the dreaded lack of grip returned on lap 4 and Paul, helpless to do anything about it, dropped back through the field but was happy at least to finish the final race with his CPC Legend in one piece, in 13th place.
At the start of the season, Paul set out to finish in the top half of the championship and to be among the top three of the new drivers. Well, both goals were achieved handsomely, with Paul securing 11th place in the 32 car field championship and placed an excellent 2nd among the new drivers.
A huge thank you must go out to all the sponsors, especially CPC, without who, the season would not have been possible, and to the outstanding group of people that are Mickel Motorsport.
With grateful thanks to CPC, Travelworld RV, Keston, MTS, RS Capp, Pulse8 Media, Sunoco Race Fuels, Advanced Wear and Safety Race Suits, PVL, S&N Tyres, George White Superbikes and the unflappable team at Mickel Motorsport.
