It’s no secret that Time Attack has become a firm favourite of both us here at Garage Awesome, and those viewing the blog, with lots of hits on our last report from Cadwell Park from people wanting to check out the action, so it’s no surprise that we were there again to cover the season finale; Round 5 at Snetterton.
The 300 mile round trip to the Norfolk circuit was certainly worth it too, with a full day of action out on the track as well as a supporting show, of which we will bring you the action later this week, but for now we focus our efforts on the action from the top of the pile; the Pro and Club Pro class of the Time Attack Series.
For the Time Attack competitors, Snetterton is the last stop on the calendar after having 4 rounds previous at Oulton, Brands Hatch, Knockhill and Cadwell Park, and is the place where scores can be settled and titles won or lost. Compared to the tight, twisty sections that Cadwell Park has to offer, Snetterton is geared more in favour to the bigger power 4WD machines as it features a couple of nice flowing chicanes and a pair of fast straights, something the less powerful cars would find a major disadvantage.
As with most finals, they never fail to disappoint and the Pro Class final was no exception to this rule. With the Audi powered Lotus Exige of Steve Guglielmi and CarPlanet Racing’s Mitsubishi Evo, piloted by Gareth Lloyd, both taking 2 wins a piece so far, it all came down to the final round to determine who was king of Time Attack!
The warm up session saw Lloyd post the quickest time ahead of team mate James Nicholls in the distinctive luminous yellow Evo, with Guglielmi in 3rd. However, the practice session saw these 3 swap around with Guglielmi on top ahead of the two CPR drivers.
Qualification followed and saw Lloyd dip below 1 minute 10 for the first time of the day, Guglielmi finished second and a blinding performance from Gavin Renshaw saw him put his Lateral Performance Subaru Impreza up into third.
The final, however, was edge of the seat stuff, with Lloyd literally following Guglielmi on track, eventually both drivers gunned it and amazingly the Lotus smashed Gareth Lloyd’s qualifying time by 0.7 of a second and looked set to take the win and the title… but hang on, what’s this? Literally 5 seconds behind Steve, came the thundering black and orange Evolution and set a Time Attack record with a 1:08.29 lap, just under a second faster than the Lotus and was more than enough for Gareth to take not only the round victory but claim the overall title too!
Third place on the day went to Gavin Renshaw but it wasn’t quite enough to stop James Nicholls from claiming the final podium spot in the season’s overall standings
The Club Pro Class was just as closely fought, with 2 sections to sort out; the 4WD and the RWD! In the 4WD class early sessions were dominated by Russ Paton’s Evo and the Skyline of Marcus Webster, but as the strain on their cars showed, it was the consistent performance from the Impreza of Paul Doyle that managed to shine through and take the win, followed by another Impreza, this time the Scooby Clinic backed Impreza of Kevin Horsley.
Third place was taken by the Pink Evo of Simon Deaton, and although Webster managed to go out in the final, it appears the damage to his skyline was rather serious and failed to put in a flying lap! Early pace setter Russ Paton had already called it a day midway through qualifying. The overall Club Pro 4WD Champion was crowned; Kev Horsley with Doyle taking runner up honours and it was Simon Deaton’s second, third place trophy of the day.
The RWD class was a straight fight between 3 cars; the two Garage Whifbitz Supras of team owner Paul Whiffen and driver Steve Linton and the white Lotus Exige of Jamie Wilson. On the day it was the Toyota of Linton that claimed the win with Whiffen 3rd, sandwiching Jamie Wilson’s Lotus between the Toyotas. The overall standings saw Wilson escape the clutches of the Whifbitz boys and claim the title with Linton beating the team boss to claim second.
Pic Credits – Rich Cooper
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