Andy Burgess, piloting the #57 East Surrey College Peugeot 107, took a class lights-to-flag victory in Round Eight of the 2022 Student Motorsport Challenge, the inter-series within the BRSCC Nankang Tyres CityCar Cup Championship, in a race that was red-flagged with four minutes remaining.
Second in class, and ninth overall, was the #77 OBU Student Challenge Citroen driven by series newcomer Ben Creanor. Taking the final podium position was Dan Lockett, at the wheel of the #23 Coleg Gwent Blaenau Peugeot 107.
Leon Wilde in the #26 West Suffolk College Toyota Aygo finished in fourth place in class, his sixth consecutive finish just off the podium with Alex Walker, on his car racing debut, finishing in fifth place in the #25 SHU Karting Citroen.
Richard Jepp in the #65 MET Motorsport Peugeot was unable to start the opening race of the weekend. A problem with the roll cage discovered during scrutineering meant that the #65 car could not join the morning’s qualifying session which meant the Sussex-based team were precluded from joining starting grid. The #65 car was being worked in readiness for Sunday as the race progressed.
The 15-minute contest got underway under a warm, overcast with sky with Ben Creanor in the #77 car starting alongside Andy Burgess in the East Surrey College entry. Burgess drove a controlled race, making up one place overall on his starting position. Ben Creanor quickly got to grips with the Citroen C1 and although the young Dunfermline pilot lost places to Dan Sellick and Adam Reeves, he impressed all those watching with his commitment and competitiveness.
After contact with the sister #23 car, George Jones was forced to pull off the circuit and retire the #9 Coleg Gwent Newport Citroen. The car was recovered back to the awning and the team immediately set to work getting the car repaired in time for Sunday’s two 15-minute races.
With four minutes remaining the race was red-flagged after the #24 Peugeot driven by Paul Savage ended up on its roof.
Following the provisional results from Race One, Round Eight, East Surrey College moves back to the top of the Student Motor Challenge standings om 75 points, followed by MET Motorsport on 69 points. Coleg Gwent Blaenau move to third in the standings with Leon Wilde’s West Suffolk College just four points behind in fourth.
Richard Ince, Team Manager of East Surrey College at Snetterton, was delighted to see the team back of the top of the table.
“The team has done a great job,” said Richard Ince. “They’ve set the car up as it should be. They’re dedicated as they’ve come in on their holiday. They’ve liaised with the driver and got the car set up as Andy Burgess wanted it and it all went according to plan.
“We think we can gain another place overall in Sunday’s races. We could have taken fifth this afternoon if the race hadn’t been cut short because Andy was quite clearly catching the car in front when the race was red-flagged.”
Ben Creanor was pleased to see the hard work of Oxford Brookes University rewarded with a second place but feels there is more to come from the #77 car.
“It’s a great job for the team,” said Creanor. “They’ve put a lot of work in and it’s great to see them rewarded. It’s one of those races where I’m a little bit annoyed with myself because I was a bit too cautious off the start, trying to stay out of trouble and that ended up putting me in trouble so we finished where we started which involved some good battles and some good overtakes.
“I’m happy, the team’s happy and the car is in one piece so it’s been a good race and a good way to start the series. There is more pace in the car. We got stuck behind a couple of cars and the race was shortened so tomorrow we can definitely be hoping to go for it.”
Race Two of the weekend’s triple-header for the CityCar Cup Championship gets underway at 12:10 on Sunday July 24.
