Toms Triumph in SEAT Cupra Races at Brands Hatch

06 Jun 2005

Your name had to be Tom to triumph in the two Smartnav SEAT Cupra Championship race at Brands Hatch on Sunday (5th June). Victory in Round 5 was Tom Ferrier’s first win in his Darwin/Team Parker Racing Leon Cupra R, while Tom Boardman scored his third win of the season in Round 6 to extend his series lead to 18 points in his Special Tuning UK / Triple R Leon Cupra R. After finishing 2nd and 3rd in the two races at Brands, Carl Breeze (Blue Chip Group/Barwell Motorsport Leon Cupra R) remains Boardman’s nearest rival in the series, while Ferrier moves up three places to 3rd in the points table.

Ferrier started Round 5 from second on the grid and went on to set the fastest lap of the race and win by 3.886 seconds.  Pole-sitter Breeze was 2nd, while Boardman won a close contest with Henry Taylor (Mortgage Strategy magazine/Total Control Racing Leon Cupra R) and Mark Cole (Bovis Lend Lease/Team Parker Racing Leon Cupra R) to secure 3rd.

In the next race, Ferrier started from pole and led for much of the race with Boardman and Breeze following close behind.  With three laps to go, Boardman overtook Ferrier on the inside of Clearways and established a 0.949 second winning margin. Ferrier finished 2nd – for the third time this season – while Breeze set the fastest lap and scored his fourth podium finish in six races by coming home 3rd.

Ferrier said: “I was nice to win my first SEAT race. I made a good start in the second race as well but after seven or eight laps I’d cooked my tyres and was having a lot of understeer.  I tried everything I know to keep Tom behind me, but it was impossible to keep my car on a tight line through Clearways and when a little gap appeared he took it. The Leon is a nice car to drive and I’ve not had to adapt my style much at all. Now we’ve got a good set-up I think we’ll be a strong contender in all the remaining races.”

Boardman said: “We had to work hard for our points at Brands Hatch because for much of the race weekend things were going downhill.  In the first practice session on Friday everything was fine, but in the second a front tyre picked up a nail driving from the paddock to the track and the tyre deflated when we were out on the circuit.  We were lucky the tyre didn’t explode.  In the third and final practice session things were bad again. In first qualifying the next day Carl Breeze was fastest and we were off the pace a bit in third and then in the next session Tom Ferrier went even faster to get pole and we stayed the same. We thought things would be better in the race, but the car wasn’t balanced at all and it was a real struggle to finish third. Before the second race we decided to get the car on the flat bed and we found that the set-up was well out - obviously the puncture must have knocked all our settings off line. We put our originals settings back and the car was brilliant for the last race of the day and we were able to win.  After all our problems, I’m really pleased to come away from Brands with a third place and a win – all credit to the team for sorting out the car.”

As the top three drivers had a slight edge at Brands Hatch, another group of four drivers were right on their heels.  Taylor, Cole, Mat Jackson (Whale Tankers/Jackson Motorsport Leon Cupra R) and Ian Churchill (Bedford Battery Co/Churchill Motorsport) fought two blistering races. Taylor won the personal battle in Round 5, while Jackson finished 4th in Round 6.

Alan Blencowe would have been in that pack in his Blue Diamond/Barwell Motorsport Leon Cupra R, but a 10 grid place penalty saw him start the first race from the back row.  He finished a magnificent 7th, but Round 6 came to a premature end when he ran into the gravel trap at Druids corner on lap nine.

Jonathan Young had another frustrating race day. The young Scottish driver spun his Commercial Vehicle Direct/SRE Motorsport Leon Cupra R in the first race and was nudged into the crash barriers in the next race after a collision with Dave Pinkney’s Motorbase Performance-run Leon Cupra R at Surtees.

Starting and finishing last was a new experience for Nick Leason, but having only collected his Cube Design/ CMS Motorsport Leon Cupra R the day before first practice, he was pleased with what they had achieved.  The car certainly looked great – thanks to the dedicated graphics team who worked through the night!

Leason said: “For us the weekend was a big test session and we were quite happy with what we did because each time we went out on the circuit we were a little faster than before.  The turbocharged Leon Cupra R requires a different driving technique to what I’m used to, but it’s a challenge I’m really up for and I’m confident the team and I will get it right.”

See series calendar for SEAT Cupra Championship 2005

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