ROL SPORTSCAR CHALLENGE
Brands Hatch, 15 June 2003
Richard Chamberlain comfortably won the third round of the ROL Sportscar Challenge in his fearsome Porsche 935R. Fellow Porsche stalwart Rupert Lewin sat alongside on the front row, but could do nothing to reverse the order of the Porsche Open race earlier in the day. John Griffiths (Porsche 935R) came home a fine third having suffered driveshaft failure in qualifying.
Action throughout the field provided great entertainment for the duration of the 20 minutes. Newcomer, Michael Morgan was forced to pit his Jaguar XJS on the opening lap with a repeat of the intermittent engine cut out he experienced in qualifying. Electrics were thought to be the culprit, but attention has now been turned to the fuel system. Also out early on was Andy Shepherd (AC 428 Frua GTR). Approaching Druids on lap 3, the throttle stuck open on the downshift causing the carbon black monster to plough straight on into the gravel. Fortunately, the car stopped shy of the tyres preventing a repeat of the damage suffered in an incident at exactly the same spot twelve months previously.
Ty Watkins (Porsche 930) and Marc Charlton (Lotus Sport Elise) engaged in a tremendous dice for fourth. The nimble Lotus harried the Porsche around Surtees and the entrance to Clearways, edging by several times, only to see the Porsche power by down Brabham Straight. At 10 minutes Watkins spun dropping back behind Graham Hellier (Porsche 993) into the clutches of Alan Cosby (Ferrari F512M) settling the outcome. Charlton also had a big moment at Surtees causing the leader to take to the grass in avoidance, but he recovered to keep his class win.
Hellier had been embroiled in a close dice with Cosby, forcing by around Clearways as Cosby spun. The pace of the duelling Watkins and Cosby soon brought them up to and past Hellier and they would remain in that order until Watkins spun at Bottom Bend in the closing moments allowing Hellier to regain sixth once more.
Henry Firman and Stephen Archer, both in Porsche 993’s, circulated nose to tail for the entire race. Archer just had the upper hand until the penultimate lap when the constant pressure finally pushed him into a mistake. A spin at Bottom Bend cost him the place and promoting Firman to a hard earned second in class.
Two further debutants rounded out the finishers. John Andon was a very welcome sight in his beautiful, well known, AC Cobra. Ian Oliver came home eleventh in his Porsche 911E. Unfortunately, David Lees (Porsche 964RS) and Paul Hogan (Porsche 996) non-started due to misfortune earlier in the day. Lees suffered a broken clutch whilst Hogan crashed. We wish both well and hope to see them out again soon.View Qualifying and Race Results in Acrobat
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