Speed Euroseries, Silverstone - Race Two

Following a first race of contrasting fortunes, the Silverstone SPEED EuroSeries second round was initially one of nose to tail racing but ultimately delivered the same winner, Wolf’s Ivan Bellarosa. Whether over 60 minutes or, in this case, 90, his solo drive technique seemed to be the way to victory.

The early laps were frenetic, as Ivan and his rivals from the first race, Daren Burke and Fred Makowiecki circulated in close company. As in the morning, the Italian set off from pole while ‘Mako’ came charging through the field from the back. The flying Frenchman was knocking out personal best sectors with monotonous regularity and, by lap four, he was taking an inside line on WFR03 driver Tom Bradshaw and moving into a podium position. By lap eight there was less than two and half seconds between the leading trio.

Two laps later Ivan looked to be held up by a backmarker but, before Daren could take advantage, Frank was through into second. Down the Wellington Straight the three seemed as one. Two laps later Daren turned the proverbial tables on Frank as the Frenchman made a move on the leader, aborted and was then re-taken by the Englishman. At this stage Ivan appeared, if anything, the slowest of the three but was still able to just hold onto the lead. Less than one second between first and third had almost become the norm.

If that was not hectic enough then laps 15 and 16 provided the real drama. There was slight contact as Mako aimed for a closing gap down the inside of Daren and the fantastic entertainment ended in tears as he spun off the track and came to a halt on the entrance to Luffield. Now, without Mako to worry about, Daren could take the lead himself, much later than he had done in the first race. Once past he pulled away and by lap 24 had an advantage of over 12 seconds. Ivan pitted on lap 25, Daren left it to the last possible minute and came in two tours later, leaving Sarah with a 15.99 second lead and half an hour to maintain it.

It was now that race two repeated the pattern of race one as Ivan whittled down the Stratford-on-Avon lady’s lead. By lap 28 it was down to 10 seconds, by lap 31 it was well below five. One circuit later and Ivan was in a lead he was to keep to the end. This time there was no heartache for Sarah as she kept up the pace to finish just 12.55 seconds behind Ivan after 43 laps. Again it was the Warren Hughes/Jody Firth WFR03 that came through as the best of the rest, the latter having closed down a troubled Jono Coleman (HGRT Ligier) at Becketts. The Coleman/Nigel Greensall car also fell into the clutches of the Jean Rihon/Nick Padmore Norma as the race came to a close.

Race Result

1 45 Ivan Bellarosa Wolf GB08 Avelon 43 laps 1:31:19.513
2 24 Sarah Reader/Daren Burke Juno CN 2011 TFL Racing +12.550
3 15 Warren Hughes/Jody Firth WFR 03 Xero Competition +49.468
4 34 Jean Rihon/Nick Padmore Norma M20 CF Team TFT +1:05.759
5 27 Jono Coleman/Nigel Greensall Ligier JS51 HGRT +1:40.765
6 69 Romain Bernard/Ander Vilarino Norma M20 CF Team TFT +1:51.005
7 8 Dean Stirling/Matthew Draper Wolf GB08 Avelon +1 Lap
8 20 Mohsin Rashid/Charlie Hollings Ligier JS51 Lanan Racing +1 Lap
9 44 Pierre Nicolet Wolf GB08 Avelon +1 Lap
10 3 Barry Gates/Melroy Heemskirk Ligier JS49 RLR Msport +1 Lap
11 4 Jonathan Wright/James Rigby Ligier JS49 RLR Msport +2 Lap
12 33 Ian Simmonds/Phil Hall Ligier JS49 Accurate Racing +2 Lap
13 23 Arnaud Violette/Hugues Taittinger Ligier JS51 Springbox Concept +3 Lap
14 22 Amandine Fourland/Ines Taittinger Ligier JS51 Springbox Concept +3 Lap
15 25 Jamie Constable/Michael Cantillon Juno CN 2011 TFL Racing + 9 laps

Not classified:

16 26 Frederic Makowiecki/Phillippe Alliot Ligier JS51 Springbox Concept 16 laps
17 14 Ben Clucas/Tom Bradshaw WFR 03 Xero Competition 11 laps