Round 10 of the 2010 Lotus on Track Elise Trophy held at Silverstone National circuit on the 16th October 2010.
Introduction
The second Silverstone rounds of 2010 would take place on the National configuration and with a short lap time the races were expected to be action-packed. Adding to the tension, these were the final sprint races of the season with the last one of the year being an endurance event.
A new but familiar name on the entry list belonged to former BTCC works Peugeot driver Eugene O’Brien. In his more recent role as a performance driving instructor, he was bound to provide heavy competition to expected front runners Marcus Jewell, Luigi Mazza, James Knight and Steve Williams.
Qualifying
There were no doubts about O’Brien’s form as he immediately set the pace but the focus was on Russell Hill, who spun at Woodcote on his out lap, burying his car in the gravel. With yellow flags warning of a recovery operation and a damp surface, clearly the pole pace was a long way from being reached, even if the claimant was in little doubt. Also in trouble was Knight, parked in the pits for some time.
With the track now clear, O’Brien set a steadily increasing pace but there was little steady about the pace itself, rarely less than a second ahead of the rest, which was keenly disputed by Jewell and Mazza. Meanwhile Williams was having a quiet morning, never troubling the top ten, an arena hotly contested as fourth place became everyone’s goal. Trying very hard was Gary Broad, a spectacular 720-degree spin on the pit straight causing anxious moments for Matt Bartlett.
Knight finally got out with five minutes left to run and in full damage limitation mode lapped at a competitive pace, if a little off the top three. Holding the coveted fourth place at one point, he was overhauled by Pete Storey, Greg Noble and Ben Hyland. The top ten was completed by April polesitter Adam Bewsey, Gary Broad and Stuart Kirkbride.
In a class of their own out front, O’Brien’s margin was only reduced to 1.78 seconds, but it was almost double that earlier. Jewell won the battle for second, with Mazza half a second further in arrears. It looked to be O’Brien’s race but second was certainly going to be heavily disputed.
Race 1
With the track much drier for the first race, Jewell made a good start to threaten O’Brien into Copse but was unable to complete the move and the top three remained in position for the opening lap. Further back Storey wasn’t so fortunate and lost several places, putting Noble into fourth and attacking for third. Knight, Hyland, Bewsey and Kirkbride followed closely, the latter making up early places, taking the two cars in front as Hyland lost as many places.
Further back Dolan was also on the move, demoting Storey, who was suffering from problems that put him into the pits before rejoining well down the field. Back in this pack, Williams was making up for his lowly qualifying position and as he made his way up the field an intense battle commenced. Bewsey initally held off Broad and Dolan, with Williams and Plant following, plus Plant, enjoying much improved form.
As the race settled down, Jewell stalked O’Brien, the pair dropping Mazza at some rate as his car appeared to be a little under the weather with a rather oily tinge to the exhaust fumes. However he was clear of his immediate pursuers, led by a recovering Knight. Noble and Kirkbride were sticking behind him though, this pair swapping places, eager to have a go.
In the pack, Bewsey was fighting off Dolan, from Broad, Williams, Deacon and Plant, with Roberts joining in the fun. Dolan then got ahead of Bewsey and made ground on the cars ahead, replacing Kirkbride in the fight for fourth. A moment for Bewsey put Broad on the attack, with Williams following and ahead of Kirkbride. However Broad then fell back a little as Matt Bartlett started to catch this group.
Coming into the later stages, backmarkers came into view and this had a detrimental effect on Plant and Broad, although it worked out rather better for Deacon. Bewsey was still leading the group but then Williams found his way through and left them behind, however he did not have enough time to make any further ground on Noble, who was by now losing ground on Dolan, leaving him free to attack Knight.
Up front, Jewell was driving hard just to stay with O’Brien but never got close enough to attack. Outbraking himself at Brooklands, his challenge was over and he finished just over a second behind. The pair dropped Mazza by eleven seconds and six seconds further back Knight kept ahead of Dolan. Noble lost nearly five seconds to finish sixth, a little ahead of Williams, Kirkbride, Deacon and Plant. Bartlett also completed the race ahead of Bewsey, with Broad the final finisher of the race long fight as Roberts and Hyland dropped back down the order. With Jewell gaining ground on O’Brien as the day progressed, would he be able to take advantage of the reversed top ten in race two?
Race summary – 28 starters, 27 finishers.
| Overall | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. Eugene O’Brien | 2. Marcus Jewell | 3. Luigi Valentino Mazza | 4. James Knight | 5. Andy Dolan | 6. Greg Noble |
Race 2
They say that the cream rises to the top and with the top three from race one in a class of their own, there was certainly plenty of evidence to prove this in the second encounter. After a few lunchtime showers, Kirkbride, Broad, Bewsey and Knight lined up for the reverse top-ten start and it was the second-placed man who led into Copse. Bewsey was a little wide and this perhaps put him on the back foot, for Mazza and Knight were now hot on his tail. At Brooklands Mazza found a way past and when Knight tried to follow, O’Brien played the opportunist and took his place. Adding further to the confusion, Bewsey and Kirkbride were both off at Copse leaving Broad leading from Mazza, O’Brien, Knight and Jewell.
Broad’s lead didn’t last much longer but neither did Mazza’s, with O’Brien forcing him to outbrake himself at Brooklands just as Knight was starting to hassle the former second-placed driver. He simply transferred his attention to Mazza, allowing the new leader to get away for at least the lap it took to settle the issue in Knight’s favour.
A lap later Mazza was down to fourth as Jewell was now in a hurry to force a rematch with the leader. For several laps Knight held him back, forcing Jewell to try something different and this came in the form of a very late, perhaps optimistic, lunge at the end of the Wellington Straight. Unfortunately Knight had turned in at this point and Jewell’s nose made contact with the rear wheel of Knight’s car and although he tried to correct, ended up skating across the infield and almost collecting his assailant at Luffield. Coming to a halt, he rejoined just in front of Dolan, who had been chasing Noble for much of the race. The pair had demoted Storey and Broad, although Dolan took a little longer to haul himself up.
Knight set after Noble but a potentially spectacular comeback was cut short by a tyre falling off the wheel rim, a legacy of the incident with Jewell. Noble continued to circulate ahead of Dolan but off the ultimate pace. With Dolan gaining ground, they both left Broad behind, who was fighting off the attentions of Storey. Near the end of the race Broad spun at Becketts and did well to only lose a place.
Behind, a huge fight was won by Hill, prevailing over Plant, who was enjoying a great weekend. Bartlett must have been pleased to finish tenth after battling past Deacon, Robert and Williams in the closing laps. Just on their tail were a recovering Kirkbride and Bewsey, the pair sandwiching Rowland.
At the head of the field however, Jewell was once again unable to get close enough to O’Brien, although he did halve the gap from race one and claim fastest lap, denying the winner a clean sweep. Mazza also kept the pair in sight to the flag.
Race summary – 27 starters, 25 finishers.
| Overall | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. Eugene O’Brien | 2. Marcus Jewell | 3. Luigi Valentino Mazza | 4. Andy Dolan | 5. Greg Noble | 6. Pete Storey |
Conclusion
The final sprint races of the season didn’t disappoint for although the top three were a class apart, the rest provided some great action. O’Brien was expected to excel but if he thought he would have an easy time of it in the races then he wouldn’t have counted on great performances by Jewell and Mazza. Knight too, race two showed what he would have been capable of first time around, if his qualifying wasn’t spoilt by reliability issues. Dolan and Noble should be commended too, for their consistent results.
Once again some of the drivers head off to Europe for the final Lotus Cup Europe races in Assen next week but many others will be preparing their cars for the Lotus 1000km at Brands Hatch on November 5th. Expect fireworks!
Kevin Ritson Press Officer LoTRDC LtdRace Results in full
Download the official results & times
