Record 44,000 Rockingham Crowd Sees Smith
Take First SEAT Cupra Win
03 August 2003
A record breaking Rockingham crowd of 44,000 saw Gavin Smith score
his first race win in the 2003 Holiday Inn SEAT Cupra Championship. The
Dublin driver won round eight in front of the massive ‘Racing
Rivals – Live’ crowd, while 3rd in the same race helps Robert
Huff maintain his lead in the exciting series with just two races at
Thruxton (on August 17th) remaining.
Gavin made a good start in his Smith Hire Centre Leon Cupra R, but it
was pole-sitter James Pickford who held the inside line to lead in his
Abt Sportsline / Haribo SEAT. The two drivers raced nose-to-tail
before the 24-year old driver from Rathfarnham slipped up the inside
of Pickford at the Tarzan hairpin on lap seven. Gavin then inched out
a 1.726secs winning margin, as Pickford held onto a fine 2nd place.
Gavin said: “I had a great start but James made a better one. From
then on I tucked in behind James and was waiting for him to make a mistake,
but I could see he wasn’t going to and that if I wanted to win
I would have to do something about it. It was a very close and
clean race with James and having been unlucky not to win before I’ll
be aiming to do the same again at Thruxton. I’ve raced at
Thruxton three or four times and know the circuit well – it’s
very fast and flowing, just the way I like it.”
Having damaged his car in the first SEAT race, Huff did an amazing job
to get his Marshalls of Cambridge Leon to 3rd place, holding off a charging
Andre D’Cruze, who enjoyed his best SEAT race weekend in his Hot
Wheels / GamePod Cupra R, and Stephen Colbert in the Auto Trader / Track
Smart Leon.
Andre and Stephen eventually finished 4th and 5th, ahead of a hard-charging
Stefan Hodgetts, who lost the rear bumper of his loaded backedLeontowards
the end of the race. Stefan is now 2nd in the Holiday Inn SEAT Cupra
Championship, 15.5 points behind Huff with two races at Thruxton (on
August 17th) to go.
There were two safety car incidents during round eight. The first
came on lap two, when Ben Winrow spun into the wall on the inside of
the Turn 1 Chicane. Having suffered overheating problems in his race
Telemecanique car, Ben used the spare Cupra R for the second SEAT race. Having
not driven it until the warm up lap, it handled somewhat differently
to his other race car and having qualified seventh on the grid it was
a great shame for Ben to spin out in front of his home Northamptonshire
crowd – which included a big contingent of fellow pupils fromWrennSchool.
The safety car came out again on Lap 11, when Emmet O’Brien spun
his DABL / Spin 103.8 Leon at the Deene hairpin and it had to be towed
to a safer area.
Natalie Barratt lost the power steering to her KF ConceptLeonon the
way out of the paddock on the warm-up lap, and although she started
the race she retired in the pit lane on lap seven. Natalie then
jumped into a taxi and headed down to M1 to London Heathrow, where she
caught a flight the same night to the Far East to contest next weekend’s
Malaysian Rally 2003.
The only driver not to start round eight of the Holiday Inn SEAT Cupra
Championship was Spencer Marsh. Having slammed into the oval wall
at Turn 1 in the previous race, his Shell-backed car was too badly damaged
to be repaired at Rockingham. It was a great shame, as Spencer had qualified
second on the grid for both Rockingham races.
The next two episodes of Raving Rivals will be broadcast on ITV1 at
13.10 on Saturday 9th August and on ITV1 at 13.45 on Sunday 10th August.
Both 30 minute ITV1 programmes are followed by a one hour Racing Rivals
special on ITV2.
The final two rounds of the Holiday Inn SEAT Cupra Championship take
place at Thruxton on August 18th. It’s Robert Huff’s
favourite circuit – and he has a 15.5 points lead in the series.
See series calendar for SEAT
Cupra Championship 2003
Related Story 03.08.2003 - Hodgetts
Wins Dramatic SEAT Race at Rockingham
