Robinson out of the running/Thruxton pre-race report
This weekend sees another chance for registered racers in the Britcar MSA British Endurance Championship to earn more points towards the Sunoco Daytona Challenge; and they are all looking to knock British F3 driver Felipe Nasr off the top spot! However Keith Robinson, who was once leading the Sunoco Daytona Challenge and is currently in fifth place, is no longer eligible due to not racing until the Britcar 24 hr at Silverstone.
Keith Robinson and Team MJC have announced that they will now not be racing until the Britcar 24hr at Silverstone meaning Keith has had to retire from the challenge. The engine failure the team had at Donington cost them dearly and with a new one looking to be around the £45k mark, Witt Gamski (team owner) wants to wait for the 24 so they have a fresh engine.
Keith said: “I am gutted about missing out on the challenge as I feel we could have won at Thruxton – but there’s always next year!”
“We are looking forward to the 24 hr and will be out to win the big one.”
Unfortunately Thruxton will not be a point scoring round either for Jay Shepherd, Jan Persson or Rod Barrett from Hawthorns Mortorsport. Persson broke his ankle in an unfortunate jogging accident - we would like to wish him a speedy recovery!
One man in particular looking to have a successful round is Javier Morcillo from Neil Garner/Azteca Motorsport, who was first leading the challenge in the team’s Mosler MT900R. He is now in second place with an 83.33 average point score, however due to Nasr lowering his point score at the last round at Snetterton the gap is just 12 points between first and second place.
Morcillo is planning to be on top form this weekend: “Thruxton will be a big challenge; being the most difficult circuit and not having the possibility to test means going for pole position will be very difficult – it’s one of the main things in helping scoring points towards the challenge.”
“The tactic is to attack like hell! We have lost two races on such a small margin, the only option is to push and try and get the advantage for the extra pit stop that our Mosler needs. I just have one thought; full throttle all the way!”
Also keen to up their point score are Andy Schulz and Paul Bailey, who have had an unlucky series of events at the previous rounds with their SB Race Engineering, Ferrari 430. However Andy now seems positive that the car is in full working order for Thruxton: “We have been working hard to improve the handling, reliability and performance – fingers crossed that our developments of the car help us achieve a finish at Thruxton and a good result.”
The Mclnerney brothers, Sean and Michael, are currently in joint 6th place with their Eclipse Motorsport, Ferrari 430 GTC and will be hoping to continue their winning streak after an impressive performance at Donington.
The British Formula 3 and British GT racers will now be hot on the heels of the Britcar drivers when they race at Brands Hatch on the 18th and 19th June. Carlin run British F3 star, Felipe Nasr, has performed consistently well at the recent official F3 tests and with joint third place challengers - British GT drivers Matthew Bell and Michael Guasch in the United Autosports Audi R8 - looking for a second win after their fantastic weekend at Snetterton; it really is all to play for!
You can keep up to date on the challenge at sunocodaytonachallenge.com, on our Twitter feed @RacingAAOC and Facebook: Racing News AAOC.
