AAA Saloons: All-Action Saloons at Brands Hatch

The AAA (Ajec AWD Academy) Saloon Cup, featuring the UK's fastest saloons, was in action at Brands Hatch (June 6th) for its mid-season double header. At the front of the pack it was business as usual for Nick Williamson (Escort Cosworth) who notched up another two wins, while GpB was dominated by Martin Thomas (Evo VIII) who also secured a double victory.

Although it was Williamson who started from Pole Position, it was Simon Norris (Norris Designs Bogey Evo) who initially took the lead before spinning at Druids on the opening lap, when his rear brakes locked up, which allowed Williamson to open up a lead ahead of Gary Prebble (Sparshatts Evo VII RS) and Laurie Kilby (Ajec Racing Evo 8.5).
On lap 12 Kilby finally managed to squeeze past Prebble, to grab second place, but then planted himself in the gravel trap at Clearways. That led to the debut outing for the series Safety Car (ironically driven by Kilby's brother Graham - so a Kilby did lead the race!) - the unique X1 Evo Concept Coupe - which was called into play for a couple of laps while Kilby's Evo was dragged from the gravel. During the Safety Car period it started to rain which was going to make the final dash to the chequered flag very exciting. But by then there were just two laps remaining when the race re-started and Williamson was able to maintain his lead ahead of Prebble and Norris who had fought his way back to third, setting the fastest lap of the race.

Behind the top three Jonathan Faull (Evo VIII) was making the most of new power improvements to fend off a hard-charging Richard Jones (Launch Motorsport Evo VIII) and there wasn't really much to choose between them, but Faull managed to maintain his advantage.

GpB (cars limited to 400 bhp) pole sitter Steve Liquorish in the Ergo/JRM Evo X, failed to take up his grid position for the race - stuck in the pits with a clutch problem. That left the way clear for Martin Thomas (Somerset Storage Evo VIII) to notch up his debut GpB victory. Behind him the battle for the runner-up slot raged between Angus Gorringe (Tangerine Audi S2), Alex Harston, making his AAA debut in the Ajec Racing guest Evo, and Freddie Leatham (Evo VIII). Gorringe, delighted with his car's improvements since the Silverstone meeting, made a rare mistake on lap 17 and dived into a gravel trap leaving Leatham to snatch second place ahead of David Harries driving the sole Subaru.

The Launch Motorsport champagne for Drive of the Day was awarded to Simon Norris for his thrilling battle back up to third place overall following his first lap spin.

Race 2 on the Indy circuit featured Williamson jumping into an early lead and holding that advantage all the way to the chequered flag 23 laps later. Prebble was initially his closest rival before dropping back down the field to eventually finish fifth as his tyres were well past their best. Norris snatched the runner-up slot but he had to set the fastest lap of the race again - and make his Evo as 'wide' as possible to prevent Kilby from getting past him. And of course Kilby had started at the back of the grid following his DNF in Race 1 - he came close a couple of times, but never quite close enough to pull off the brave overtaking move that was required, even when he put two wheels on the grass in an effort to squeeze past Norris. Faull started off well and was holding fourth place until lap 18 when his clutch packed up, leaving Jones to inherit that position.

Following some innovative repairs by the team at Interceptor racing Liquorish was able to start Race 2, albeit on the back row of the grid. He was a man with something to prove and rocketed through the field to grab the GpB lead from Thomas by lap 5. Behind Thomas, Gorringe, Leatham and Harston were all determined to make the final place on the GpB podium and were all evenly matched until Harston pushed his luck a bit too far and finished in the gravel on lap 12, leaving Leatham to take second place behind Thomas, who set another fastest lap, but ahead of Gorringe. Harries once again rounded off the GpB runners, the Subaru still unable to match the pace of the Evos.

But what happened to Liquorish who had started on the back row and fought his way up to lead GpB? He was black flagged on lap 16 when the amount of smoke his Evo X was producing, due to an oil leak, became too much for race officials to allow to continue. Consolation for a frustrating day for Liquorish came in champagne form when he later collected the Launch Motorsport Drive of the Day award.

The first race from Brands will be broadcast on Motors TV on Friday June 18th at 7.35pm (BST), with the second race shown at the same time the following Friday (25th).


Simon Cooke

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