DONINGTON PREVIEW

The Fiesta Championship has produced consistent but exciting racing so far this season. Photo: John Cooper

The BRSCC’s busy Midland Centre head back to Donington Park tomorrow for the second weekend running. Last week they were organising a Britcar meeting but this weekend it is back to ‘Club’ business with a packed two day meeting on the National circuit featuring 20 races.

The Avon Tyres Formula Ford Championships make a welcome to Donington for the first time since they were flooded out in August 2009! There are double headers for both the Pre 90 and Post 89 categories which are points scoring rounds for the Northern Championship, currently led by Jeff Hodgson and John Murphy respectively. The Post 89 rounds also count towards both the National title and the Triple Crown, which is new for 2010. Cormac O’Neill holds the Triple Crown lead after the opening two rounds at Silverstone last month.

The BRSCC OSS Championship has started the new season in fine form with an impressive turnout at the Silverstone opener. Graham Cole won both rounds in his Jade Trakstar to really throw down the gauntlet to defending champion Tony Sinclair. The OSS numbers are further boosted at Donington with 8 Irish Global Lights making the trip from across the water.

With backing from Design911.com the BRSCC Porsche Championship has also enjoyed a very positive start to the year, posting grids at Silverstone and now Donington well into the twenties. The 2010 champion is the man everyone has to beat with Dave Clark starting as he left off with a brace of wins. In the 924 section we do have a new leader in the shape of Jayson Flegg who heads Austrian Alfred Piesinger after two rounds.

Whatever OSS and the Porsche championship can do then the catch-all Euro Saloons can do even better! An excellent 32 cars will line-up to qualify tomorrow which almost matches the 35 that reported for duty at Silverstone. Richard Hawken’s Nissan Primera heads the points table, following two Class B wins but he is hotly pursued by Class A’s Dave Cockell who was second in the first race but won the second.

Consistency has been the key in the Competition Car Insurance – Dunlop Ford Fiesta Championship where the same driver in classes A, B & C has won the four races to date. Leicester racer David Grady is the man they are all trying to catch in Class C but he will be determined to keep his rivals at bay in front of his home crowd. In Class A John Langridge has been the story of the season so far, winning all four rounds in what is his debut season as a racer! The 100% percent man in the Zetec Class (B) is Ely’s Scott Baines.

Away from BRSCC championships we welcome the Pickup Truck Championship to Donington. The Pickups have proved to be very popular over the years producing a regular diet of door-to-door handle racing. Nic Grindrod heads the standings after the opening 5 rounds from Michael Smith and 2010 champion Steve Dance.

The Design911.com Porsche Championship won’t be the only example of the iconic Stuttgart marque on show at Donington, as we are joined by two championship from Porsche Club GB in the form of the GT3 Cup and the Club Championship, the later fielding and almost equal mixture of 968s and 944s.