Reports > Castle Combe April 1 2013

Podium for Bracegirdle

It was a freezing cold Easter Monday at Castle Combe on April 1 2013 but it didn't stop the WPR team from putting up a good showing in the three Castle Combe Championship races.

In the Saloon Car race Wayne Poole himself stepped in to Guy Parr's Fiesta at the last minute and managed to qualify a respectable 15th. But a start from the back of the grid meant hard work in the race with plenty of overtaking opportunities (7 on the first lap!) until Wayne had got up to 13th place by which time the field was so strung out that further progress was impossible.

The team was well represented in Class C for the Formula Ford race with Steve Bracegirdle and evergreen Pete Diccox (77 this year and counting!) out in their Van Diemen RF89s joined by Ray Smith in his Swift SC93. Steve qualified well immediately behind the Class C pole (with a 1m 15.37s lap - good in the cold conditions) but a poor start dropped hime back.  Pete and Ray made good starts with Ray up to second in Class which he held for the opening laps. He was quickly joined with some A and B Class cars along with Steve and in the ensuing close order got shuffled back allowing Steve up to second in Class. Ray fought back and pushed the Swift to its limits at Tower in his fight with a Class A car. Although Steve began closing on the Class leader with some consistent lapping in the low 1m 16s (something he even managed in Thursday testing despite a broken rear ARB!) he had to settle for 2nd. Pete had an uneventful race and made it to the finish.

Steve Bracegirdle was the only team representative in the GT race and despite qualifying a promising 6th a poor opening lap (which saw the front end not wanting to stick going in to Tower) saw Steve bottled up behind some slower runners and a safety car period later in the race effectively ended Steve's chances of a good showing with 9th place to show for his efforts at the chequered flag.