The MSA British Dunlop Endurance Championship resumed with round two taking at Donington Park last weekend after a long break.
The first rounds in March were dominated by Callum Lockie and David Mason in the FF Corse Ferrari. Lockie was back this weekend, this time driving solo. The championships only female entrant at the frst round, Amanda Black was missing from the field this time with her Ginetta G55.
It was the Mike Millard Rapier on pole from Oz Yusuf in his Radical and new to the championship this weekend. Lockie was in third.
Oz Yusuf got the best start as race one got under way with Lockie also passing the slow starting Millard. Darelle Wilson and Ian Heward didn’t even make the start, pulling into the pits with a loose exhaust manifold on their Diesel VW Scirocco.
Millard eventually caught and passed Lockie a few laps into the race and he got the lead when Yusuf collided with the Aston Martin GT4 of the Brown family at the old hairpin. The collision put both ars out of the race. The resulting safety car period saw Callum Lockie stopping twice with the second stop for fuel toward the end of the safety car period ensuring he didn’t have to stop again. This meant that although the class 1 Millard Rapier was slightly faster than Lockie’s Class 2 Ferrari, he didn’t have enough time remaining in the race to complete his fuel stop and then re-catch the Ferrari giving Lockie his second win of the season. Lockie was obviously also the Class one victor with Millard taking Class 1. Class 3 was won by the Roll Centre Racing BMW M3 GTR V8 of Martin Short and Chris Neary. Class four, contested by the Sports and Touring championship drivers only competes in the first race although this time someof the cars would constest both with them being an invitation class for the second race. Luca Demarchi won this class in his Diesel Hybrid BMW 1 series run by Saxon Motorsport.
The second race was at the end of the day. Yusuf’s Radical was able to be fixed in time to take it’s place on the grid but the Brown Family Aston Martin had suffered heavy damage and the team did not have all the parts to fix it so their day was done.
With a smaller grid taking the race two start Callum Lockie was again contesting the lead from Oz Yusuf’s Radical and Mike Millard’s Rapier. Sadly the Radical’s race was soon over as it slowed in a cloud of smoke. An oil leak also caused a small fire as the car headed to the pits. The team did attempt to fix the car but it was a lost cause and Yusuf retired. Millard also appeared to be in trouble with the Rapier. In what should be the fastest car on track he was unable to keep up with Lockie. The team had a quick look in the pits but it soon became clear he had terminal engine issues and the second of the two class 1 cars was out.
There was now no realistic opposition to the FF Corse Ferrari and so providing Lockie could keep going he would take his second win of the day. He did keep going and didn’t even back off his blistering pace taking the victory by two laps from the Neary/Short Class 3 BMW M3 V8 GTR. The Invitation Class (Class 4 cars wanting a second race.) was won by Danny Holland, an injured former soldier. He was racing for Team Brit, a team made up of all injured soldiers from the Kart Force initiative. They are currently gaining experience with the aim of one day competing as a team at the Le Mans 24 hours.
Callum Lockie has now won all of the season’s races so far and leads the championship. His nearest challenge is currently Nick Holden in his Holden Motorsport Aerial Atom. His consistency is keeping him in the points hunt for the overall title with the Rollcentre BMW of Short and Neary in third.
The next rounds are at Snetterton in Norfolk on the 30th August. Can Callum Lockie keep up FF Corse’s winning streak or can his opposition finally beat him? By Marc Waller
