DENNISON & BLACKWELL-CHAMBERS TAKE EARLY WINS IN BRSCC WINTER ESPORTS NAVARRA OPENER
Just over 30 drivers took to the virtual race track for the first round of the 2025 BRSCC Clapham North Winter eSports Series, once again taking place on iRacing with the newly added BMW M2 CS Racing as the car of choice. The opening three races of the season took place at the sole non-UK circuit on the calendar, as the drivers lined up at the Circuito de Navarra in Spain to kick off the campaign.
James Dennison took the first pole position of the season in qualifying, his best time putting him barely a few hundreths ahead of Matt Kendall in second fastest, with Matt’s teammate Will Blackwell-Chambers in third from Benjy Douglass, Thomas Merritt and Isaac Doble. A clean start allowed Dennison to retain the lead from lights out with the Clapham North twins overcoming a brief intra-team battle before Kendall set off after Dennison. It would take until lap three for Kendall to truly mount a challenge for the lead on Dennison, constantly searching for a way past but unable to find the necessary gap.
This brought Blackwell-Chambers into contention too, but Dennison wouldn’t be moved from top spot, the Bromley Racing driver putting his car in all the right places at all the right times to defend from Kendall’s advances. Dennison ensured he secured a lights-to-flag victory claim the first honours of the new season with Kendall and Blackwell-Chambers on the podium with him respectively. Benjy Douglass and Thomas Merritt completed the top five, ahead of Isaac Doble Richard Jepp, Pete Smith, Tom Griffiths and Tom Monhemius.
Race two ended up as a continuation of the first, as Dennison led away from pole once more but again had to absorb pressure from Kendall all race long. Initially, Matt was able to challenge and almost steal P1 away, but he would quickly settle in behind and the pair would race off together in a fight of their own. This left Blackwell-Chambers to scrap with Thomas Merritt for third, but his race was compromised after tangling with Richard Jepp mid race and dropping down to 7th.
Kendall again hounded Dennison in the second half of the race as he clamoured for a way through, but solid defensive driving allowed the Bromley Racing driver to hold back all advances, even the strongest attempt from Kendall on the penultimate lap which came to no avail. Dennison made it two from two with Kendall glued to his rear bumper, while third place backwards also provided its own share of entertainment. Merritt picked up third just ahead of Doble, with a recovering Blackwell-Chambers recovering to P5 from Jepp, Griffiths, Ari Barker, Douglass and Smith.
Speaking of Smith, his P10 gave him the pole on the partially reversed grid for race three with Douglass for company on the front row, while double winner Dennison would have to climb from 10th. While the front row men retained their positions from the start, both Dennison and Kendall struggled to make up places in the early stages while Blackwell-Chambers quickly picked off the cars around him, rising to 3rd after just two laps. Douglass’ race then took a nosedive when an attempted outside pass into T9 left him spinning out, and set off a chain of events that saw Blackwell-Chambers hit the front and Doble quickly follow past, shuffling Smith back to third.
From here, Blackwell-Chambers kept Doble a second at bay behind him to take the final victory of the evening, unchallenged in the second part of the race to pick up the win. Smith, meanwhile, did a fine job in holding back a stream of cars to take the last spot on the podium, but only just from Barker in fourth. Kendall was able to secure 5th in the end ahead of Dennison, Merritt, Griffiths, Monhemius and Chris Etheridge.
Dennison’s pair of victories give him the lead in the standings as the BRSCC Clapham North Winter eSports Series now heads to (virtual) UK soil for the rest of the campaign, starting with the second outing of the season on the Donington Park GP circuit on Thursday, 23rd January.
Written by Scott Woodwiss
