GT & VW CHAMPIONS CROWNED
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Champions in two more BRSCC championships were crowned at Brands Hatch F3/GT meeting over the weekend and motorsport history was also made.
The Avon Tyres British GT Championship claimed another motor-sporting first when twin brothers David and Godfrey Jones took championship victory in the final round; it's not only the first British GT championship win shared by siblings but is believed also to be a UK first for twins. The Jones brothers, 56 and from Newtown Linford in Leicestershire, clinched the crown by a single point thanks to a race win on Saturday and then a third-place finish on Sunday at the wheel of their Team Preci-Spark Ascari KZ1R, which is prepared by Midlands-based Team Pyro. They scored three race wins during the season and a further six podium finishes. Meanwhile Joe Fulbrook is – for the second successive year – the Volkswagen Racing Cup Champion. The Berkshire Bora driver clinched the Hankook-backed championship by the skin of his teeth, thanks to a Herculean effort from the RP Motorsport team. A fifth-place finish in the first of the day's races left 38-year-old Joe needing a top-12 result in race two to secure the title, but there was drama in the paddock between events when it was discovered his car's 1.8-litre turbocharged engine was badly damaged. His mechanics replaced the unit with minutes to spare and, though well down on power, Fulbrook managed to bring his Warranty Direct Bora home ninth. There were race wins at Brands for Liam Griffin's Scirocco and for recovering leukaemia sufferer Darren Blumson – his first in the championship – as well as a remarkable performance from Richard Styrin, who drove his RacingLine Golf GTI to podium finishes in his first-ever car races. Matters are not so clear cut in the MSA Formula Ford Championship of Great Britain. With two rounds to go James Cole holds what appears an unassailable lead after the two Brands Hatch races. Cole’s title rival Josef Newgarden won both races but he was excluded from one of them for a technical infringement, handing the victory to Cole. Newgarden's JTR team is appealing the decision, and thus the title will likely be decided by the rule makers rather than on the track. |
