Round Six Race Report

The sixth and penultimate round of the 2022 Trackday Championship took place on September 17^th at Donington Park. With three different class championships up for grabs, anticipation for Saturday’s race couldn’t have been higher.

Sunshine greeted competitors for Saturday morning’s early qualifying session. Thirty-five cars took to the track in what promised to be an intriguing battle for the front of the grid. The benchmark was set early, with Unique Racing’s #89 Adrian Pottinger posting a blistering time of 1:49.658. Ultimately, that lap couldn’t be bested and it was a tremendous class B pole position for Unique Racing’s Renault Clio. Team Norfolk’s Kevin Stirling mustered second in class B, just 0.026secs ahead of championship leader John Lyne (Tylah Motorsport #71). A fantastic lap from Abbitt Motorsport’s Dan Abbitt secured the Integra driver class C pole, ahead of Unique Racing #98 and Frogjam Motorsport. The current championship leaders of class D, Fiesta_ClubRacer, got off to the best possible start, taking class pole to help in their quest to secure the class championship. Ronan Quinn Racing set an impressive lap to qualify second in class, ahead of Alister Esam and Greenstar Racing.

Tylah Motorsport #71 executed a fabulous launch from the grid to take the lead of class B at the start of the race, getting the jump on their championship rivals in the process. Abbitt Motorsport also enjoyed a strong start at the head of class C, while Fiesta_ClubRacer began amassing a lead at the front of the class D pack. A plethora of overtakes throughout the pack gripped the spectators present, but out in front of each class Tylah Motorsport, Abbitt Motorsport and Fiesta_ClubRacer remained strong.

Despite Tylah Motorsport’s good start, the chasing pack were certainly not deterred and by lap 13 Team Norfolk had seized the lead of class B from John Lyne. Apple Car Centre’s Jordan Honeybone had demonstrated fantastic race pace and used this to his advantage to follow Team Norfolk past Tylah Motorsport #71. Apple Car Centre have been involved with some fantastic battles for the lead in the previous two rounds and Honeybone found himself in yet another at Donington Park, this time with rival Clio Team Norfolk. Hard driving enabled Apple Car Centre to take the lead of the race, but sheer determination and craftmanship meant that Team Norfolk were able to retake the lead five laps from the finish. Apple Car Centre gave it their all, but ultimately Team Norfolk held on to take their first win of the 2022 season – by just 0.540secs! Enormous credit goes to both drivers for a fabulous fight for victory. Despite mechanical bugs, Tylah Motorsport #71 put in an assured performance to take the final step of the class B podium and extend their championship lead out front.

Vintage drives from both Abbitt Motorsport and Fiesta_ClubRacer ended with victory for both, in class C and D respectively. Unique Racing #98 continued their fine form by finishing as class C runners up, with PRO-AM Racing collecting a valuable number of championship points by finishing third in class. Ronan Quinn followed up on his podium at Brands Hatch by finishing second in class D, ahead of Coupes and Convertibles – BDS Motorsport’s Jamie Jeffrey. A huge congratulations to all of our class podium finishers.

We cannot wait for Brands Hatch’s championship finale in November!