French star makes Legends Cars debut at Brands Hatch

This weekend (Saturday 7th and Sunday 8th August) sees the cars return to Brands Hatch for a six race double header.  Brands Hatch is always a popular round – the name alone evokes memories of some classic international racing – but it’s a great arena in its’ own right where spectators can see most of what is a fast and challenging circuit.  Brands is always special to Legends as it was the venue for the first ever UK race back on 17th March 1996 when Tick Steward won the opening race with Barry Osborn taking races two and three.

The current driver with the most wins around Brands is Barracuda Motorsport’s Steve Thompson who has taken nine there so far including his first ever hat trick back in 1997.  Thompson remains the only rookie to have ever won all three races at a National Championship Legends Cars meeting. Four others of the current crop have won at Brands - Ian Sturt has had five wins, Peter Morton (three), Lawrence Davey (two) and Daren Hills (one).  Oli Poyser has however recorded five fastest laps there and held the lap record briefly last year before John Jon Higgins snatched it back in the last race of the weekend.  The benchmark currently stands at 56.440 seconds.

Ex French Super Touring Champion Jean-Philippe Dayraut makes his UK debut this weekend although as a non-registered driver he will be starting all three races from the back of the field. Dayraut, the 35 year old from Toulouse, won the French title in 2001 and has since competed at Le Mans and is a regular front runner in the Andros Trophy ice races.

Joining the championship this weekend is 61 year old racer Chris Robinson.  The Maidenhead business man has previous experience in the Uniroyal Challenge and will race with the Burnett Motorsport team. Finally, 19 year old Lawrence Davey will contest his 100th National Championship Legends start in the third race of the day on Saturday.