SILVERSTONE SETTLER
Caterham Supersports is one of five championship titles that will be settled at Silverstone this weekend. Photo: www.snappyracers.com
A swarm of Caterhams will descend on Silverstone this weekend for the Finals meeting which will feature twenty races on the International circuit.
The Avon Tyres Caterham Supersport Championship will get the racing activity underway tomorrow afternoon and it provides the closest final weekend of all the Caterham series this year. Three drivers are in very close contention for the title. The experienced Jon Mortimer is in the lead and, with the highest two drop scores, he is perhaps the favourite. The most likely to stop him is Caterham newcomer James Robinson. With only a year’s experience, the 22 year-old has been a revelation this year, taking four wins, matching the tally of Caterham ace Mike Hart. Like Mortimer, Hart is in his fifth year of Caterham racing and despite having never taken a title is recognised as amongst the very quickest.
The first of the non-Caterham championships to take to the track will be the Alfashop Alfa Romeo Championship and they will finish the season on a high with a year’s best grid of thirty-two cars. The title battle was settled at Rockingham in favour of Class E’s James Bishop, but there are still some final placings to scrap over and the sheer quantity of cars suggests there will be some fierce battles throughout the field. At the sharp end, Ian Stapleton, Graham Seager, Anthony George and Vincent Dubois will be the likely combatants for the overall race wins.
The Caterham Roadsport Championship is engrossed by a three-way fight for the crown featuring Will Smith, Chris Hutchinson and Jack Sales. With two drop scores taking effect, there will be some complicated maths to be done, but the upper hand is with Smith thanks to his consistency. Hutchinson had topped the leader board until the last round, but if he wants to make the step up to champion, he will not only need to beat Smith, but Sales as well. At 21, Sales is one of the championship’s younger drivers, but having come through the Academy with the others, is equally experienced.
2012 Supersport champion Aaron Head currently lies second in the R300 championship table, but has the upper hand when drop scores are taken into account; so much so that a single seventh place or better in one of the two races this weekend will secure the title. The 2013 Supersport champion, David Robinson and Caterham newcomer Danny Winstanley have almost nothing between them in the hunt for the runner-up spot (or the win, should tragedy strike Head). Both have managed to deny Head a win or two this year and could well do so again this weekend.
The 2014 Formula Jedi Championship also comes to an end this weekend and mathematically three drivers are still in with a shout of taking the title; Andrew Dunn currently has the point’s advantage having taken six wins so far this year putting him at the top of the table ahead of Jack Lang and Dan Clowes. Lang has driven consistently well all season and will still want to take the fight to Dunn and add to his single race win. Although a three time winner this year, Clowes’ hunt for the title is hanging by a thread after engine woes earlier in the season at Oulton Park hurt his chances.
A disastrous outing at Croft for Olly Wigg has robbed us of what was set to be an epic Group 1 Caterham Academy showdown between him and Alistair Calvert this weekend. Post-race penalties have seen Wigg drop irreparably down the table, leaving Calvert as the champion elect.
Ironically, one of the other drivers to benefit most strongly from Wigg’s misfortune is his younger brother Ben. Wigg junior holds a strong second place in the table and eighth or higher would secure this for him. However, given his sibling’s recent fate he will be acutely aware of how quickly the tables can turn and must remain at the top of his game this weekend if he is to pick up that second-place championship trophy.
Group 2 of the Pistonheads.com Caterham Academy has also been settled – David Webber has done just enough to secure the championship with a race in hand. Paul Aram and Rob Ryder are secure in second and third places respectively so the pressure is off the top three, which might make for some uninhibited racing! Aram will certainly be trying to maintain his 100% record of reaching the podium. Both Academy groups will have the extra bonus of racing against each other in the two Academy Trophy races so it will be very intriguing to see which group fares the better.
The Tracksport Championship podium was settled at Croft, with Stephen Nuttall securing his third successive Caterham title. Nuttall is resting on his laurels this weekend so it will be interesting to see whether runner-up-elect, Andres Sinclair, or P3 man Nick Portlock can take full advantage of the champions absence. Not that the race wins will just be disputed by this pair as Peter Fortune, Christian Szaruta, Tony Mingoia and David Russell will all be determined to end the season on a high.
The Demon Tweeks/Sparco XR Challenge will conclude their season with a rare ‘away day’ from their North West base. Tony Rudd is already confirmed as the champion but that won’t stopping trying to end his season in style.
The final round of the Arrowpak Saloon & Sportscar season sees a first ever run for the series on the International circuit. 2012 Champion Wayne Schofield carries a narrow four-point advantage over Doug Ellwood, but Ellwood has yet to play his double points joker, so he looks like the firm favourite to take the title in his Marcos Mantis.
The weather forecast for the weekend suggests there will be some light showers tomorrow afternoon but Sunday should be dry. You can view the forecast at SILVERSTONE WEATHER
The timetable, Final Instructions and entrylist are available at SILVERSTONE FINALS
