The second round of the 2023 season was held on the 3rd & 4th June at the tight and twisty Colchester circuit.
Sunshine was forecast for the whole weekend and this coupled with a smaller then normal entry made Saturday a leisurely practice day. It was clear from the outset that the local Colchester drivers knew exactly what was required to get decent lap times.
After open practice on the Sunday morning there were the usual 4 rounds of qualifying heats . The only difference was the lack of GT8 Nitro as no drivers had entered this class ,with some switching to GT8 Electric.
The final qualifying positions were as follows :
GT8 Electric
TQ Craig Nutting
2nd Andy Travis
3rd Paul Dewsnap
1/10 IC 220mm GT
TQ Mark Green
2nd Adam Southgate
3rd Bailey Rice-Draycot
1/10 200mm Touring
TQ Byron Russell
2nd Alex Mortimer
3rd Devendra Mahatme
Finals:
B Final 220 GT
Richard Boult led from the start with Dev Mahatme a comfortable second. Aaron completed the podium.
1st Richard Boult (X-Ray)
2nd Devendra Mahatme (Capricorn )
3rd Aaran Russell (Serpent)
A Final GT8 Electric
TQ Craig Nutting won all three legs .Andy Travis was a comfortable second with GT8E debutant Paul Dewsnap completing the podium.
1stCraig Nutting(X-Ray)
2nd Andy Travis (Harm)
3rdPaul Dewsnap(X-Ray)
A Final 200mm Touring
Byron Russell led from the start with Alex pushing him hard for most of the race. Dev took third.
1st Byron Russell (Serpent)
2nd Alex Mortimer
3rd Devendra Mahatme (Capricorn)
A Final 220 GT
TQ Mark Green led from the chasing local driver Adam Southgate . Mark was involved in a pit lane collision which ended his race. Thereafter Bailey took a comfortable second with a tussle between the other drivers with Ian eventually taking third place.
1st Adam Southgate (X-Ray)
2nd Bailey Rice-Draycot
3rdIan McLarney(Serpent)
An enjoyable weekend’s racing for all .Many thanks to the Colchester club for putting on a good meeting with special thanks to Paul Berlinger and Craig Woods who manned race control smoothly. The next round is on the weekend of the 8th/9th July at Halifax.