Great Brittain at the double
raceroom
Over the years, the Crew Chief Championship has always brought us close racing but, at round two of this year’s battle at Brands Hatch, we saw a performance from Clive Brittain that will live long in the memory.
It was only two weeks ago that he had his head in his hands following the disaster at Road America - qualifying in second, only to start from the pit lane with the field disappearing into the distance. A spirited drive saw him finished eight then, but that same skill would see him walk away from the Kent countryside at the end of the weekend with two bottles of champagne and two of the gorgeous Crew Chief winners trophies.
Qualifying was a tense affair. The new Championship entrants, brothers Lars and Klaus Schneider, put up a good showing, the latter pushing for pole in the early stages. But it soon became clear that he wouldn’t be the only one. Radek Pawlaczek, following his podium finish a fortnight ago, was soon at the top of the table with Nemanja Manojlovic soon swapping positions with him, Others, like Bergsma, Dhoore, Haas and Road America winner Fillingham would also come within half a second within pole, giving the spectators early notice of how likely it would be that this would be another day of door-to-door racing. But it was Brittain who would finishing qualifying on top of the tree, a tenth and a half ahead of Manojlovic and Haas, with a fantastic (but not quite flawless) lap of 1.31.296. Disappointing performances from Gerasimos Cassel and the series sponsor’s own Jim Britton saw them round out the top ten.
Race one saw a fantastic getaway from Brittain and he would go through Paddock Hill bend ahead of Manojlovic and Pawlaczek. But, halfway through the lap at Hawthorns Bend, Manojlovic moved up the inside of Brittain to take the lead and the two would fight it out for the rest of the race. On Lap 15, after following the Serbian closely for over twenty minutes, Brittain made his move on the entry to Druids, taking advantage of Manojlovic’s wide entry into the hairpin. Nemanja’s line would naturally take him to the apex of the corner, only to find Clive’s almost identical BMW already there. The two rubbed panels all through the corner but, on the exit, Brittain drifted wide with his different line and Manojlovic tried to switch back and try down the inside but the move was already done. Behind them, Radek Pawlaczek who had been closely following the two 3-Series in his Mercedes, had been waiting for such a moment, looking to take advantage of the incident. But he just wasn’t close enough as the two BMWs descended into Graham Hill bend. For the remaining minutes of the race, Brittain pulled away gently as Pawlaczek bit and nibbled at Manojlovic’s rear bumper but couldn’t manage to get past, the two crossing the line just three tenths of a second apart. Behind them, Jim Britton made up for his poor qualifying performance by using his renowned late-race pace to pull himself up to fourth with Andre Bergsma just a few tenths behind in fifth. Simon Fillingham, struggling for grip (an issue that would curse him all weekend) managed a decent sixth place but already seeing his grip on the Championship slipping. A decent showing from newcomer Klaus Schneider saw him in seventh, followed by Max Haas, Gerasimos Cassel, Carlos Guerra, Callum Morgan and, most importantly, Lars Schneider in twelfth - a position that would see him on pole for race two, given the reverse grid protocols.
Race two started with a decent getaway for Schneider [L] but, by the time the drivers had reached Druids, Callum Morgan had taken the lead following a perfect descent through Paddock Hill bend. Max Haas was next to swallow up Schneider as they navigated Surtees for the first time. Meanwhile, back in the field, Pawlaczek and Brittain were battling with Dusan Magyar way back in 12th position. Manojlovic had a better first lap and found himself up in eighth as they crossed the line first time around. One that wasn’t so lucky in the opening laps was Si Fillingham who hit the barrier hard as he exited Stirlings on Lap two, and he would meet that barrier again later on in the race as his struggle for rear grip continued. It took a few more laps but Haas eventually caught and passed Morgan and, ominously at this stage, Clive Brittain had already made his way up to 8th position, dispatching Guerra and Pawlaczek as they battled each other. Ahead, Manojlovic had gotten up to 5th place but, on lap 6, he suffered an as yet unexplained loss of power which saw him fall down to 10th place, at the back of a very competitive mid-pack including Bergsma, Britton and Schneider [K]. That frustration would manifest itself as a lap later he stacked it into turn one and found himself down near the back of pack. Gerasimos Cassel was meanwhile quietly making his way up to 3rd ahead of Schneider [L], following Morgan and Haas, the leader pulling out a six second lead. But it was Brittain that went through the field like a knife through butter that found himself eventually chasing Haas. Although, having admittedly settled for second, no-one was more surprised than Clive when Max lost it at Clark Curve to not only lose the lead to Brittain, but also second to Cassel. From there, Brittain was untouchable, winning by almost eight seconds over Cassel with Andre Bergsma winning the mid-pack battle for third after Haas, again, made an uncharacteristic mistake on the final lap to finish the day in a frustrating 9th position, just ahead of the battered Mercedes of Fillingham.
Clive Britain’s performance here at Brands, as well as his recovery drive at Road America, demonstrate that he is possibly the favourite to take the Championship. Fillingham’ s fantastic performance in the States was dramatically overshadowed by his poor showing here and leaves the Championship wide open as we head back across the pond to Mid-Ohio in a fortnight’s time for round 3.