Rob Fenn and Jake Hill took their Lotus Elan 26R to their second Victory of the season, following up their success at Paul Ricard with a well-earned victory at their ‘home’ circuit Brands Hatch in the Gentlemen Racers GT Masters Historic event.
After battling with Touring Car and Le Mans legend Steve Soper, the pair qualified 2nd in class and 3rd overall, and Hill started the race in combative fashion, passing the powerful Shelby Daytona Coupe at Druids, then chasing down and slicing past Soper the following lap at Graham Hill to take the lead.
Edging away, Hill put in several swift laps and when the Safety Car came out the pit stop window had opened, and Hill dove into the pits to hand over to Fenn, who emerged still in the lead.
However the Safety Car had been unable to pick up Fenn as the leader, and he re-started with 6 back markers ahead, and only a few cars between him, Soper and now Calum Lockie in the Cobra.
A strong re-start saw Fenn still leading, but Lockie in the hugely powerful Cobra blasted past into the lead, and soon after Soper was challenging too.
However Soper tried passing whilst he and Fenn were lapping slower traffic, and the blue Elan was bundled onto the grass and out of the race.
As the clock ticked down towards the latter stages of the 90 minute race, Fenn was coping superbly with clutch failure, ultimately resorting to staying in 3rd gear as the gear shifts were becoming increasingly unpredictable.
Driving smoothly and precisely, Fenn held on to record a superb Victory, and second overall, much to the delight of his co-driver.
“That was tough! said Fenn. “I knew when I pulled away after the pitstop the clutch was in a bad way, so I was really pleased to be able to drive around the issue and still put in competitive times. It’s fantastic to have taken two out of two, especially on home soil.”
The pair will race again together on Sunday (26th) in the ‘Red Rooster’ Ford Mustang in the Pre 66 Touring Car event.
“It felt great to win at Brands again – Rob was brilliant today – let’s see what tomorrow brings!’ smiled Hill