Masters Gentleman Drivers
Qualifying was tricky due to the wet conditions, Julian Thomas would qualify 2nd on the grid in his low-drag Jaguar E-Type. Two Austin Healey 3000's were also in action. Nils-Fredrik Nyblaeus and co-driver Jeremy Welch qualified 18th in YOP 999 and Alex Bell in 767 KNX would start 24th.
In the opening laps, Julian dropped back to 4th, but soon he found his way past the 3rd placed Lotus Elan and 2nd placed Cobra.
From lap 10 to lap 17 he exchanged fastest laps with the leader and took the lead himself on lap 12.
Thomas hung on to a one-second lead when both cars came into the pits for their mandatory pitstop. Following a quicker stop, Thomas held a five-second lead but the Gans/Wolfe Cobra steadily chewed into it and nipped past on lap 22.
Julian would go on to finish in 2nd place and was happy with the result against the more powerful Cobra.
Meanwhile Nyblaeus and Welch were doing well in the Healey, climbing to 1st place in class before receiving a drive through penalty for crossing the pit exit line. This cost them valuable time and places, dropping them to 3rd in class. Video evidence would later show that they hadn't crossed the line but by this time the penalty had been served and there was no changing the result.
Position | Class | Number | Driver(s) | Car | Laps | Best Lap |
2 | 2 | 92 | Julian Thomas | Jaguar E-Type | 31 | 2:04.307 |
16 | 3 | 96 | Nils-Fredrik Nyblaeus/Jeremy Welch | Austin Healey 3000 | 29 | 2:10.410 |
DNF | - | 133 | Alex Bell | Austin Healey 3000 | 18 | 2:19.263 |
AvD Touring Car and GT Challenge
Julian Thomas was also in action in his 1965 Ford Falcon Sprint in the AvD Touring Car and GT race.
Wet weather on Friday saw saturated driving conditions for qualifying. Julian excelled in the conditions to qualify 8th, comfortably the fastest American Touring car.
Saturday saw more rain fall and a very slippery track. Julian took advantage of this and would go on to win his class, lapping the next in class 4 times!
Overall a good weekend for car, driver and the team.
Position | Class | Number | Driver(s) | Car | Laps | Best Lap |
14 | 1 | 91 | Julian Thomas | Ford Falcon Sprint | 25 | 2:21.251 |