What a fantastic weekend for the CSL Cup! We had an 18 car grid, with the regulars of Stringfellow Motorsport, Tesco Momentum 99 Racing, Dmworx, and Intersport Racing. We saw the welcome return of Team Schirmer, Team Like2Bid, and had new entries with Torquespeed, JC Racing, and BMSport. John Thorne of Tesco Momentum 99 Racing was resting his E92 M3 so him return to his 2009 steed, the M3 CSL.

 

Motors TV UK - TV Times

28/08/10 - 18.00 
29/08/10 - 05.02
29/08/10 - 12.00
01/09/10 - 22.53
02/09/10 - 11.00

 

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With Qualifying, Race 1 and Race 2 being all on the Sunday it was sure to be hectic, as the cars lined up in the assembly area all 18 cars and drivers looked calm and ready for the Indy circuit.

Qualifying

Qualifying started on a low note with just 5 minutes gone Matt Smith in his E36 seemed to carry a little too much into Paddock Hill, and he went backwards into the wall at high speed. Happily he's ok, just a little shaken. The session was red flagged with just 5 minutes gone.

After the clean up, Mark Steward, Wayne Gibson and Michael Funke were first out of the blocks, with the classification as follows:

 

Race 1

Unfortunately the grid was missing Kevin Clarke due to electronic gremlins in his E92 and Phil Cutts in his E36 GTR that was struggling for pace, so the grid had the remaining E90's of Team Schirmer and JC Racing. Off the line Angus Dawe rocketed from 14th to 7th at Paddock Hill in his E36. After contact between Russell Foster and Richard Mallinson in Turn 1 Mallinson was turned into a broadside target - luckily no-one hit him as he slid down the hill. Adam Hayes was worse off as he took evasive action and put himself on the grass and into a spin to avoid further contact. Russell Foster was forced to retire following the contact between him and Mallinson with a puncture. Michael Funke in the Team Schirmer E90 stretched out an early lead, followed by Wayne Gibson in his Intersport Racing M3.

At half distance, Funke had pulled a 20 second lead on Gibson, who was just ahead of Keith Gent. In the E46 class it was Stringfellow ahead of Steward - mirroring the first half of the season.

Race 1 Classification

 

Race 2

It would have been brilliant to see everyone lined up on the grid, but with Matt Smith crashing out in Quali, Phil Cutts having teething problems in the GTR, and Kevin Clarke's electrical gremlins, we settled down to watch the remaining 15 cars go to paddock hill all clambering for the top spot.

Yet another blinding start by Angus Dawe saw him rocket to 2nd after turn 1, behind Michael Funke, and ahead of Wayne Gibson. On the second lap Nigel French in the new BMSport car spun at Graham Hill. On lap 3, Richard Mallinson in his E36 found the litter at Paddock Hill and couldn't free himself.

Race 2 Classification

 

Overall, many thanks to the teams and their drivers, a special thanks to Team Schirmer and Michael Funke for making the trip all the way from the M3's home land. We hope the spectators enjoyed it as much as we did!