Round 1 of the 2007 Blaupunkt SEAT Cupra Championship saw a dramatic start. With newcomer Gareth Nixon (Nixon Motorsport) starting on pole it was BSCC veterans Carl Breeze (CMS Motorsport/ Blue Chip) and Jonathan Adam (Total Control Racing) that came through the first corner incidents to eventually clinch first and second spots respectively.
Adam made a poor start with Fulvio Mussi (Total Control Racing) darting down the outside and Daniel Welch (Welch Motorsport) trying to sneak past on the inside. But Welch’s car span in front of Adam, crossing his path and slamming Mussi into the gravel before Paddock Hill Bend . Adam remained intact while both the Essex-based Mussi and 24-year old Welch went out.
Freddy Nordström (Advent Motorsport) the frontrunner on the grid in the Leon Cupra R class faired only a little better. Avoiding Mussi and Welch’s incident he then came across Stewart Whyte in a spin and had to try to steer clear of that too, ending up on the grass and at the back of the pack as a result. Likewise Ray MacDowall (Total Control Racing) and Guy Halley (CMS Motorsport) couldn’t avoid each other, spinning together but returning to the race under the guidance of the safety car.
So it was Breeze at the front, followed by Adam, Oli Wilkinson (CMS Motorsport/ Sureterm Direct) and Nixon when the safety car dropped off at the beginning of lap six. Breeze and Adam set the pace making a decent gap for themselves at the front while behind them Alan Blencowe (Triple R), who had started from tenth, was putting continual pressure on Nixon for fourth spot.
In the Leon Cupra R class, Ian Churchill (Churchill Motorsport) was making some space for himself too, letting his brother Adrian Churchill (Churchill Motorsport) get involved in a three-way tussle behind him with Harry Vaulkhard (Triple R/ Volkis Boozer’z) and Mike Doble (Doble Motorsports). Vaulkhard was setting some great lap times and was side by side with Adrian Churchill through the Graham Hill Bend in the eighteenth lap before passing him on the inside into Surtees to put him in tenth spot overall.
Further up the field Blencowe had squeezed past Nixon and was making time on the leaders. By lap 21 he had Wilkinson and third spot in his sights. It looked like Wilkinson would hold him off, but through Clearways in the final lap he showed Blencowe an opportunity and they raced towards the finish line in an exhilarating neck and neck finish. Blencowe just snatched it, giving him third spot on the podium behind Breeze in first and Adam in second. Ian Churchill finished in ninth spot overall giving him a Leon Cupra R class win, with Vaulkhard and Adrian Churchill taking second and third spots in that class respectively.
A meeting full of great racing and drama for the first round of the 2007 Blaupunkt SEAT Cupra Championship, promising a very interesting second round at Brands Hatch.
- SEAT Sport UK
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