2005 Race Reports

	Brands Hatch, England, 23 - 24 July 2005
	Click here to see more photos from the event
	With 24 cars entered for the Grand Prix Circuit and, despite some niggling problems at the test day on Friday, race prospects were good with the ever competitive group of cars racing this season. Qualifying brought pole for David Mercer in his Spice SE90C in a stunning 1:20.459, an average of just over 115mph, a great time, on which Jonathan Palmer commented, when recounting his early days competing with David in Sprites and Midgets, as a Medical Student! Charlie Agg - Nissan R90CK, Gary Pearson in J D Classics Jaguar XJR11 and Justin Law in the Castrol XJR10 made up the first two rows of the grid.
	Race 1
	David Mercer stormed off into the lead, chased very hard by Agg who got passed on lap 2 only to spin off at Surtees on some oil left by the very unfortunate Jenna Brorsson who's Porsche engine let go with fiery results. Pearson moved up to second and Law lost power, which brought Nigel James in the 'tictac' Porche 962 back into contention. Despite a great drive from Pearson, Mercer held the lead to the flag by just under 6 seconds, followed by James. Meanwhile, Richard Eyre in his first outing with his Jaguar XJR16 had stalled on the grid and started to make rapid progress through the field and was 9th by lap 5 and 6th by lap 10, where he came up behind the battle between Mullen in the Spice GTP and Pearman in his Porsche 962. At the front Pearson had fought back to just 0.227 of a second from Mercer but his challenge was to be thwarted by traffic on lap 15 and it took the next 5 laps to get back in touch. At the same time Eyre squeezed passed Pearman on lap 17 and Mullen on lap 19 to take fourth, a position he held to the end. Jim Graham, after a torrid qualifying in the Takefuji Porsche 962, fought from 14th to 7th by the end, just getting passed Peter McLaughlin one lap from the finish!
	Race 2
	Rain! Torrential rain had set-up mini rivers in a couple of places and as it eased off and the wind and warm ambient temperature started to dry the track, a few dry areas could be seen on the start finish side of the circuit, providing an opportunity for the better equipped to choose between wets and intermediates with one or two even contemplating slicks. Most avoided slicks and the circuit provided the ultimate mix of wet and dry corners for people to contend with! Mercer lead with Justin Law having a complete blinder of a start followed by James and Pearson, the latter having voted for intermediates and struggling at the back of the circuit where it was still very wet. Michael Christopher in the Prosport LM3000 (Invitation Class) was driving brilliantly in 6th place only to have a misfire that slowed him but he still managed a great 7th place. Martyn Eyre in the Gebhardt Cosworth chased brother Richard in the Jaguar XJR16, having had electrical problems on the rebuilt Gebhardt in practice. It was good to see Martyn get up to 7th in his first race with the car, but neither he nor Richard were to finish the race. Nick Rini in the Jaguar XJR12D was having a super drive and worked his way up from 13th to 6th, finishing just behind Jim Mullen. The final result was so very, very close as Pearson found the track drying and the Jaguar XJR11 performing at its best, which enabled him to get within 0.155s of Mercer at the flag and a fastest lap over 3 seconds quicker than anyone else! Law held onto 3rd with a plug lead adrift! James, Mullen and Rini completed the top 6 places. All in all a terrific weekend for competitors and spectators at what is one of the great tracks in the world.
	Qualifying No Class Driver Car Time Laps Gap Mph 21 1 David Mercer Spice SE90C 1:20.459 13   116.69 27 1 Charlie Agg Nissan R90CK 1:22.024 9 1.565 114.47 60 1 Justin Law Jaguar XJR10 1:22.345 16 1.886 114.02 4 1 Gary Pearson Jaguar XJR11 1:22.563 12 2.104 113.72 12 1 Jim Mullen Spice GTP 1:23.742 18 3.283 112.12 17 1 Nigel James Porsche 962C 1:23.744 12 3.285 112.12 2 1 Richard Eyre Jaguar XJR16 1:25.281 14 4.822 110.10 14 1 Henry Pearman Porsche 962 1:26.110 18 5.651 109.04 38 1 Will Arif Jaguar XJ12LM 1:29.487 2 9.028 104.92 31 5 Michael Christopher Prosport LM3000 1:30.200 8 9.741 104.09 8 1 Peter McLaughlin Spice SE90 1:30.663 18 10.204 103.56 29 1 Martyn Eyre Gebhardt Cosworth 1:30.921 11 10.462 103.27 82 1 Jenna Brorsson Porsche 962 1:31.539 15 11.080 102.57 133 1 Jim Graham Porsche 962C 1:31.982 11 11.523 102.08 28 1 Richard Oddie Argo Chevrolet JM20C 1:32.514 17 12.055 101.49 19 1 John Edwards Argo JMC 19 1:33.116 10 12.657 100.83 32 1 Nick Rini Jaguar XJR12D 1:33.218 16 12.759 100.72 88 1 Chris Randall Nissan NTP1 GTP 1:34.449 2 13.990 99.41 16 4 Peter Schleifer March Chevrolet 84G 1:35.918 8 15.459 97.89 42 5 Per-Olof Thunberg Porsche 935 1:37.720 13 17.261 96.08 37 4 Richard Bateman Tiga Rover GC287 1:42.772 16 22.313 91.36 103 4 Duncan McKay Bardon Ford DB2 1:45.889 8 25.430 88.67 51 1 Michael Schuster Argo Judd JM19 2:16.734 2 56.275 68.67
	Race 1 No Class Driver Car Time Laps Gap Mph Best Lap 21 1 David Mercer Spice SE90C 30:38.408 22   112.40 1:21.619 4 1 Gary Pearson Jaguar XJR11 30:44.388 22 5.980 112.03 1:21.871 17 1 Nigel James Porsche 962C 31:41.810 22 1:03.402 108.65 1:24.506 2 1 Richard Eyre Jaguar XJR16 31:10.595 21 1 Lap 105.44 1:25.419 12 1 Jim Mullen Spice GTP 31:14.392 21 1 Lap 105.23 1:27.436 14 1 Henry Pearman Porsche 962 31:20.000 21 1 Lap 104.91 1:27.533 133 1 Jim Graham Porsche 962C 30:44.659 20 2 Laps 101.83 1:28.368 8 1 Peter McLaughlin Spice SE90 30:48.469 20 2 Laps 101.62 1:28.804 19 1 John Edwards Argo JMC 19 31:28.786 20 2 Laps 99.46 1:31.552 28 1 Richard Oddie Argo Chevrolet JM20C 31:32.060 20 2 Laps 99.28 1:31.663 16 4 Peter Schleifer March Chevrolet 84G 32:00.831 20 2 Laps 97.80 1:34.079 31 5 Michael Christopher Prosport LM3000 40:48.560 19 3 Laps 96.54 1:32.278 32 1 Nick Rini Jaguar XJR12D 31:22.663 19 3 Laps 94.79 1:34.331 42 5 Per-Olof Thunberg Porsche 935 31:43.635 19 3 Laps 93.75 1:37.707 51 1 Michael Schuster Argo Judd JM19 28:19.028 18 4 Laps 99.51 1:29.337 103 4 Duncan McKay Bardon Ford DB2 31:32.152 18 4 Laps 89.35 1:42.119 37 4 Richard Bateman Tiga Rover GC287 31:33.878 18 4 Laps 89.27 1:42.444 Not Classified 27 1 Charlie Agg Nissan R90CK 4:12.438 3 D.N.F. 111.85 1:22.800 60 1 Justin Law Jaguar XJR10 4:16.689 3 D.N.F. 110.00 1:24.306 82 1 Jenna Brorsson Porsche 962 3:06.257 2 D.N.F. 101.18 1:30.826 Fastest Lap 21 1 David Mercer Spice SE90C 1:21.619 11   115.04   31 5 Michael Christopher Prosport LM3000 1:32.278 2   101.75   16 4 Peter Schleifer March Chevrolet 84G 1:34.079 11   99.80
	Race 2 No Class Driver Car Time Laps Gap Mph Best Lap 21 1 David Mercer Spice SE90C 29:23.091 19   101.22 1:30.244 4 1 Gary Pearson Jaguar XJR11 29:23.246 19 0.155 101.21 1:26.718 60 1 Justin Law Jaguar XJR10 29:43.151 19 20.060 100.08 1:31.578 17 1 Nigel James Porsche 962C 30:27.634 19 1:04.543 97.65 1:34.161 12 1 Jim Mullen Spice GTP 29:42.087 18 1 Lap 94.87 1:34.340 32 1 Nick Rini Jaguar XJR12D 30:12.334 18 1 Lap 93.29 1:35.946 31 5 Michael Christopher Prosport LM3000 30:27.099 18 1 Lap 92.54 1:38.479 14 1 Henry Pearman Porsche 962 30:37.580 18 1 Lap 92.01 1:37.898 51 1 Michael Schuster Argo Judd JM19 30:38.720 18 1 Lap 91.95 1:37.419 8 1 Peter McLaughlin Spice SE90 29:39.972 17 2 Laps 89.71 1:41.241 19 1 John Edwards Argo JMC 19 29:51.035 17 2 Laps 89.16 1:40.150 28 1 Richard Oddie Argo Chevrolet JM20C 30:15.224 17 2 Laps 87.97 1:37.448 16 4 Peter Schleifer March Chevrolet 84G 29:54.750 16 3 Laps 83.74 1:45.786 133 1 Jim Graham Porsche 962C 30:43.093 16 3 Laps 81.54 1:41.069 37 4 Richard Bateman Tiga Rover GC287 29:31.787 15 4 Laps 79.53 1:53.797 42 5 Per-Olof Thunberg Porsche 935 30:07.876 15 4 Laps 77.94 1:41.938 Not Classified 2 1 Richard Eyre Jaguar XJR16 23:31.870 12 D.N.F. 79.85 1:39.516 29 1 Martyn Eyre Gebhardt Cosworth 13:47.869 8 D.N.F. 90.81 1:40.054 103 4 Duncan McKay Bardon Ford DB2   0 D.N.F. N/A   Fastest Lap 4 1 Gary Pearson Jaguar XJR11 1:26.718 19   108.27   31 5 Michael Christopher Prosport LM3000 1:38.479 6   95.34   16 4 Peter Schleifer March Chevrolet 84G 1:45.786 14   88.76