Boardman Leads, as Breeze and Jackson Take SEAT Cupra Wins

02 May 2005

Tom Boardman continues to lead the Smartnav SEAT Cupra Championship after scoring two podium results in his Special Tuning UK / Triple R Leon Cupra R at Thruxton last weekend, although it was Carl Breeze and Mat Jackson who celebrated race wins in Rounds 3 and 4 of the series.

With the addition of Henry Taylor (Total Control Racing) and Sam Edwards (Triple R), 15 Leon Cupra Rs gathered for a busy Saturday (April 30th), which included two qualifying sessions and a race.  Boardman qualified on pole for Round 3 and led the pack away, closely followed by Carl Breeze in the Blue Chip Group / Barwell Motorsport Leon Cupra R.  Breeze overtook Boardman exiting the Complex on lap three and then saw in his mirrors Tom run wide and off the circuit at Church corner.

Breeze drove an inch perfect race and set the fastest lap of the race (an average speed of 101.92mph) to win by 3.677 seconds.  Behind him Boardman was making an astonishing comeback from rejoining the track in 6thplace, overtaking Henry Taylor, Mat Jackson, Alan Blencowe and Mark Cole in quick succession to finish 2nd.

Blencowe finished 3rd in his Blue Diamond / Barwell Motorsport Leon Cupra R, closely followed by Jackson in the Whale Tankers / Jackson Motorsport Leon Cupra R.  In his first SEAT race, Taylor made two courageous attempts on the final two laps to get passed Cole at the Chicane, but the Mortgage Strategy magazine / PAA Leads-backed pilot, driving the “straight out of the box” Total Control Racing Leon Cupra R, had to be satisfied with a nonetheless magnificent 6th place.

Jonathan Young was flat-out in fifth gear when his Commercial Vehicle Direct / SRE Motorsport Leon Cupra R ran wide at the ultra-fast Goodwood corner, and he had to come into the pits for much of the Hampshire countryside to be removed from the front air ducks.  It wasn’t the best of races for Tom Ferrier either.  Lying 2nd in the Championship after two 2nd place finishes at Donington Park, a coil pack packed-up on the grid formation lap and he had to bring his Team Parker Racing SEAT Cupra R into the pits for repairs.  Having qualified 3rd he started from the back of the grid and finished 9th.

All 15 cars finished Round 3, with Jackson and Chris Egginton (Harben Barker / Team GVR Leon Cupra R) scoring a bonus point each for equally making the best improvement on grid position.

Race winner Breeze said: “I overtook Tom Boardman going into the last part of the Complex, we made contact but once I got passed I knew I had the pace to win.  Barwell Motorsport has done a brilliant job on the car and it’s running like a dream.”

Round 4 took place on Sunday afternoon in front of a huge crowd of spectators who had gathered at Thruxton for what was destined to be an excellent day of TOCA racing.  Breeze made a great start from pole position and led for 10 out of the 12 laps, with Boardman and Jackson battling for 2nd. A brilliant manoeuvre saw Jackson overtake Boardman on the inside of Church corner on lap eight and then close in on Breeze at an unrelenting pace.  When Breeze locked up under braking in the Complex, Jackson pounced – driving around the outside of Cobb corner and overtaking him on the inside of the following right hander, Segrave.

Having kept his Pirelli-control tyres in tip-top condition all race weekend, Jackson used them to good effect in the last two laps to pull out a 2.483 victory.  It was Jackson’s first race victory since 2001. Breeze finished 2nd,with Boardman setting the fastest lap of the race on his way to 3rd, while Blencowe finished 4th and Cole 5th.

Harry Vaulkhard (Fluid Design Solutions / JS Motorsport Leon Cupra R) had a great race with Taylor to finish 6th and score a bonus point for the most improved on grid position.

Ferrier has dropped to 6th in the series after retiring in Round 4 with a broken driveshaft, while Sam Edwards’ SEAT race weekend debut came to a spectacular end when he spun violently into the crash barriers after a collision with Egginton. Young also crashed out of the race, while Dave Pinkney experienced camber problems in his brightly-coloured Motorbase Performance Leon Cupra R.

Race winner Jackson said: “We had kept two tyres with only a few laps on them for this race and we knew that after the first five laps the race would come to us. I overtook Carl coming out of the Complex.  I thought I go for it around the outside of Cobb, but there was a lot of dirt and gravel there so I just had to hang on and get the inside line for the next corner, which is where I got ahead.  From then on I just pushed and pushed because I knew I had lots of life in the tyres.  Everything was spot on, the car was pukka and the team has done a fantastic job.”

See series calendar for SEAT Cupra Championship 2005

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