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Donington F2 Support Race

Donington Park National Circuit, Derby, Great-Britain

Date: 25/6/1978
Track length: 3.149 m
Attendance:
Entries accepted:
Starters:
Finishers:

Pole position: Lloyd (race 1); Craft (race 2)
Fastest lap: Tassin* in 1.29,02 (race 1); Allam in 1.24,12 (race 2)

Distance: 20 laps
Average speed: 125,53 kmh (race 1); 133,22 kmh (race 2)
Weather:
Ruleset: Group 1B
Car info: 1978 Cars

 

Race 1
Sunday's racing opened with a rather long race for the smaller classes of the RAC British Saloon car championship, and young Brussels driver Thierry Tassin made the best start from the outside of the front row with his silver VW Golf to lead Win Percy's Toyota Celica and the pole winning Golf of Richard Lloyd into Redgate. The Belgian managed to hold on to the lead until the sixth lap, when Lloyd eased through going into Park, and on the very next lap, Percy demoted Tassin even further. Behind these three Richard Longman was fighting a tense duel with the Celica of Martin Brundle, the Mini usually pulling alongside on the straights only to lose out on the corners.
By half distance Lloyd was well in control of things up at the front and he finally ran out the winner from a recovered Tassin who broke the lap record, and Percy, even though the second and third place men closed quite drastically towards the close, with Tassin setting a new class record on the way. Longman's evergreen Mini held off the advances of Brundle to take the small class once again.

Race 2
As the lights flicked to green at approximately twenty past four, Dron made a superb start from the second row and it looked at one stage as though he was going to be first into Redgate but Craft edged his way to the front and he held this lead at the end of the opening tour from Dron, Spice, a well-tweaked up Walkinshaw, Marshall, Woodman, Allam and the rest. Spice tore through into second spot on the next lap and almost immediately the two immaculate Capris started to pull away from the rest to start a race long duel. Marshall barged past Walkinshaw at almost the same time and further back Allam was getting ready to challenge Woodman. The race lost Marshall on the next lap after the gear stick came away in Gerry's hand and this allowed Walkinshaw to haul himself back up to Dron's Dolomite.
The large BMW squeezed past the more nimble Dolly going into Redgate for the fifth time and it wasn't long before Dron started a gradual fall down the field to an eventual sixth place.
At fifteen laps it looked as though Spice was ready to mount a serious challenge, but this never materialised until the final two laps, and in the end Gordon had to play second fiddle to Craft, who was understandably elated with his first victory for some time. The other main feature of the race had been a stirring battle for third spot between Walkinshaw and young Jeff Allam, who was driving really well and being baulked by the BMW almost everywhere. In the end he got by and actually closed the gap to the two leaders before the checkered flag came out, setting the fastest lap into the bargain. Walkinshaw, after a really gutsy drive finally pulled off into retirement and Vince Woodman was therefore next home from Brian Muir's Browne and Day Capri, which had passed the ailing Dolomite of Dron towards the end.

Touring Cars class A-B
Pos Pos in class # Team / Entrant
Car- Engine		 Drivers, Nationality Engine
vol. (cc)		 Engine
Type		 Group Distance,
time		 Qualifying position Qualifying time Fastest lap Reason out,
remarks
1 1 44 Richard Lloyd Racing Ltd.
VW Golf GTI		 Richard Lloyd, GB
 1588 L4 B 20 laps, 30.06,66 1   *  
2 - 56  
VW Golf GTI		 Thierry Tassin, B
 1588 L4 B 20     1.29,02  
3 2 50 Way Valley Racing / Bradshaw Plant Hire
Toyota Celica GT		 Win Percy, GB
 1588 L4 B 20        
4 1 60 Patrick Motorsport
Mini 1275 GT		 Richard Longman, GB
 1275 L4 A 20     1.30,42  
5 3 42 John Brundle Motors Ltd.
Toyota Celica GT		 Martin Brundle, GB
 1588 L4 B 20        
6 4 47  
VW Golf GTI		 Martin Grant-Peterkin, GB
 1588 L4 B 20        
7 2 65 Napolina Alfa Romeo Dealer Team
Alfa Romeo Alfasud Ti		 Rex Greenslade, GB
 1286 B4 A 20        
  3 71 Patrick Motorsport
Mini 1275 GT		 Tom Pitcher, GB
 1275 L4 A          
  4 66  
Mini 1275 GT		 James Burrows, GB
 1275 L4 A          

Touring Cars class C-D
Pos Pos in class # Team / Entrant
Car- Engine		 Drivers, Nationality Engine
vol. (cc)		 Engine
Type		 Group Distance,
time		 Qualifying position Qualifying time Fastest lap Reason out,
remarks
1 1 8 Gordon Spice Group
Ford Capri III 3.0S		 Chris Craft, GB
 2993 V6 D 20 laps, 28.32,22 1      
2 2 9 Gordon Spice Group
Ford Capri III 3.0S		 Gordon Spice, GB
 2993 V6 D 20 2      
3 3 15 Allam Motor Services Ltd. Racing with Nu-Luxe Foam
Ford Capri III 3.0S		 Jeff Allam, GB
 2993 V6 D 20 9   1.24,12  
4 4 7 Equipe Esso
Ford Capri III 3.0S		 Vince Woodman, GB
 2993 V6 D 20 4      
5 5 22 Browne & Day Ltd.
Ford Capri III 3.0S		 Brian Muir, AUS
 2993 V6 D 20        
6 1 21 Leyland Cars
Triumph Dolomite Sprint		 Tony Dron, GB
 1998 L4 C 20 laps, 28.43,53 5   1.25,54  
7 6 2 BMW (GB) Racing with Pentax
BMW 530i		 Barrie Williams, GB
 2985 L6 D 20 8      
8 7 12 Carrier Properties Ltd.
Ford Capri II 3.0S		 Lawrie Hickman, GB
 2993 V6 D 20        
  2 28 Dick Lovett Specialist Cars
Triumph Dolomite Sprint		 Pete Lovett, GB
 1998 L4 C 20        
  3 26 Stratstone Ltd.
Triumph Dolomite Sprint		 Tim Goss, GB
 1998 L4 C 20        
  4 27 Napolina Alfa Romeo Dealer Team
Alfa Romeo Alfetta GTV		 Jon Dooley, GB
 1962 L4 C 20        
DNF   14 Triplex Safety Glass
Ford Capri II 3.0S		 Gerry Marshall, GB
 2993 V6 D   3     Gear lever
DNF   10 FabergĂ© Racing
Ford Capri III 3.0S		 Stuart Graham, GB
 2993 V6 D   6     Blown engine
DNF   4 BMW (GB) Racing with Toleman
BMW 530i		 Tom Walkinshaw, GB
 2985 L6 D   7      
DNS   20 Hermetite Products
Triumph Dolomite Sprint		 Brian Redman, GB
 1998 L4 C         Withdrawn, not enough practice laps

Remarks: Tassin was credited with fastest lap; his car was not fully up to British specifications but was allowed to race without possibility to score points. Therefore, the point for fastest lap went to Lloyd.