Rounds 3 & 4 in the new CSL Cup series brought some new faces, the new CSL Cup drivers lounge, and some exciting racing for the crowds. We had been expecting three more cars to enter for Brands, however, late in the week two were still unfinished. We are however, very pleased to welcome Steve Gill to the modified class in his CSL.

Rounds 3 & 4 in the new CSL Cup series brought some new faces, the new CSL Cup drivers lounge, and some exciting racing for the crowds. We had been expecting three more cars to enter for Brands, however, late in the week two were still unfinished. We are however, very pleased to welcome Steve Gill to the modified class in his CSL. Steve hails from Scotland and the St Andrews Cross on the roof added some patriotic colour to the grid. It was Steve's first time out in his self prepared car and he was itching to get going. Other additions to the grid were two new drivers in #21 of Thorney Motorsport. Mark Steward and Nick Foster, long standing friends who after a few seasons of Radicals and British GT’s respectively were looking for a new race series to try. They shared the standard class Thorney Motorsport car (formerly of Stuart Clarke). The rest of the grid was made up from those from the first round. Dan Stringfellow, keen to defend his early season lead, Geoff Steel had something to prove following Rockingham, John Harrison (who drives his car to and from the race circuit – pure class) wanted to continue his haul form the first round and Darren Humphrey wanted to put his first race crash out of his head for a better second round. Jamie Martin looked keen to get to the front and John Thorne was happy to finally be in a fully prepared car after effectively taking his road car around Rockingham.

New for the Brands Hatch round is the new CSL Cup lounge. This lounge is available for all competitors and their teams to throughout the weekend, refreshments all day as well as a buffet breakfast and lunch were on offer all weekend and it made a great place to both socialise and entertain existing and potential sponsors. It made a great focal point for all the competitors.

Qualifying
During the morning, it decided to rain – yet magically, around 45 mins before Qualifying a dry line appeared on circuit, and stayed. After 20 mins qualifying the grid was sorted.

Race 1
As the race started, Steel slipped to 3rd after getting a slow start off the line. At the end of lap 1, Martin was up to 1st place overall with Stringfellow ½ a second behind. Further down the field in standard class, Humphrey was closing the gap to Harrison. At the end of Lap 5 the gap between 1st Place Martin and 5th place Thorne was just 5 seconds. Another 5 laps past with no change to the positions, then on lap 11 Steel had caught right up to Stringfellows rear bumper, the gap across the line being 0.123 seconds! Into paddock hill bend Steel made his move and made it stick.

In Standard Class, Humphrey had continued to close on Harrison, making his move on Lap 15, and making it stick to take the lead in Standard Class. Meanwhile the battle between Thorne and Steward was at a stalemate, with gap remaining at 0.3 seconds for 5 laps. The gap remained at 0.3 seconds until Lap 16, when Steward set the fastest standard class lap of 51.865seconds. This closed his gap to Stringfellow to just 0.2 seconds, which I’m sure he would have improved on – had Steward not snatched 4th and locked his rear wheels at paddock just 3 seconds into Lap 17!

With Steward stranded in the gravel trap, the safety car was deployed (arguably the best looking car out there!). This played straight into the hands of Steel who was able to close right up to Martin under the safety car. With just 90 seconds of the race remaining the safety car was pulled in. Steel then put the hammer down and passed Martin to take the victory away on the last lap!

Race 1 Classification

Race 2
Arriving to circuit at 9.30am with the sun shining, the competitors had a good few hours to hone the cars and make some last minute adjustments. The competitors lined up on the grid as they finished Race 1 on Saturday afternoon. As the lights went out Steel again struggled off the line and slipped down to 6th overall.

At the end of lap 1, Foster (car sharing with Steward in #21) had climbed to 2nd in his Standard Class car, showing phenomenal pace. After climbing to 5th place after 4 laps Steel was still 4 seconds adrift of Thorne in 4th. On lap 6, coming out of McLaren, Harrison suffered complete driver side front suspension failure (on further inspection, the front N-Trax damper leg had snapped in half.) This led to Harrison’s retirement on Lap 6. This handed 2nd place in Standard Class to Humphrey.

After lap 6, Foster’s sheer pace got the better of Martin who fought in vein to maintain the outright victory. On lap 9, the safety car was deployed so that Harrison’s car could be safely removed from circuit. After a fairly processional 5 further laps Gill’s SMG gearbox overheated (a problem with all SMG competitors it would seem!) and caused him to retire. At the end of lap 15 Steel had reigned in Thorne and took the place at druids. The formation remained the same to Lap 22, where Foster took the chequered flag in his Standard Class M3 of Thorney Motorsport.

Race 2 Classification

Series Points Table