Brands Hatch played host last Saturday to the MSVT Trackday and Team Trophy ‘Allcomers’ race as part of the ever-popular Lotus Festival.

XLR Motorsport duo Guy Pettit from Rochester and Warrington-based Steve Johansen were buoyed by a successful day of testing in their Trackcars4hire-run SEAT Leon Supercopa on Friday. Misfire issues and clutch problems, which had plagued the car in the early part of their season, now appeared to be resolved.

The weather remained dry for qualifying early on Saturday morning, and with the race just a couple of hours after that, it would be a quick turnaround for the bumper 44-car grid. For many of the drivers, the 30-minute qualifying session would be their first taste of the world-famous Grand Prix layout of Brands Hatch, including Pettit and Johansen.

“It was a slightly surreal experience braking hard and turning left onto the Grand Prix part of the track”, explained Pettit after qualifying. “Having driven round the Brands Hatch Indy circuit hundreds of times in the past ten years of driving, I am much more used to going almost straight ahead at that point!”

Nevertheless, an impressive flying lap by Johansen towards the end of the session qualified the pair 11^th on the grid and 4^th in class for the race. With just a couple of minor set up changes to be made and a new set of tyres on the car, the countdown to the race was on.

The format for the 45-minute race consisted of a pit stop for all the competitors. This would give the opportunity for two-driver teams to change over between the 15 and 30-minute mark.

“There was some discussion in the team beforehand as to who would start the race”, Pettit continued. “In the end we opted for Steve to start as he is a very experienced racer. This is only my first year of circuit racing, so the thought of 44 cars all with cold brakes and tyres barrelling into Paddock Hill Bend for the first time was a rather daunting one for me.”

As the lights went green, Johansen made the perfect get away making up several places off the start line. But as the packed field made their way into the first corner, everyone was airing on the side of caution. There was still a long way to go until the chequered flag.

By the end of the first lap, Johansen had already broken into the top ten and was hanging on to the lead group as they broke away from the rest of the chasing pack. As the race reach one third distance, the XLR Motorsport car continued its progress through the field and was on course for a top three class finish.

However, as the race neared half distance, disaster struck. Johansen rounded Surtees onto the Grand Prix loop. A backmarker he was lapping failed to notice him on the left hand side and turned in on the SEAT driver. The resulting collision caused both cars to spin, with Johansen beached on the inside of the corner facing the barrier. Although he managed to get the car going again, the lost time dropped the team down the order to 17^th.

Eager to make up for lost ground, Johansen was on charge. By the time he came in to the pits to change drivers, he had already fought his way back up the order to 8^th in class.

Pettit, too, was keen to continue the pair’s charge back through the pack. Once clear of the pit lane, he was straight on to the pace picking up from where teammate Johansen had left off. Within the first lap of being out on track, he had passed Paul Hatton’s Phat Racing Team Ford Focus for 7^th in class and was closing on the 6^th placed Renault Clio of Darren Langeveld.

As the race clock struck zero and the chequered flag was held at the ready, Pettit had managed to find a way past the Renault Clio to steal the position and secure 6^th in class on the last lap, all the while fending off the challenge from Hatton. In doing so, it ensured a top ten finish for Johansen and Pettit, but it was a race of ‘what ifs’.

Remaining upbeat, Pettit said after the race: “Steve’s coming together with another competitor was through no fault of his own, and I like to think we proved just what we and the car are capable of in terms of outright race pace. Our engineer Phill at Trackcars4hire has set the car up really well, and had we not lost time with the on-track incident and in the pits during the driver change, we would have been well within the top three.”

“For Steve and me, this is only our second race together in the car. We came second in our first race back in April with a car that was down on power, so Steve, who is used to racing rear-wheel drive Fun Cup cars, has adapted to the car really quickly. I am still learning my race craft and Brands Hatch was great experience for me and doing a lot of overtaking boosted my confidence no end.”

Pettit and Johansen’s next plan is to contest the Birkett Six Hour race at Silverstone in October and carry out some important testing and set up work between now and then.

Follow all their progress on Facebook. Search for ‘XLR Motorsport’ and ‘Trackcars4hire’.

Pictues supplied by PSP Images.