Donington Park Sunday 10th May 2015
The headline act were 4 races for Caterham's. Roadsport, Tracksport, Supersport & Superlight versions of the marque had a race each day of the weekend. Apart from the Roadsports which had 20 minutes the other categories had 30 minute races. Should have in the case of the Supersports which was Red-flagged early with about 8/9 minutes to go. As usual there was some very close racing with the Caterham's but all a little samey in my opinion.
Also on the bill were double-headers for the Jam-Sport Fiestas, Fiesta Juniors, Mk2 Production GTi and Mk5 Production GTi.
The various incarnations of the Fiesta provided some entertaining racing and it was good to see the Juniors feature a 12 car grid and behave themselves on track! A name to watch for in the future is that of Aaron Thompson who easily won both races.
The Production GTi championship has spawned separate races for the MK5 version of the VW Golf which saw only 8 cars compete with more promised for later in the year. The older Mk2's saw some lively racing and Jason Tingle will be pleased with Sundays's work...2 wins in the Mk5's and a 1st and 3rd in the Mk2's.
Last but not least we come to the National FF1600 Championship. Formula Ford is always a good category around Donington and it was fantastic to see both Pre '90 and Post '89 grids in a healthy state. Jamie Jardine's Reynard 84FF dominated the older car race but the story of the day came in the race for newer machinery. Chris Middlehurst was declared the winner of the 20 minute race but at no stage did he ever come close to leading the race! The ugly spectre of "Track Limits" reared its head again as 1st and 2nd on the road drivers Patrick Dussault and Stephen Daly were excluded from the results for exceeding the tack limits ELEVEN times. That meant every lap and I can only presume this must have been at the Fogarty Esses as there is nowhere around the rest of the circuit where putting wheels off in a single-seater racing car would be beneficial. There were 45 second penalties for Jonny McMullan & Oliver White for 5 infringements too so Chris Middlehurst (who had started from the back of the grid due to problems in Saturday's race) must have been completely bemused to receive the laurels despite finishing 5th on the road!
This was ridiculous and it's the inconsistency of the track limit rule that worries me. Changing the penalty from 4 wheels off to 2 wheels off a few years ago was always going to cause problems but common sense has to be applied. If a driver gains a place or dramatically catches the car in front by going "off track" then penalise them but one feels that this was a case of applying the rule to letter. I'll be intrigued to know if drivers were warned of any potential penalties before racing began.
At Silverstone in April for the World Endurance race, watching at Copse saw nearly all the prototypes go on to the run off on the outside of the corner lap after lap but it was only the race-winning Audi that got penalised towards the end of the race. Along with over use of the Safety Car, Track Limits could kill the sport as a spectacle for the humble spectator. There was simply no point in writing results down at Donington on Sunday as who knew who won each race!
Rant over...This wasn't a bad days racing but I have to say that the use of the 2.5 mile GP circuit just took the edge of the quality of the racing throughout the day. A keen and cool wind also took the edge off the temperature too and although sunny it was never warm. Admission was £10 with usual £5 supporters club discount and as you can see from the ticket image above I didn't buy a programme. I know someone that did though, it cost £3 and it wasn't very good apparently!
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