REPORT : DONINGTON PARK
Andrew Smith leads Brian Morris front row missing it was Rob Wheldon who took the early lead in his March 762 with Matt Wrigley ’ s Chevron B40 in hot pursuit . Smith ( March 742 ) was another retirement with an electrical problem .
Fraser Gibney settled his Chevron B40 into third while Grant , driving superbly in his Formula Atlantic specification March 79B , set about the task of dislodging Martin Stretton ( March 712 ) from fourth . He eventually did and duly set off in pursuit of Gibney . Meanwhile , up front , Wheldon retired with a broken driveshaft leaving Wrigley leading as Grant hunted him down . Then , with only a lap to run , Wrigley also lost a driveshaft so Grant jumped ahead and scored a famous win from Gibney and Stretton . “ I didn ’ t expect that ,” said an elated Grant . “ It ’ s an amazing car with so much grip .”
Behind third-placed Stretton , Brian Morris was a fine fourth in his March 782 from racing returnee Martin Wood ( Ralt RT1 ) as Mark Hazell ( March 782 ) completed the top six and Mark Goodyear ( Lotus 59 ) joined Grant , Gibney and Stretton as class winners .
The second Historic Formula 2 race closed the weekend ’ s racing and was an absolute barnstormer . Race one retirements left Matt Wrigley , Rob Wheldon , Andrew Smith and Mark Charteris towards the back of the grid , all determined to get as far up the order as they could in the course of 25 minutes .
There was always going to be some hectic battling in the pack as the four front-runners fought to get through the order while Stretton and Grant set the early pace at the head of the field . Stretton got away best and headed Grant into the opening laps as the pack started to sort itself out .
Before long , it was Smith making the best progress from the lower order starters and he passed car after car as he tigered his way through to the front . He then reeled in Stretton and Grant and sliced decisively ahead to secure a superb victory after a commanding drive . “ That was quite a bit of ground to make up ,” said Smith of his charge .
Grant always chased Stretton for second but never quite had a chance to challenge and that was how they finished as a late safety car took them to the chequered flag in convoy . Wrigley came through strongly to finish fourth with Charteris in hot pursuit . Martin
Wood rounded out a fantastic Formula 2 debut with a strong sixth , having fended off the race long challenge of David Tomlin ( Motul M1 ) and Goodyear again won his class . “ I ’ ve had the best day ever ,” said a jubilant Wood after a long break from racing . With battles all the way down the order it was a fine way to wrap up the weekend and open the Historic Formula 2 season .
The Classic Formula 3 and Classic Formula Ford 2000 season kicked off with a double-header on Good Friday . The end result was wins for Connor Murphy and Andrew Smith in Formula 3 , and a double win for Eric Pagano in FF2000 .
Murphy and Smith were the class of the F3 pack after some stunningly fast times in qualifying . In the opening race , Murphy got the jump at the start and , after an early safety car period , had built a small cushion to Smith . However , lap-by-lap , the gap came down , and it was less than a fifth of a second by the finish as Murphy took his first Classic F3 win in his March 803 .
Callum Grant and Frazer Gibney battle
Behind them , Benn Tilley dropped time off the start after being caught out in his first standing start in his March 743 . However , he battled back ahead of Anthony Hancock ’ s Lola T670 to claim third place .
In the second race , Murphy again led until he was caught out in traffic at McLean ’ s and lost the lead to Smith . Soon afterwards , the Murphy March headed for the pits and retirement when a misfire set in and that left Smith comfortably clear of the battle for second . Once again Tilley got the better of Hancock to take the place and further back a tremendous dice between Lee Cunningham , Shaun Hollamby and Keith White went all the way to the flag .
In the FF2000 section Pagani spent most of both races with Murray Shepard right on his gearbox . That was how they finished in the first race and in the second race it was just as close , if not closer still , until a skirmish going into Redgate left Shepherd spinning and losing time before recovering for second place .
Matt Wrigley ’ s Chevron
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