The British Automobile Racing Club put on a show around Snetterton’s 300 circuit this past weekend (April 13/14) as a number of championships continued, as well as started, their 2024 campaigns with two days of exceptional action-packed racing.
On was the first of several visits the Club will make to the Norfolk venue over the course of this year, four categories took centre stage to write the latest chapter of their stories for the crowd watching in attendance and at home via YouTube.
The British Endurance Championship in association with Motorsport UK saw PB Racing with JMH maintain their 100% winning record in 2024 as Peter Erceg and Marcus Clutton charged to a dominant lights-to-flag victory.
After reigning supreme at the series’ Donington Park curtain-raiser last month, the Audi GT3 duo were among the favourites to star at Snetterton and they didn’t disappoint as they quickly showcased that they were in a league of their own.
Clinching a commanding pole position during qualifying, the only challenge that Erceg ended up facing was the hustle and bustle of the opening lap, where he was briefly put under pressure by the Porsche’s of Team Tasman and Road & Competition Engineering through turns one and two.
Once clear, Erceg built up a steady advantage throughout his stint before handing the car over to Clutton, who was wheel-perfect to the finish. In the end the pair took the chequered flag five clear laps ahead of their nearest challengers.
Behind the eventual race winners, Team Tasman – which was made up of David Harrison and Nathan Luckey in a Porsche 991.2 Cup – secured a spot on the second step of the podium after holding off the race-long charge of Chris Murphy in his BMW E46 GTR, who finished third.
Caterham Motorsport began their 2024 season in style with four of their five championships producing a plethora of thrills and spills across an unmissable 11 races.
In the Mission Motorsport Caterham Seven 270R Championship, spoils were shared between Nick Bryant, Toby Ballard and Ben Timmons whilst Hugo Bush, Harry Cook and Lars Alexander Hoffman did the same in the Motul Caterham Seven 310R Championship.
More than 40 cars lined up to battle for supremacy in the Bilstein Caterham Roadsport Championship however there was one name that stood head and shoulders above the rest to win both races, Jonathan Emery.
There was virtually nothing to separate defending champion Lewis Thompson and William Smith in the Vertex Caterham Seven UK Championship. Thompson laid down his marker with victory in the opener however try as he might, he couldn’t overhaul Smith in the remaining two bouts.
Harry Hickton emerged as one of the leading lights from the Vertu MINI CHALLENGE Trophy as he produced a near-perfect display to claim the early bragging rights at the top of the championship standings.
Kicking off a brand-new campaign with three action-packed races, Hickton reigned supreme in the popular one-make series as he claimed victory in two of the three contests, while Sam Gornall secured the remaining honours that were up for grabs.
After shadowing Gornall to the chequered flag in race one, Westbourne Motorsport’s Hickton was a tour-de-force in race two as he went from ninth to first in just over a lap and once out front, he was uncatchable as he pulled clear to claim a long-awaited maiden win.
The Hampshire-based racer didn’t have to wait too long for a second win in the championship as he utilised another of his demon starts to jump into the lead at the start and then control proceedings while Alex Solley and Reece Lycett trailed him in second and third.
Concluding the weekend’s track action around Snetterton were two races from the Britcar Trophy Championship which, like the British Endurance Championship, was back competing following a pulsating season-opener a couple of weeks’ back.
Simon Mason and Chris Bialan picked up where they left off a few weeks ago by chalking up their second consecutive victory in their Cupra Gen 1. After qualifying inside the top three, the duo were in scintillating form as they carved their way to the front to ultimately triumph.
Maurizio Sciglio then led home a Datum Motorsport 1-2-3 in the weekend’s finale as he led home Axel van Nederveen and Marco Anstasti. Sciglio’s victory means that three driver entries have now stood on the top step of the podium across the opening four races.
To view the full classification of results from all sessions at Snetterton, CLICK HERE.
Watch all of the action back from both days via the BARC’s official YouTube channel HERE.