The British Automobile Racing Club lifted the curtain on its 2023 season in spectacular style this past weekend (March 25/26) as a bumper entry served up a feast of entertainment around Silverstone’s world-famous Grand Prix circuit.
Following months of preparation, anticipation and excitement; all eyes were on the Home of British Motor Racing as some of the Club’s biggest categories took centre stage to set the tone for the year ahead with two days of enthralling wheel-to-wheel action.
Embarking on its sophomore season, the British Endurance Championship garnered plenty of interest as it showcased a monstrous array of GT machines in a captivating three-hour encounter on Saturday afternoon.
With a revised class structure which featured some regular faces, old favourites in new cars and a host of exciting newcomers, battles raged throughout the field however up at the front there was nobody that could stop the Blackthorn-entered Mercedes GT3.
After missing out on pole position by a tenth of a second in qualifying, Claude Bovet and David McDonald proved to be too much for the opposition as they comfortably romped to victory – finishing more than a minute ahead of the Audi GT3 pairing of Peter Erceg and Marcus Clutton who finished in second place.
The Britcar Trophy Championship burst into life on Sunday with two frenetic 50-minute contests and a near 30-car field.
Race one proved to be a somewhat dominant affair as Datum Motorsport’s Axel Van Nederveen guided his Ginetta G56 GTA to a commanding victory ahead of William Stacey and Maurizio Sciglio however things seemed to be somewhat closer in the day’s second bout later in the day as Van Nederveen claimed a clean sweep.
High in confidence after his earlier win, the Dutchman could do nothing to stop the Intersport Racing duo of Jas Sapra and Bryan Bransom from triumphing on-track in their BMW M3 E46 however a post-race exclusion ultimately promoted him from second to the top step of the podium.
Spoils were shared in the inaugural Britcar Prototype Cup – launched to bring together all types of prototype machinery to compete on one single grid – which consisted of two 25-minute races and a 50-minute finale.
Idola Motorsport’s Rodolfo Gonzalez wrote his name into the history books as the series’ first-ever winner before the University of Wolverhampton’s Shane Kelly struck back with a win of his own in race two.
Making it three different winners from three races was the TGM with Private Leads team of Ben Stone and Teddy Wilson who capped off a dream debut with an assured performance during the weekend’s closing bout.
Iconic tin top machines from the Classic Touring Car Racing Club had fans on the edge of their seats over the course of the weekend too as they delivered no less than eight blockbuster races.
The amalgamated Poutec Pre ’66 Touring Cars and Orange Aero Pre ’83 Touring Cars contests had a familiar feel to them with both podiums being occupied by the same three drivers; with Stephen Primett claiming a brace of victories ahead of Jonathan Corker and William Davidson. Further down the pack, Peter Hallford piloted his Ford Mustang to emerge as the top Pre ’66 runner.
Nobody could stop Stuart Waite in the combined Laser Tools Pre ’93 Touring Cars, Burty Haulage Pre ’03 Touring Cars and Laser Tools Super Tourer races as he charged to a pair of impressive victories in his BMW E36 M3.
Hot on his heels was Garry Prebble – the top Pre ’03 entrant – and James Everard who each claimed a second and third place finish respectively whilst Jason Hughes triumphed in the Super Tourers category in an ex-Jason Plato Vauxhall Vectra.
Rounding out the weekend’s track action at Silverstone were two races from the Edmundson Electrical Classic Thunder, Burton Power Blue Oval Saloon Series and Berkshire Jag Components Jaguar Challenge.
Boasting a grid of more than 40 flame-spitting machines, Jason West scored two more victories for the BMW E36 M3 as he led home Bryan Bransom and Sam Wilson all the way to the chequered flag.
To view the full classification of results from all sessions at Silverstone, CLICK HERE.
Watch all of the action that was streamed live across both days on the BARC’s official YouTube channel HERE.
