THE FINAL COUNTDOWN!
Our very busy Midlands Centre will stage their last meeting of the season this weekend, with a two-day meeting on the Donington Park National circuit. All the championships on the twenty-one race schedule will be competing for the last time this season so there are many titles to be won and lost.
The Arrowpak Euro Saloons are first to go and the destination of the title is a straight fight between Wayne Schofield’s Suzuki Cappuccino and Andy Robinson’s Ford Falcon. Wayne, who races in Class C, has an eighteen-point lead over Andy, who is in Class A.
Just one point separates the Alfa Romeo protagonists, leader Roger Evans and pursuer Neil Smith, who has two previous titles to his name (2004 & 2008). Both Roger (Class C 147 GTA) & Neil (Class E 147) have raced in more than one car & class during the season, with Neil switching back to his ex-WTCC 156 at Brands Hatch in August and Roger starting the season in his supercharged GTV.
Competitors in the Logson Group Porsche Championship will have the luxury of three races to finally settle their differences. In the Race Spec Boxster class, four drivers head into the last round with a chance of the Championship. Rick Styrin is the favourite but he can expect a strong challenge from Gerry Taylor and Richard Sykes. David Bearman, who has had a fantastic season, still has an outside chance. It’s as close, if not closer between the top three Porsche 924 drivers. Alastair Kirkham has led very start, but Sean Siddall and Simon Hawksley have started to close in dramatically.
The BRSCC OSS Championship also goes down to the wire this weekend. Darcy Smith (Class B) who is the current leader and Tony Sinclair (Class A) have both been confirmed as their Class Champions and will now battle it out over the two races for the overall title. Taking dropped scores in to account Darcy is nineteen points clear of Tony so a thrilling weekend is in store.
Both the Mighty & Super Mighty Minis battles are too close to call and both will have the added intrigue of having their first race of the weekend designated as a 'Night race'! In the standard class, reigning champion Chris Slade has a clear lead, after technical issues hampered his closest rivals. However, Jonathan Lewis has had an amazing run of luck and could still upset the apple cart. Dan Palmer sitting third at the moment could still do it but is more likely to have a realistic chance of second, as he is only one point adrift.
In the Supers, Gary Patterson heads up the leader board but not comfortably as hard charging, Chris Morgan has been harrying him all season and he is just seven points adrift with sixty-four points up for grabs this weekend. Reigning champion Elliot Stafford has a mathematical chance of retaining the title but it is a long shot and luck needs to be on his side.
Richard Mitcham wrapped up his latest Formula Jedi title at the last round so the focus this weekend will be on the fight for second and third. Only eleven points separate Alok Iyengar, who currently lies second in the points table, and third placed Barry Armstrong, with Matthew Bett snapping at their heels just two points further behind. In fact, the second to ninth placed drivers are only separated by a total of sixty-two points, and so with eighty up for grabs at Donington there is sure to be some brilliant racing!
Thirty-six graduates of this year's Caterham Academy will also be taking to the track in a two-race Autumn Trophy. Alex Gurr won five out of seven rounds on his way to the Gp1 championship title, while Gp2 runner-up, Pete Fortune is the fastest of the drivers from the other parallel Academy group and is out to prove that his group was actually faster than Gurr’s. However, both will have to beat the winners of their respective groups from the last round at Rockingham. Gurr could only watch as the black-snakeskin car of Matt Dyer showed him a clean pair of heels to get his first win of the year, whilst Danny Killeen mirrored the feat in his group.
Completing the line-up for what will be a busy two days of racing are the British Superkarts and the Honda Vtec Challenge, both of which will enjoy double-headers
The Final Instructions, entry lists, paddock plan and timetable can be viewed at DONINGTON FINALS