Croft Circuit saw no shortage of entertainment this past weekend (July 27/28) as the Classic Touring Car Racing Club, Vertu MINI CHALLENGE JCW, Porsche Carrera Cup Great Britain and Porsche Sprint Challenge Great Britain took centre stage on the TOCA support package.
Featuring alongside the Kwik Fit British Touring Car Championship for what is one of the biggest events on the calendar at the North Yorkshire venue, each championship served up a feast of edge-of-the-seat entertainment.
One of the stars of the show was undoubtedly the Classic Touring Car Racing Club and its Pre-’66 Touring Car Championship, which was making its first-ever appearance on the support bill of the BTCC.
As part of the CTCRC’s 50th Anniversary celebrations, the Pre-’66 contingent rolled back the years to a bygone era of tin top racing as they staged three non-championship races around the challenging 2.13-mile circuit.
Former BTCC race winner – and Yorkshireman – Sam Tordoff proved to be the driver to beat over the course of the weekend as he guided his monstrous Ford Falcon to a hat-trick of commanding victories.
David Dickerson and Guy Smith emerged as the closest challengers to Tordoff but both had to settle for the remaining spots on the podium. Also picking up some silverware was former Formula 1 driver Max Chilton, who was competing in a Ford Cortina prepared by Team Dynamics.
Spoils were shared in the latest rounds of the Vertu MINI CHALLENGE JCW as EXCELR8 Motorsport team-mates Maximus Hall and Tom Ovenden claimed a win apiece, while Dan Zelos maintained his advantage in the championship.
Hall’s triumph came somewhat unexpectedly as a gaggle of cars ahead of him – including Ovenden, Dominic Wheatley and Nelson King – encountered their own troubles in the latter stages, which led to Hall picking up the pieces for his fourth win of the year.
Ovenden would bounce back from the heartache of losing an almost certain win in race two as he got the better of pole sitter Jamie Osborne and then cruise to victory, reigning supreme ahead of the NAPA Racing UK duo of Osborne and Lewis Selby.
Local driver Max Coates had a weekend to remember as he won two of the three races in the Porsche Sprint Challenge Great Britain. Always a popular draw at his home circuit, Coates was near-perfect in the one-make series as he ignited his championship challenge in style.
The Team Omologato with Graves Motorsport driver dominated proceedings in the opening encounter, winning by more than eight seconds, before Sebastian Hopkins came to the fore in race two as he tallied his latest win of the season – with Will Jenkins and Coates not far behind.
Hopkins had looked on course to double up in the weekend’s third and final race however he was hit with a five-second time penalty for exceeding track limits late on, which therefore promoted Coates onto the top step of the podium.
In the Porsche Carrera Cup Great Britain, Hugo Ellis and Matthew Rees bolstered there individual seasons by snaring a win apiece. Ellis was in a league of his own in the opening encounter to triumph before Rees came to the fore in a captivating finale. Will Martin continues to lead the standings as the series heads north of the border to Knockhill.
To view the full classification of results from all TOCA support championships that competed at Croft, CLICK HERE.