| Race report by Mirage |
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| Round 2 of the BRCA Nationals took place at the awesome Cotswolds track in Gloucester. The track is a unique challenge on the calendar with a large flowing layout with some up and downhill braking sections with a few fast chicanes for good measure. Team XRAY UK have shown some very good pace in testing and won the BTCC round last week so we knew how good the chassis would be. |
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Qualifying Round 1
In modified it was very close, Chris Grainger set off car one and was followed closely in the early stages by Andy Moore and Olly Jefferies, but at half way he seemed to be easing a small but comfortable gap, Chris' cause now helped by a mistake by Andy which saw the world champ clip the grass and spin on to the straight, while all this was going Elliott Harper was hitting the sweet spot and posting quick consistent laps.
Qualifying Round 2
Chris Grainger took the round two win by the narrowest of margins, Olly Jefferies led for nearly the whole race only to go soft on the last lap handing the win to Chris by less than a tenth a second, Andy Moore got a better run finishing 4th just behind the rapid XRAY of Elliott Harper, Phil Chambers is having a good run and is really mixing up the form book, the XRAY driver is now fifth after two rounds. |
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Qualifying Round 3
Another good run by Chris Grainger gave him another win and three out of three means he now cannot be beaten. Next up is Olly Jefferies from Elliott Harper. Mark Gilliland started a good run of form which has extended from the end of last season through to this one and he is now just behind Ben Cosgrove and completes the top five.
Qualifying Round 4
Failure to be at his marshall point on time meant Chris Grainger has lost his fastest run of the day, this may not have a great effect on his postion on the grid but it may shuffle the drivers behind him a little.
Chris Grainger was fastest once more, but lost this rounds time promoting Ben Cosgrove to pole with Olly Jefferies in second. Elliott Harper was another going well until he spilled it just before the straight, in the lower heats Russ Williams and Phil Chambers posted good times keeping them well in the A final with more round to go. |
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Qualifying Round 5
The last round of modified qualifying was exciting with Ben Cosgrove winning the round for XRAY and in doing so did enough to edge out Olly Jefferies and take second on the grid for the A final. Elliott Harper and Andy Moore complete the top five, Stu Noble put in a quick run in the last round and he would make the A final.
Overall Top 10 in Qualifying
1. Chris Grainger
2. Ben Cosgrove XRAY T2'008
3. Olly Jefferies
4. Elliott Harper XRAY T2'008
5. Andy Moore
6. Mark Gilliland XRAY T2'008
7. Stewart Noble
8. Russell Williams
9. Chris Ashton
10. Phil Chambers XRAY T2'008 |
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Five Cell Mod Leg 1 A Final
Leg one of the five cell modified A final saw a clean start from Chris Grainger, Ben Cosgrove and Olly Jefferies made early mistakes and slipped to the mid pack leaving Elliott Harper to give chase to Chris. A glitch from Ben Saw Olly back up to third then disaster for Olly as a stone got into the transmission of the Cyclone and stopped it dead, Chris continued to ease slowly away from Elliott, behind in the mid pack paint was being traded and even world champion Andy Moore was seen to be judged as door handling to aggressively, a disputed stop and go for Andy being one of the outcomes of some heated mid field exchanges. Ben got back up to third while keeping it nice and clean and staying out of trouble. Stu Noble and Phil Chambers finished fourth and fifth respectively.
Five Cell Mod Leg 2 A Final
A much cleaner start by all the drivers saw a fast snake of cars make there way around for lap one, leading as Chris Grainger from Olly Jefferies who darted up the inside of Ben Cosgrove early in the lap, these two would open up a gap over the chasing pack as Olly gave chase to Chris, behind the front two Ben and Elliott fought over third place, Ben managed to hold on third with Elliott next up and Andy Moore completing the top five. |
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Five Cell Mod Leg 3 A Final
Another win for Chris with Ben coming home in second with Elliott third. The end result was as follows:
1. Chris Grainger
2. Ben Cosgrove XRAY T2'008
3. Elliott Harper XRAY T2'008
4. Olly Jefferies
5. Phil Chambers XRAY T2'008
6. Russell Williams
7. Stewart Noble
8. Chris Ashton
9. Andy Moore
10. Mark Gilliland XRAY T2'008 |
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| The XRAY T2 008 was flawless all weekend and was a pleasure to drive. Chris G had another good meeting and is looking strong to defend his 2007 title, we will work hard on trying to stop that happening. |
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