Rounds 1 and 2: Croft, 17/18 April 2004Chris Eggington and John Williams shared the spoils as the Michelin Porsche Club Championship opened at Croft over the weekend (17/18 April). One dry race and one wet race ensured plenty of close racing and action as the championship contenders set out on their bid for glory in the 17-race season.
Race oneStarting fourth on the grid, Williams (3.2 Carrera) made a storming start to lead into Clervaux in Saturday's dry race. "That was the first time I'd done a start in the car and the first time I'd driven it in the dry," said Williams, who had borrowed the car from Chris Berry for the weekend. Rod Carman (3.2 Carrera) edged ahead of the similar car of poleman Ian White to take second, which became the lead when Williams uncharacteristically spun at Sunny. "I had a nice lead and just went too hot into Sunny," admitted Williams.
Carman now led, but the drama continued when White dived for the inside at Tower and both cars spun after contact. Right behind them, Peter Morris (968CS) had to take to the grass in avoidance, so his team mate Eggington (968CS) steered through the drama to take the lead. "There was this big gap in the road," said Eggington as he set off on his way to victory.
Meanwhile, Carman and White got going again but more drama came as White challenged at Clervaux and Carman spun into the gravel after contact. White steered through to second from Morris, who had lost a lot of time on the grass at Tower, while Richard Lambert (Carrera 3) was a clear class two winner in fourth overall from Williams. Had he not suffered so badly at Tower, Morris would have been the likely victor.
Adam Egar (911SC) claimed second in class two after a long tussle with David Botterill (924 Carrera GT), which took them both ahead of Mark Rogers (911SC).
Meanwhile, in class three Fraser Robertson (944) collected the tyre wall, leaving victory to Chris Stewart (911E).
Results race one – 12 laps:1 Chris Eggington (968CS) 19m59.015s (76.63mph); 2 Ian White (3.2 Carrera) 20m07.852s; 3 Peter Morris (968CS); 4 Richard Lambert (Carrera 3); 5 John Williams (3.2 Carrera); 6 Adam Egar (911SC); 7 David Botterill (924 Carrera GT); 8 Mark Rogers (911SC); 9 Mike Clapham (968CS); 10 Tom Segrue (944 S2). Class winners: Eggington; Lambert; Chris Stewart (911E). Fastest lap: Williams 1m36.842s (79.06mph).
Race two
Heavy rain on Sunday morning left the track very wet and slippery for the second race, which is just what 'rain-meister' Williams wanted.
White got the jump on the front-engined cars off the line and led clearly into the first corner, with Lambert a mighty second from Williams and Morris. Williams quickly moved into second and sat on White's tail to weigh up his options for a lap or two. By lap four Williams had moved cleanly ahead and was able to build his lead comfortably to win by over 12 seconds. "I love the wet, but it was extremely slippery and there was a lot of standing water," explained Williams.
White accepted that Williams was quicker in the conditions and concentrated on maintaining second place. "It was better to let him go than have a DNF trying to chase him in these conditions," said White.
However, White could certainly not relax as Lambert, Morris and Eggington sat in his wheel tracks in the early laps. Morris then lost time with a quick spin at Sunny, as Eggington moved ahead of Lambert to take up the assault on White. Lambert then had a half-spin at Hawthorns, but didn't lose his class two lead while Eggington finally edged ahead of White only to spear off the track a lap later at the Jim Clark Esses and end his race in the field. "I didn’t know which way he was going to go, but he was making crop circles," said White.
Still White had no chance to rest as Morris had stormed back into contention and bravely out-braked White on the outside on the dash into Clervaux at the start of the final lap. But White grabbed second back again under braking for Tower and was finally secure when Morris had another spin at Sunny on the last lap. All of that allowed Lambert to take a class-winning third from Morris and Botterill, who set the seal on his result with a cracking start in the 924 Carrera GT. Mark Lillington starred by taking eighth from the back of the grid in the ex-Tony Brown 968CS, but Carman only managed 11th after a couple of spins.
In class three, Robertson kept it all together for a clear victory over Stewart.
Results race two – 11 laps:1 Williams 21m35.276s (65.02mph); 2 White 21m47.559s; 3 Lambert; 4 Morris; 5 Botterill; 6 Rogers; 7 Rob Williams (Carrera); 8 Mark Lillington (968CS); 9 Segrue; 10 Fraser Robertson (944). Class winners: Williams; Lambert; Robertson. Fastest lap: Williams 1m55.408s (66.34mph).
The Club Championship season will resume at Silverstone on 15 May.
