April 2018 see the beginning of the MSVT Track Day Championship and along with it DLR Transports latest sponsorship.
The Track Day Championship consists of 7 rounds and five class variations, allowing a large mix of cars to compete on the same circuit. TDC is a competitive, yet fun and friendly Championship for production saloon, hatchback, and sports cars, each round will consists of a 30 minute qualifying session followed by a 45 minute race.
The X85 Clio Cup that will be competing in class C of this years Championship, is sponsored by from DLR Transport, Eclipse Motorsport, Mercury garage and GASH Racing. The first round kicked off at Donnigton, with class B,C and D sharing both the qualifying sessions and the race to make a total grid size of 39 cars, all with a mandatory pit stop to make during the race and only 38 Pit garages to do so. We will leave you to work that one out . . . . .
After a busy Qualifying session the DLR sponsored Clio of Thomas Rogers and John Griffith manged a clean lap of 1:23.441, this placed DLR 12th on grid and third in class, 0.180 sec behind the Renault Clio of Hoey and Langeveld who achieved second, and 0.520 sec behind first place car of Danzey and Wood. With Qualifying complete the team set to with fine tuning of the car and a through check over in anticipation for the race.
15:15 formation time. The DLR Clio is wheeled to the formation area with team in tow to set up in twelve position. With novice driver; Rogers chosen to start the race the car rolled out onto the grid for the green flag lap, one final chance to get as much heat into the brakes and tires as possible before the lights go out. With position taken and the 39 cars and Drivers all holding revs and nerves alike the race began, Class C saw a good start from the Tracktards duo of Langeveld and Hoey, who managed to close up to class leader on the first lap. This fast start was matched however by Alf Hyde in the Tylah Motorsport Fiesta who was by now up to tenth overall and third in class from twenty first on the grid. Hyde’s Fiesta was caught by the Stirling Fiesta who also made the pass one lap later. Right in the middle of the fight for first in class the PSR car slowed. Technical gremlins brought them into the pits, and then later forced their retirement.
As the pit window neared, the DLR Clio was working its way up the grid, after a bad start the new comer had ground to make up and with a team decision to leave the pit stop until the end of the allocated window it gave Rogers a few extra laps gain position. The pit stop was made and the team exited ninth in class with Griffith at the wheel and the grid now under safety car. Lewis Denslow in the class C Deadslow Fiesta was just ahead of the Team Norfolk car. The Tylah Fiesta of Hyde was also closing in. Griffith had also made use of the now condensed gird and worked his way up to fourth however as the race drew to an end, it soon became apparent that Denslow had received a drive through penalty for a short pit stop. This effectively handed the win to Stirling, who was able to hold off a late charge from Hyde to take the Class C victory, Hyde in the Tylah Fiesta took second, and DLR Motorsport in third. Denslow having to settle for fourth in Class C.
Third in class and ninth overall, DLR had made the podium, hats, Champagne and trophy’s where handed out and the celebrations began. Or rather they would have done if the team had any idea that they had taken third. With the team busy loading the car and gear, they were more than happy to have achieved what they believed to be fourth, it was Griffith who made the decision to visit race control for the race results and came back with a trophy!
So congratulations to both drivers (Thomas and John) along with the team (Luke, Carl and Bob) A great weekend and thanks for putting DLR on the Podium! (Even if you did miss it!)
A special thank you also to the GASH Racing guys for the evenings hospitality at GASH Race HQ.
Round 2 will be held at Snetterton Circuit May 13th, everybody is welcome.
Sponsors:
DLR Transport, Specialised U.K Haulage – www.dlrtransport.co.uk Facebook: DLR Transport
Eclipse Motorsport.
Mercury Garage – @MercuryGarageWVTS – Tel: 01623 743592 – Facebook: Mercury Garage
GASH Racing, “Guaranteed never to come first” Facebook: GASH Racing
