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Championship regulars Nick Hull, Andy Porter and Garry Lawrence joined for his first outing of the year by Leigh Bowden in his ex-Production spec car, which is being progressively modified to full Supersport spec. In the 924s Hugh Peart and John Jones were supplemented by returnee Pete Smith having his first outing for 2 years in his newly wrapped black 924. Despite the low numbers there was some excellent racing and the cars - the Boxsters in particular - made for a spectacular show around the twists and turns of this picturesque track.

Class A Boxsters in the assembly area. Photo copyright © Copyright John Broadley 2019

Qualifying

As with opening round this year at Brands Hatch in March, qualifying was combined with the Alfa Romeo championship and both series set out on track together. The session was incident free except for a slight misunderstanding between an Alfa and High Peart's 924 led to brief side to side contact, and Garry Lawrence reported gear selection issues which were investigated and sorted before the race. It was a first ever pole for Andy Porter by under half a second from Leigh Bowden who looked really at home on his local track. Pete Smith quickly into the groove and set pole 924 lap on only his 3rd lap of the day, while John Jones showed increasing confidence in his first ever visit to Cadwell.

Race 1

Drying track after heavy downpour and by the time the cars made their way to the assembly area, Lawrences's gearbox had been repaired. On lap 1 Porter led from Bowden, with Nick Hull 3rd ahead of Lawrence. Peart made a great start and led Smith who's newly applied bonnet advertising decal was flapping in the breeze throughout.

Lap 2 and Hull closing on Bowden and Smith was now closer to Peart. On lap 3 with broken wipers and extreme difficulty in seeing, Nick Hull had an off and resumed in 4th, and on the next lap Bowden also spun, but managed to get going still ahead of Hull, who later backed off to complete the race. By lap 5 Smith had found a way past Peart, but Peart was keeping close.

Mid race and Lawrence was closing on Porter for the lead, gaining a 3 seconds on one lap as he came to grips with the drying track, until he finally passed him on lap 9 pulling ahead to win by 8 seconds after the hard charging Porter, who spun on the final corner trying to get back on terms. Smith finished 2 seconds ahead of the chasing Peart with Jones some way back

Class D 924s in the assembly area. Photo copyright © Copyright John Broadley 2019

Race 2

After numerous incidents in earlier races caused delays, the second Porsche race was shortened to 15 minutes, but took place under very welcome dry and sunny conditions.

There was a good start from Garry Lawrence in P1 and Hull into P2. Bowden emerged from Turn 1 minus his front splitter after taking to the grass as he contested the corner with Porter.

In 924s, Smith led away from the start, but Peart found himself back in 3rd behind John Jones. By lap 2 Peart was past Jones and chasing Smith, but the gap was too great and they finished 9 seconds apart, trading fastest laps throughout, with Peart taking the point for fastest lap on the last lap.

In the Boxsters, Porter was closing on Hull, but was soon clear in P2 as Hull came round trailing Bowden at the rear of the Boxster field - and that's how they finished with Porter a second behind Lawrence, but with the consolation of fastest lap and Bowden going well again in 3rd ahead of Hull, who suffered brake failure.

First time on the top step of the Class A Boxsters' podium for Andy Porter. Photo copyright © Copyright John Broadley 2019

Race 3

The BRSCC team had worked diligently to gain back track time lost earlier, and were able to let the Porsches have the full 20 minutes for the final race. With the traditional reverse grid and at the start Hull lead away from the lights from Porter, Lawrence and Bowden.

Smith took the lead in the 924s chased by Peart and they stayed this way to the end, both drivers pushing hard and setting a lively pace. On one lap Peart pushed a bit too hard, taking to the grass and losing a chunk of time to the rapid Smith. Further back John Jones was getting to grips with the circuit, and carved 4 seconds off his previous best lap time.

By lap 2 Andy Porter had taken the lead from Hull, and by lap 3 Garry got past Hull too with a brave move round the outside of turn 1 and chased after Porter, setting fastest lap in the process. By the last lap Lawrence was very close to Porter, but he managed to just hold Lawrence off to take his maiden win by a tenth of a second. Meanwhile Bowden was harrying Hull for third, with Hull managing to keep Bowden behind until the last lap when Hull's car ran out of fuel and he parked it to become the only non-finisher of the weekend.

Words and photos: John Broadley

Current championship standings after three rounds - our dropped score rule has now come into effect so these are the adjusted points totals.
Full results are listed on the PDA website HERE

Class A Supersport Boxsters

1    Garry Lawrence    84.5

2    Rick Styrin     79.0

3    Nick Hull    75.5

4    Andrew Porter    74.5

Class D Classic 924s

1    Hugh Peart    67.5

2    John Jones    54.5

3    Chris Valentine    43.0

4    Andrew Pritchard    43.0

The Toyo Tyres BRSCC Porsches are back on track at Croft Circuit on 6th / 7th July.