RACE THE MG - MG Trophy Championship 2011

 

We had 18 entries for our two races on our return to Donington after a 2 year break. The last time we were there was for the season opener in 2009 when new boy Jack Goff showed us what he could do, rounding off the day with a win and a second place, driver of the race and overall driver of the day. Jack has since moved on to the Clio’s and has already had a couple of podiums this season. It was good to see our sponsor, David Wood of Luffield MG, having one of his rare outings in his LE 500 plus a new LE 500 for Mark Humphrey also in the orange Luffield livery. This was the first time we’d had 3 of these cars on the grid, let’s hope we’ll see more of the orange cars in the future. The significant change to the circuit was at the chicane so new lap records were up for grabs.

 

There was no official testing available directly prior to the meeting however Robertson and Ross and a couple of the 160 cars made use of the Saturday track day to test their cars and check out the circuit. Robertson hadn’t been at Donington since 2006 and Ross had never raced there before so this was a good opportunity for them to suss things out. Robertson’s car was out for the first time since his rebuild following his Silverstone crash.

 

The Trophy qualifying started a tad earlier than scheduled at 09.23 on a dry track. All 18 cars were out but a problem with the TSL timing screens meant we had no information until over half way through the session. Bray was in after his first lap and was stationary for several minutes as his team worked on the car. He resumed with just three laps of the session left after a coil pack problem was fixed. On his first lap back out he had a coming together with the wall at McLeans after a misunderstanding with Williams, on his 2nd lap he posted P5 and then jumped up to P1 on his final lap deposing Streather by just 0.047 secs with a 1:20.382s! Luti was 3rd, the top 5 were covered by a second. Cole pulled off opposite the pits with no throttle response after 6 laps. The class C pole went to Barnard once again with a 1:24.905s closely followed by Penfold and Campbell both in the 1:25’s. Bray’s rear end damage was attended to and he raced less the rear screen that was also smashed when he hit the wall. Cole’s throttle cable was soon fixed.

 

The first of the two Luffield sponsored Trophy races started at 12.24 however just 5 minutes before this a shower sent everyone scurrying back to jack cars up with ‘wets’ on standby. As it was, virtually all went out on slicks but a few chose to mix slick/wet and Wood chose all wets. This resulted in cars being very late to the assembly area. Streather made a poor start and lost several places before Redgate, at the end of lap one it was Bray, Luti, Ross, Robertson and Humphrey. At the end of lap 2, Wood drove straight into his garage, the full wet set up not working in the now dry conditions. Streather began his climb back up through the pack picking off places lap by lap, getting back up to 3rd on lap 7. Robertson took Ross on the outside at Redgate to move into P3 on lap 4. He repeated this move on lap 6 passing both Luti and Bray to take the lead, much to the delight of the applauding spectators. Humphrey pitted on his 7th lap with overheating problems due to HGF. On lap 8, Streather was pushed wide at Redgate, rejoined, but went off again at the Old Hairpin, well beached in the gravel. This brought out the safety car as Robertson and Bray swopped places at the front. The safety car pulled in at the end of lap 11 leaving a 2 lap dash to the flag. Robertson held the lead, Luti

1took P2 off Bray at McLeans on the last lap, Ross and Cole rounded off the top 5. In the class C race, Barnard held his pole lead with Campbell and Byrne in close contention until lap 9 when Williams moved into P3 only to lose it a lap later. Penfold had an off at Hollywood on lap 12, dropping her back as Makar took the place. At the flag, it was Barnard from Campbell and Byrne.

Fastest laps Class A/B, Luti 1:20.629 on lap 3; Class C, Barnard 1:25.330 on lap 4. Driver of the Race went to Robertson.

 

Prior to the start, Humphrey collected all the other driver’s signatures to allow him to start race 2 at the back of the grid in Wood’s car, a nice gesture by Wood. Race 2 commenced at 17.16. A much better start by Streather saw him hold his front row position but behind Luti until McLeans where he took the lead, this was short lived as he succumbed at the chicane as Robertson dived through. Streather pitted at the end of lap 1 with a bent rear beam having hit the kerb at the chicane. At the end of the first lap it was Bray from Robertson, Cole, Luti and Ross. Luti retired at the end of lap 2 with a broken oil cooler, leaving Bray, Robertson, Cole and Ross to battle it out at the front. Ross moved into P3 on lap 5, these positions holding until lap 12 when Robertson was taken by Ross. Unfortunately, Ross was in the gravel at Coppice on lap 14 when his front left wheel parted company in a similar fashion to Michael Schumacher at Spa. This spoilt a very close four way dice at the front, at the flag the order was Bray from Robertson and Cole with Humphrey an excellent 4th in his new LE500. In the class C race, Barnard held his pole position throughout the race, followed initially by Makar and Penfold who moved into P2 on lap 4. Campbell started his move upwards taking P3 on lap 5, moving into P2 on lap 11. These positions held to the finish with Makar in 4th and Savage in 5th. Williams and Evans rounded out the finishers.

 

Fastest laps Class A/B, Robertson 1:20.868 on lap 9; Class C, Barnard 1:24.744 on lap 12. Driver of the Race Humphrey for his excellent last to fourth.