(MULTI) CLASS ACT

For the opening Snetterton race in April, Liam Crilly put his BMW Z4 on pole and led the opening ten minutes until the BMW Compact of David Shead & Malcolm Edeson took over in front. The Compact was able to pull out a lead of over 30 seconds through the pit stops, but after it made its mandatory pit call, Crilly was right behind him all the way through the final ten minutes to try and snatch back victory. However, try as he might, the red Compact held the Z4 firm and Shead/ Edeson took the first ClubSport win of the season, with Mark Burton’s 330ci completing an overall BMW 1-23 from Phiroze Bilimoria’s VW Scirocco and Paul Hinson’s BMW Compact.

The centrepiece race of the year was the support spot on the timetable for the C1 24 Hours, where a record 61 cars turned out on the full Silverstone GP circuit. Behind invitation winner Jasver Sapra’s BMW M3, the Bilimoria/ Tattersall VW Scirocco ended up trading the lead with Crilly’s Z4 in between two safety car periods, the second lingering into the pit window. Clever pit strategy from Crilly helped him jump back into the lead as the race restarted, and he remained unchallenged to win the race while Ricky Coomber left it late to take his Honda Civic past Geoff Conner’s Renault Clio to take 2nd, followed by Hinson’s BMW and Alfie Jeakins’ Civic in the top five.

Crilly then made sure to double up on ClubSport wins with success at Oulton Park in June, beating Chris Coomer’s SEAT to the lead and dominated by some 30 seconds from the BMWs of Shead/ Edeson and Hinson, Conner’s Clio and the Bilimoria/ Tattersall VW. The return to Snetterton in July brought about a solo win for Bilimoria’s Scirocco as he hit the front early doors after taking the lead from the front row starting Honda Integra. Lengthy combat with Paul Hinson’s BMW Compact kept Talbot entertained throughout, but his late pit stop couldn’t prevent Bilimoria from picking up the win ahead of Hinson, with Talbot in P3, the Honda Civic of Maries/ Johnson and Olly Samways.

A debut appearance for James Alford in his VW Golf at Brands Hatch saw him combating the Shead/Edeson Compact and incredibly claiming the win first time out for the non-Invitational cars, only just beating them by less than two tenths ahead of Matthew Bolton’s M3, the VW of Bilimoria and Ashley Parsons in the Toyota Celica. Then came a firm favourite, the visit to Donington Park in late September which saw the cars racing into the twilight and almost into darkness.

Bilimoria and Shead/Edeson headed the field early until contact between them put both out of the running, but midway through a timing issue left some confusion to the running order, but once it was also confirmed victory landed with Mark Burton in the BMW 330ci from Alford’s Golf, Parson’s Toyota Celica, Brian Chandler’s Mk4 MX-5 and Paul Hinson’s Compact.

Rounding off the ClubSport season for 2022, a second visit to Silverstone beckoned on the International circuit and behind the Invitational cars, it was Bilimoria who took the Scirocco’s second ClubSport win of the season, followed by Hinson’s BMW, Alford’s BMW, Nathalie McGloin’s Porsche Cayman and Alistair Lindsay in his SEAT Leon.

Another ClubSport year to remember with more booming grids and even more variety within entries. 2023 surely promises to further push the envelope of just what’s possible for the series and we greatly look forward to what’s in store for season number five!