BRSCC WINTER ESPORTS RUMBLES INTO BRANDS HATCH
After an intense opening three races at Silverstone to begin the season, the second BRSCC Winter eSports Series rounds take place this evening on the full Brands Hatch GP circuit, where the winners from event one will be hoping to increase their advantages, while others will be hoping for a strong night’s racing and some new faces will also be set to appear.
Once again all in identical Mk4 generation Mazda MX-5 Global Cup Cars, the field takes to the full GP layout of the Kent speed bowl, with real world MX-5 racers Ted Bradbury and William Chadwick heading to Brands Hatch level on points after the first three races. Bradbury claimed two wins to Chadwick’s sole triumph in race one, and both will be hoping to carry that form through once again tonight. Race three at Silverstone was of particular satisfaction to Bradbury after he stole the win in the final few corners, before beating Chadwick to the line in a photo finish.
Team Northbrook’s Richard Jepp heads to Brands Hatch in third, already fifteen points off the lead after a rough result in race two was sandwiched in between two very strong third place finishes, and the man who has led his team to two consecutive Student Motorsport Challenge titles in the CityCar Cup will want to use his knowledge of this circuit to full effect. Just a point behind Richard is Tom Griffiths, who was also showing strong pace all evening last time out and will hope his experience in MX-5s for real and in the sim can help him to build on his third place in race two at Silverstone.
Last season’s inaugural Winter Series winner Mikey Doble currently completes the top five and is yet to even achieve a podium finish given his slightly up and down fortunes throughout the Silverstone encounter. There’s no denying he’s lost none of his pace in the sim and the BMW Compact Cup champion turned BTCC star will hope he can get himself back into a top three placing this time at Brands Hatch. He is set to be joined once again by younger siblings Joe and Isaac, the latter impressing many by leading most of the reverse grid race three at Silverstone before spinning out.
The rest of the current top ten in points sees Jack Noller, Matt Kendall, Will Redford, Joe Doble and Leigh Britten presently ranked in that order in the standings. Noller picked up a top five in race three at Silverstone after a tough evening up to that point, while Kendall was a constant threat for the race lead, only to suffer his own bad luck one too many times. Part of that was down to an error from Redford in Race 1, after an ambitious dive into Vale ended up with contact with both Kendall and Mikey Doble. Last year’s runner up, Redford will be another desperate to get back in the fight tonight. Joe Doble and Britten, meanwhile, are two more names that will also hope Brands Hatch is kind to them.
For tonight’s second event of the series, the field will see a handful of new faces joining the grid since Silverstone. These include Super Classic Formula Ford racer Richard Freye, Fun Cup Endurance racer Matt Dorkings and Fiesta Junior Scholarship hopeful Harvey Jones, while first appearances of the Series could also be made by Chris Etheridge, Ben Sharpe, Richard Wootten, Ewan Charman, and three time MX-5 SuperCup champion turned team boss Luke Herbert, all of which will be hoping to get their points tallies off the mark should they be in attendance.
Scott Woodwiss
