FUN AND FRANTIC BATTLES FOR BRSCC AT BRANDS HATCH
With a mix of warm Spring sunshine coupled with some inclement heavy rain showers during Sunday’s action, the British Racing & Sports Car Club’s first visit of the year to the Brands Hatch Indy circuit in Kent was filled with plenty of top-level club motorsport from start to finish. While some championships and series were getting their 2025 seasons underway, others were already into their second outing of the year.
With an entry stacked with competitive teams, some new, some established and even past champions squads making a comeback, the new Fun Cup Endurance Championship season got underway with a blast at Brands Hatch. The lead was traded in the opening stints between Team Pacific and Axiametrics, through an early safety car and the first couple of pit windows. It would take until one thirds race distance before multiple champion team UVio/ Hofmann’s Motorsport finally worked their way to the front.
While UVio led, defending champions Olympian-GRD were steadily working their way towards the front of the pack. Another safety car going into the second half helped Olympian stay close to leaders UVio and Axiametrics, and after more mandatory stops, a pass for the lead on track was made just before the final hour. Once the final stops were complete, it was Olympian’s race to lose despite the chase from UVio. The #1 squad picked up where they’d left off in 2024, winning the opening race of the season just 2.8 ahead of UVio, with Axiametrics in third ahead of Team FFS and Team Pacific.
Despite many of his rivals running him close in all three encounters, there was absolutely no stopping points leader Ali Bray in the Kent Models Mazda MX-5 Championship all weekend. Race one could be labeled an all-time classic in championship history, even with a late safety car interruption. Bray and Sparrow spent lap after lap side by side in the earlier stages as part of a sizeable lead group, but at the flag Bray took his fourth win with Thomas Walker taking a first podium ahead of Steve Foden, Sparrow and Richard Wootten.
Many of the same lead group scrapped with each other in race two, but Bray still remained on top come the chequered flag to go five for five from Foden and Neil Chisnall on the podium, then Sparrow and Adam Craig in the top five. In damp conditions after an inclement rain shower, Bray then proved his wet weather prowess to retain a 100% win record for 2025, completing another hat-trick from Steve Bartlett, Foden, Chisnall and Sparrow.
Saturday saw the Clapham North MOT Mazda MX-5 Clubman Championship make their second outing of the season, but had to go through two starts of race one after Adam Lawrence’s car ended up in the pit wall, closely followed by erstwhile leaders Del Paice and Jordan Pimley tangled at Clearways just as the red flag came out. Both drivers were permitted to restart from the pit lane, allowing Jack Warry to clinch a second win of the season from Jake Paice, 2024 champion Jonny Greensmith, top rookie Paul Simard and William Breame.
While Pimley leapt from 21st to seventh place on the opening lap of race two, Greensmith and Warry duked it out for the lead at the front in the early stages but both were demoted off the top step by Jake Paice. Another mid-race safety car kept the field close, but Paice drove well to collect his first MX-5 Clubman win from Warry, Greensmith, Del Paice and Pimley.
The front of the Clapham North MOT Mazda MX-5 SuperCup field was owned by the same four drivers all weekend – Silverstone leaders Will Blackwell Chambers and Thomas Langford, and returning hotshots Jack Harding and double defending Pro champ Aidan Hills. Harding and Hills wound back the clock with their duel for victory in race one, with Harding on top from Blackwell-Chambers, Hills and Langford with Ollie Hall also in the top five. Race two on Sunday morning played out in much the same fashion, Hills this time on the top step after battling and beating Harding and Blackwell-Chambers respectively, followed by Hall and Alistair Dendy.
But it was race three that produced the craziest encounter of the weekend. Starting in dry conditions, an inclement rain storm fell halfway through which caught out the leaders so suddenly that all of them ended up skating off the road at Surtees. Once everyone had recovered and survived a safety car, Harding and Hills were left to duel for the win with Harding squeezing past to make it two from three for the weekend. Hall took third from Dendy and Lanford in Pro class.
Sam Middleton almost kept up his 100% Club class win record in his debut season, winning races one and two before ending up third in race three but scoring points for second, after guest Bill Taylor took the win from Steve Kite.
A wonderfully eclectic first grid of the year for the Geoff Page Engineering Super Classic Pre ‘99 Formula Ford Championship produced two excellent single seater races for the Kent spectators and live stream viewers to enjoy on Sunday. Race one was a two-parter after being stopped for fluid on the circuit, but on the restart Ben Powney charged to the win from defending Super Classic C class winner Tom Hawkins and Gaius Ghinn, followed by Mads Gravsen and guest Andy Charsley.
With conditions for race two somewhat more adverse, the amazing Charsley displayed some superb wet weather driving to battle Super Classic B runner Oliver Roberts initially, then winning by just over two seconds from Powney and Hawkins. Class honours behind the overall winners also went to Christopher Stones (Super Classic B), Colin Williams and Stuart Kestenbaum (Super Classic C) and Oliver Chapman (Super Classic D)
Sharing a grid for the very first time this season, the Ricci Concept Classic VW Cup and Hickford Construction MG Metro Cup put on two excellent hot hatch contests on their combined grid across Sunday. The Classic VWs saw Ken Lark’s Scirocco battle with Tony Absolom’s Mk2 Golf for the lead before the latter dropped out, leaving Lark to cruise to victory from Carey Lewis’ Mk5 Golf and Paul Hoggins’ Audi TT. When the rain fell for race two, the Pinnacle Racing Audi A3s came into their own, their four wheel drive helping Chris Garnham and Paul Dunningham achieve a one-two from Lewis in third.
Within the MG Metros, Jack Ashton came into the opener as the championship favourite and didn’t disappoint those that backed him, as he claimed pole in qualifying and led every single lap in both races to take a commanding points lead from the opening event. Race one victory was taken ahead of Matthew Simpson, Tim Shooter, Mike Williams and Jon Moore, while race two saw Jack triumph ahead of Williams, Simpson, Moore and Richard Garrard.
The first SW Motorsports ClubSport Trophy race of 2025 saw the drivers tackle a damp and slippery circuit for their 45-minute contest, and it ended with a tight finish. Despite being chased down late in the race by the Morgan of Shane Kelly thanks to a late safety car closing the pack up again, Julian Daniel drove his VW Golf to victory both overall and in Class A by just over a second. James Alford’s Honda Civic was third ahead of Class B toppers Nick Brady and the Jason Pelosi/ Josh Larkin in their Audi TTs, while other class wins went to Elliott Walker’s MINI, Jonathan Hobbs’ Peugeot 106 Rallye, and Josh Bromley and Pete Smith in their Mazda MX-5 Mk1.
Written by Scott Woodwiss
