Aaron Steele back on top as Adrian Churchill crashes out of last PTC raceThe last few weekends have been very busy for registered racers in the Sunoco GRAND-AM 200 Challenge. The Britcar Production GTN Championship had an eventful weekend at Spa Francorchamps at the end of June and this weekend saw the Dunlop Production Touring Car Trophy (PTC) race at Rockingham and Legends race at Anglesey. The challenge standings have been changing all the time but with a two week break until the next point scoring round Aaron Steele can enjoy being back on top of the standings.The fifth round of the Britcar Championship was held at Spa and qualifying conditions were tricky due to rain causing a damp track. However Mark Cunningham in his SG Racing Seat Leon Supercopa, which he races with Peter Cunningham, overcame the rain and qualified on pole taking 20 points towards the challenge.The race was action packed from the start line up until the chequered flag with the Topcats Racing Ginetta G50 of Mick Mercer and Gary Smith taking the win and 100 points each towards the challenge. The Strata 21 BMW E46 of Jensen Lunn and Sarah Bennet-Baggs went on to take second and the 75 points up for grabs; it did however seem at one point like the BMW may not make the race at all when a discovery of a cracked block after qualifying had the Strata 21 team working throughout the night.The final podium position went to the pole sitters Mark and Peter Cunningham. Mark also took an additional 20 points for setting fastest lap, this enabled him to increase his average point score and move from 22nd in the challenge up into 15th place.The Dunlop PTC saw four races instead of the usual three take place this was due to one being cancelled in the last round at Thruxton because of torrential rain.
Adrian Churchill from the championship was leading the Sunoco GRAND-AM 200 Challenge and at one point over the weekend it looked as if he would extend his lead over MSV F3 driver Aaron Steele when he placed second in race 1 and won the next two. However the fourth and final race of the weekend unfortunately saw Churchill finish 11th due to a race incident and therefore not score any points. This meant Churchill lowered his average point score from 110.71 to 102.73, pushing Aaron Steele up from second into first place with 108.63.
The Legends also raced in Anglesey this weekend and with six races it was a mega point scoring weekend!
Stephen Treherne from Handy Motorsport took an amazing 4 out of 6 wins worth 100 points each towards the challenge; he also placed 4 out of 6 fastest laps which are worth 40 points each towards the challenge instead of the usual 20 as Legends do not have any qualifying sessions.
Treherne’s weekend saw him increase his average point score and therefore maintain his third place position in the overall challenge standings with a comfortable lead of 19 points over fourth placed Andy Ruhan in GT Cup class 1.
The next point scoring round for the Sunoco GRAND-AM 200 Challenge will be on the 16th and 17th of July with the GT Cup, Mini Challenge and the MSV F3 Cup at Brands Hatch. The Dunlop Production Touring Car Trophy will also be racing at Donington.
