Harrington and Ellis Crowned Caterham Roadsport Champions at Brands

24 October 2005

Guy Harrington and Jeremy Ellis are the Motorsport News Caterham Roadsport Challenge Champions for 2005, respectively clinching the Inter and B class titles at Brands Hatch yesterday (Saturday).

For 18-year-old student Harrington it's his second successive Caterham racing crown - last year the Derbyshire lad was the evo Caterham Academy Champion. Five race wins, including victory in Friday's penultimate round, brought him the Roadsport Inter title by an 11-point margin, with Tony Poole the championship runner-up.

Bromley-based Ellis, 37, missed out on an Academy crown in 2004 because he was forced to skip two rounds for family reasons. This year he was engaged in a season-long battle with Patrick Gormley for the Roadsport B title, taking seven race wins to Gormley's five to win the championship by nine points.

A delighted Harrington - who is to test a Hyperion Motorsport Caterham R400 in the near future - said of his second championship win: "It's fantastic… a brilliant end to a great couple of seasons. It's been great fun, I've thoroughly enjoyed it, made some great friends and made useful contacts for the future."

Harrington's Friday Inter class victory was decisive, Guy leading all the way from pole position to chequered flag despite intense early pressure from Mike Richards and Poole. By the 10th lap Harrington began to stretch his legs and break away from his pursuers and by flag fall, after 33 laps, the teenager was nearly 13 seconds clear.

Poole and Richards aided Harrington's getaway by scrapping for second for the duration, Poole getting the better of the battle. Mike Blackadder smashed the circuit lap record and earned a Minister Driver of the Day award on his way to fourth, ahead of Bill Addison and Neil Fletcher.

Poole drove a storming race to clinch victory and the Minister prize in Saturday's final round, the Newmarket racer - who next season plans to step up to a Caterham C400 - was half a second ahead of Addison at the finish, with Richards third, Roger Norris fourth and Harrington a conservative fifth to secure the championship.

It all went horribly wrong for B class champion elect Ellis in Friday's penultimate championship round, Jeremy spinning out of the lead and into the Paddock Hill Bend gravel trap on the ninth of the 22 laps after tangling with the car of his closest pursuer, Henry Fletcher.

That left the way clear for Gormley and Adrian Argyros to battle it out, Gormley effectively handing victory to the Cheshire driver when he ran wide out of the Druids hairpin on the 14th lap.

Londoner Gormley was nine-hundredths behind at the line, with Argyros not only taking a maiden Roadsport B win but also becoming the first driver this year other than Fletcher, Ellis or Gormley to get a whiff of the victory champagne. Kevin Dodd took third, and the Minister prize, ahead of Chris Fryar, Darren Faraway and Jamie Mackrill.

There were no mistakes from Ellis on Saturday, Jeremy claiming a safe third place, just over nine seconds behind victor Gormley. Argyros continued his strong late-season run of form to take second, and with it the Minister award and fifth in the championship.

The Motorsport News Caterham Roadsport Challenge enjoys additional backing from Arch Motors, Bilstein, Comma, Cooper-Avon Tyres, Mitchell Cotts, PTP and Stack.

See series calendars for all 2005 Caterham Championships

Related Story 17.10.2005 - Brands Finale for Caterham Roadsport Challenge