Donington Caterham Victories for De Zille Butler and Harrington

18 June 2006

Ben de Zille Butler claimed the overall lead of the Autosport Caterham Eurocup this weekend (17/18 June) at Donington Park, winning Saturday's race in style to notch up his maiden victory at the wheel of the new Cosworth-powered Superlight.

de Zille Butler was beaten back to third in today's encounter, with 19-year-old Derbyshire driver Guy Harrington emerging on top to take his first Superlight win. Ted Murray was the runner-up on both occasions to move into second in the series standings, just three points adrift.

de Zille Butler's progress on Saturday to his first race victory of the season was as serene as it was impressive, the 29-year-old from Suffolk taking an early lead from the front row of the grid after overhauling pole man Harrington and then beating off a challenge from Mike Cantillon to establish a one-second lead.

Cantillon soon found his mirrors full of the sister Team Parker Racing Superlight of Murray; Ben spotted the opportunity to make good his escape while Mike was busy and lowered the lap record twice as he flew to a 9.2-second victory.

"The car was great," said de Zille Butler. "We had a good set-up from our visit here last month with the UK championship and everything came together. It was a bit lonely out there at the front towards the end…"

Mancunian Murray nailed Cantillon on the 10th of the 20 laps and held on in second for the duration to score his best-ever Eurocup result. Cantillon nearly fell into Harrington's clutches towards the end when he missed a gear exiting the chicane, but Guy was having problems of his own with a severe rear wheel imbalance which manifested itself on the opening lap.

Cantillon thus held on to third, with Hyperion's Simon Crompton making a late-race charge not only to seize fourth from Harrington but also to smash de Zille Butler's recently set lap record. Nineteen-year-old Charles Bateman made it four cars in the top six for Team Parker.

Rachel Green got the better of a race-long tussle with Andrew Beaumont to take seventh, with Peter Ratcliff ninth ahead of Nick Payne, Bill Addison, Daniel Mitchell and a subdued round one victor David Knox, whose car was suffering from a broken wishbone mounting. Reigning champion Jamie Constable finished 21st and last after a lengthy visit to a gravel trap.

The victor in the four-way battle for honours in the Roadsport division was once again Roger Norris, whose Hyperion-prepared car led throughout. Andrew Blight took second ahead of Robin Russell. Series newcomer Dominic Wallington failed to finish.

Devonian Stuart Dixon won the Invitation Class in his R400, Kevin Williams unable to take the fight to him due to a gearbox problem. Eurocup debutant Peter Frith took third.

The pace was even hotter in Sunday's encounter with a five-way victory battle for much of the race and just eight-tenths of a second separating the top three at flag fall. Murray, de Zille Butler, Cantillon, Harrington and Ratcliff were all in contention for the win in the early stages of what was the most competitive Eurocup battle of the season to date.

First to fall from the leading pack was Ratcliff, who was then overhauled for fifth by an on-form Rachel Green and then demoted to seventh by Crompton. Five laps from the end Crompton and Ratcliff tangled, Simon's car riding up over Peter's rear wheel, and both were eliminated.

Cantillon was the next to lose ground, missing a gear and losing the tow from the de Zille Butler/Harrington/Murray train. Mike had to settle for fourth as Ben, Ted and Guy staged the final dash for the flag, with Harrington just managing to pull a few yards ahead while threading through the backmarkers on the penultimate lap.

With a level-headedness rarely seen in a 19-year-old, Harrington withstood the pressure and did not put a wheel wrong over the course of the final two miles, crossing the line six-tenths ahead of Murray and with de Zille Butler right behind them both. "That was the best race I have ever had," said Guy. "I won here at my home track twice last year but they were not nearly such satisfying wins. It was so close all the way, and so clean."

Green once again found herself sparring with Beaumont, keeping ahead of him to take fifth. Bateman, who spun when he got caught up in the Crompton/Ratcliff accident, recovered to seventh, with Addison taking eighth ahead of Mitchell and Terry Clark. Constable's race was arrested once again by the Old Hall gravel trap, and this time he was unable to regain the track, joining Nick Payne (gearbox) and Knox (more suspension trouble) in retirement.

Williams found his gearbox behaving better in race two but was still unable to prevent another Invitation Class victory for Dixon. Norris claimed his fourth successive Roadsport class victory with Russell this time second.

See series calendars for all 2006 Caterham Championships

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