BRSCC ROCKS SILVERSTONE FOR 24 HOURS AS ALPHA-TROJON TRIUMPH
On a memorable weekend for the BRSCC and all involved, the return of the 24 Hours at Silverstone brought one of the best loved events in club motorsport back to the track. With over 40 teams turning out to contest the main event, the 24 Hours itself produced many twists and turns along the way and a dramatic last hour, too. On top of that, the support categories on the timetable also produced some exceptional racing for those in attendance, with British F4, Britcar & Supercar Challenge, Caterham Graduates and ClubSport Trophy all providing great entertainment.
Qualifying for the BRSCC 24 Hours saw Alpha-Trojon, the defending race winners from 2023, claim pole position alongside the sole CityCar class entry from Emax Motorsport (alongside their rank of C1 Endurance spec cars also entered) on the front row. After the CityCar dropped back early on, a leading quartet of Alpha-Trojon, #blessed, Scuderia Pollo Rosso and JW Bird Motorsport formed out front. The #blessed car dropped back, leaving the leading trio to circulate for just past two hours before the first full course yellow allowed them to pit with reduced time loss.
Emax’s best performing car, #346, hit trouble before the end of hour three, and as the race heading towards the night, Alpha-Trojon continued to lead from JW Bird and Pollo Rosso, but as darkness feel, cars hit trouble. Pollo Rosso’s cruel luck struck when an incident in the night led to engine failure and retirement, the #599 Euro Car Parts car (with BTCC aces Josh Cook, Jade Edwards and Aiden Moffat) ran out of fuel in the Arena section, and even Alpha-Trojon weren’t immune to issues after snapping a rear beam which required a quick 12 minute fix to get back out.
Going into the early hours of Sunday morning, #blessed led the way and had a three minute lead when they too also had a engine failure due to oil issues. This allowed Alpha-Trojon to climb back to the front, and this is essentially where they would stay right until the chequered flag. Proving unstoppable once again, Trojan ended up victorious with a four lap lead, but behind them drama almost befell second place. Baycon Racing with Liqui Moly had to deal with a driveshaft issue that left them several seconds off the pace, but still able to bring the car home for an emotional second place, with Project Sixty Three completing the podium ahead of Silverlake and JW Bird.
A massive thank you to everyone who made the renaissance of the BRSCC 24 Hour race such a roaring success!
The support races on the Saturday, prior to the main event, produced their own exciting encounters to entertain spectators throughout the day. The Wera Tools F4 British Championship certified by FIA provided three intense races just a week removed from their season opener at Donington Park. James Piszcyk claimed victory in race one on Friday afternoon, followed home by Fionn McLaughlin and Martin Molnar on the podium ahead of Henry Joslyn and August Raber.
Piszcyk then had to come through from 12th on the race two grid to try and repeat the feat, but couldn’t improve on that position in the end. Victory this time would go to Adam Al-Azhari from Rowan Campbell-Pilling and Tommy Harfield, with the top five completed by Thomas Bearman and Joslyn. Later in the afternoon, Piszcyk grabbed his second win of the weekend in race three less than a second ahead of Molnar, while McLaughlin completed the top three from Ethan Jeff-Hall and Leo Robinson.
A mammoth and mouth-watering dual grid for the Britcar Endurance Championship and the Supercar Challenge from the Netherlands took to the Silverstone GP circuit for a 90-minute endurance race, with two races competing at one time on track together. In the Britcar race, a commanding performance by Steve Gambrell and Dan Lloyd’s Porsche 991.2 Cup car saw them win by almost 25 seconds at the flag. Ash Muldoon and James Kellett’s own Porsche took second place overall from the Ferrari of Bonamy Grimes and Johnny Mowlem. The second Amspeed Porsche of Dom Malone and Dan Cammish was fourth, with Woodrow Motorsport’s BMW of Callum Bates completing the top five.
In the Supercar Challenge ranks, a fine display from John de Wilde’s Porsche 992 Cup car saw him take the top spot by just over eight seconds, winning ahead of Morgan and Marcus Short’s Mosler MT900R in second and Blueberry Racing’s BMW M4 GT4 Evo of Berry van Elk. JR Motorsport’s BMW M6 GT3 of Ted van Vliet, and Dennis & Steff de Borst’s Hyundai i30 N TCR took fourth and fifth respectively.
Some of the closest and tightest racing all day on Saturday came courtesy of the P4 Emergency Lighting Caterham Graduates with a massive combined grid for their Sigma 135 and Sigma 150 classes. Multiple time champion Jamie Ellwood put in a fine drive to head a tight lead pack, picking up the race one win from a photo finish for second between Ben Winrow and Paul Goldstein by just over a tenth of a second. Stephen Clark and Max Haynes completed the top five in Sigma 150, while Tom McEwing was Sigma 135 winner from Steve Merritt and Thomas Gunter.
The winning margin was even closer in race two, as Haynes managed to just pip Winrow at the line for victory by a mere 0.043 seconds in a typical Caterham finish. Clark picked up the final podium place with third ahead of race one winner Ellwood and Harry Cramer in the top five. McEwing’s Sigma 135 victory margin this time was a little bigger this time, over three seconds ahead of Merritt, James Hapgood, Giles Derry and Gunter.
A 40+ car entry took to the Silverstone GP circuit for the SW Motorsports ClubSport Trophy 45-minute pit stop race, with Shane Kelly’s Morgan leading from the green flag with Adam Marshall’s VW Golf and Phiroze Bilimoria’s Scirocco chasing after him in the early stages. Bilimoris did his best to wind the Morgan back in towards him before the pit stops began. Kelly stopped first, followed by Marshall, and then Bilimoria mid way through the pit window, rejoining in what would be fifth place with a third of the race left to run.
As the last few pit stops shook out, Kelly led from Bilimoria and Josh Files’ Honda Civic, the pair doing battle briefly for second with Marshall’s Golf but eventually seeing the Scirocco in P2 and showing the pair a clean pair of heels. From what was a ten second gap with ten minutes to go, Kelly suffered issues with just a couple of laps to go, and when the final lap began it was Bilimoria into the overall lead. Phiroze redeemed himself for his Brands Hatch mistake with outright victory, from Marshall’s Golf, Files’ Class B winning Civic, Kelly’s ailing Morgan and Jason Brough’s Golf GTi ClubSport.
Additional class wins down the field went to Craig Emmerson’s BMW 330 in Class C, Barny Francis’ Mazda RX-8 in Class D, and the BMW Compact of Craig Ferns and James Dermott in Class E.
Written by Scott Woodwiss
