Rachel Races to Caterham Victory at Oulton Park

24 July 2005

Caterham racing history was made yesterday (Sat) at Oulton Park when Rachel Green became the first female race winner at the wheel of an R400. Rachel, 34, snatched victory at the final corner of the fifth round of the Autosport Caterham Eurocup after a brilliant comeback drive from a spin.

The Hertfordshire driver then underlined her dominance over her male rivals by leading every inch of round six from pole position to chequered flag to secure another ground-breaking win.

And not only was Rachel on top form: the championship's other female competitor, 22-year-old Sarah Reader, showed devastating pace also. She took pole position in qualifying and third in the first of the day's races; it's believed to be the first time that women have occupied two of the three podium steps in a race open to both sexes.

Gama Aviation-backed Green was ecstatic: "I led my first R400 race last weekend at Snetterton so I came here determined to get a win; it couldn't have worked out better and I'm just delighted."

Both races were incredibly closely matched and exciting affairs, and there was little to separate the top drivers in qualifying either. Loxley-based Reader, driving her Mercury Climatics-backed, TFL Racing-prepared R400, became the championship's second female pole-sitter (Green was the first, at Dijon last year) with a time 0.019s better than that of Ben Dezille Butler (Bury St Edmunds).

Fauldsport driver Green lined up fourth behind Londoner Jamie Constable, with championship leader Oliver Bull (Portishead) sixth behind Mike Cantillon (London). Half a second covered the top six, with the top 11 spanned by just 1.6 seconds.

Reader made a perfect getaway from the grid but her tenure of the lead lasted not much further than the first corner, Old Hall, where Dezille Butler shot past to take top spot. Ben proceeded to open out a one-second advantage over his pursuers as Constable and Green, having both passed Reader, disputed second.

Dezille Butler got the break he wanted on the fifth lap, when Rachel and Jamie tangled. Constable's car suffered a broken radiator in the incident and was forced into retirement, but Green was able to continue although the resulting spin left her back in eighth.

Dezille Butler had been handed a seemingly unassailable four-second advantage, but he wasn't to know that he had two very determined women behind him. Rachel came storming through the pack, overtaking four cars to climb to fourth within two laps of her spin. Her next target was Cantillon, whom she dislodged from third on the following tour, leaving Reader between her and the lead.

Said Sarah: "I looked in my mirrors and there was Rachel, so I decided the best thing to do would be to let her through and try to stay on her tail."
So, with five laps remaining, Green was back to second position but with a 2.7-second gap to narrow. Her task looked impossible, but whittle it away she did - by the end of the penultimate tour Dezille Butler was just 0.6 seconds ahead.

It all came down to the last two corners, Rachel getting a tight exit from Druids to ensure she had the inside line for Lodge. "She managed to get her nose alongside me into Lodge and I had to relinquish the lead," said Ben. "I had a big lead at one point and it was disappointing to lose it, but it's hard work out there on your own."

Green beat Dezille Butler by less than a hundredth of a second, with Reader claiming her first-ever podium finish a further three seconds adrift. Cantillon took fourth ahead of his Team Parker running mate Ted Murray (Manchester), with Bull not too downhearted with sixth: "I had the wrong tactics and left it too late," said Oliver.

Championship debutant Ian Thompson claimed an excellent seventh, ahead of Malcolm Johnstone, Daniel Mitchell, Ralf Schmid, Philip Derby, Terry Clark and Campbell McClory. Londoner Steve Hindle won the Roadsport class, with Philippe Evrard and Kurt Hoffmann the German championship class victors.

Having taken her first victory in such dramatic style Rachel claimed her second in a manner which suggested she was born to win, leading every inch of the race despite intense pressure throughout from Bull, who made a blinding start from sixth on the grid to take second on the opening lap in his TFL Racing machine.

"Ollie was with me the whole time and didn't give me any rest, but that's what I needed to keep up my concentration," said Rachel. Bull was 0.35s behind at the line: "I just wanted to get away from the others at the start. I'm more than happy with second, it's good for the championship." Bull saw his lead extended to 11 points with the series at the half-way stage.

A brilliant drive by Constable saw him climb from the back of the grid to eighth on the opening lap, and then to third place by lap four. By this time Green and Bull were nearly five seconds up the road, but Jamie set about reeling them in and halved the gap by the end of the race. "I could have done with a few more laps," said TPR driver Constable.

Murray took fourth ahead of Dezille Butler and Reader, with Cantillon seventh from Thompson, Johnstone and Derby. Mitchell was 11th ahead of Williams, Schmid, Clark and McClory. Hindle once again won the Roadsport class, with Evrard and this time Wolfgang Becker the German class winners.

The Autosport Caterham Eurocup is back in action in a fortnight's time (5/6 August) at the legendary Spa-Francorchamps circuit in Belgium.

See series calendars for all 2005 Caterham Championships

Related Story 17.07.2005 - Oulton Park the Venue for Caterham's Euro Challengers