Barker, Butcher and Tinkler win inaugural Equipe 6 Hours encounter

The #40 Lotus Elan driven by Ben Barker, Rory Butcher, and Ben Tinkler secured victory in the first-ever six-hour Equipe Classic Racing endurance event at Donington Park last weekend. The trio was followed home by the similar Elan of John Tordoff, James Dorlin, and Andrew Jordan.

Tordoff started the race from pole in the #600 car, after Jordan set the fastest time in the morning qualifying session, but was outdragged by the #40 Lotus on the run into Redgate. By lap two, the lead Elan had already built a gap of a second, while Tordoff soon fell outside the top five, but the Am driver was happy to be on the pace regardless.

“Surrounded by some quick drivers out there,” said Tordoff shortly after his stint. “But I was only slightly slower than Rory [Butcher] so happy with that!”

The Jordan car was then delayed with a puncture but, after that, the race ebbed and flowed with three safety cars but no significant changes between the two frontrunners. It was the number 40 Elan still in front by the flag with the #600 machine in second, almost 60 seconds back after 251 laps of racing.  

“We led from start to finish,” explained Butcher. “The car was really good. We didn’t have any critical issues, which was incredible over six hours. The car’s been well prepared and everybody did their job and nobody did track limits so no penalties!

“I think with the gap that we had we were just managing it to the Jordan car. I think they were having to push full speed so just had to make sure we got to the end, which we did – only just. We ran out of fuel on the in-lap!”

Former British Touring Car champion Jordan was slightly downcast about the puncture but still pleased with the result: “Getting to the end is the highlight. When you’ve won the three or the six hours before, like we have before in the blue Elan, it’s easy to get a bit fixed on the result but, actually, it’s pretty hard to get one of these cars to the end.

“Their [#40] car was faultless, a little frustrating that we had a puncture and lost over a minute changing that. Without that, it could have been a different story but that’s how it goes.”

The podium was completed by Connor Kay, Ben Caisley, and Dominic Mooney in another Elan. Mooney was delayed just four laps into the contest to sort out a brake overflow tank following a pad change before the race. The trio plucked away for the rest of the afternoon, taking advantage of their good speed and superior fuel economy compared to the AC Cobra of Nick Sleep and Alex Montgomery to complete the rostrum, albeit 10 laps behind the lead duo!

The opening encounter of the Equipe Sports Prototype category was held in pouring wet conditions. James Abbott got a super start on the waterlogged circuit in his Revolution to complete a pass around the outside of poleman Bradley Smith at Redgate. The safety car came out early to recover Graham Charman, who had gone off on the opening tour and soon Smith joined him in retirement. Once the race got back under way, Abbott led the pack, but Mike Jenvey closed in rapidly aboard his Jenvey-Gunn TS6 machine. Unfortunately, he threw away his chance at victory at McLeans where he took a trip through the gravel.

“I was just trying to see past him,” explained Jenvey. “There was a big puddle coming into McLeans. I hit it the lap before but, on that lap, I hit it properly. I managed to get down the gears and chug it through the gravel though.”

The second race also provided drama as Smith sliced his way to lead by half distance, only to suffer a fuel pressure problem with his Norma just two laps from home, allowing Jenvey to triumph.

Equipe Formula Libre may have lacked cars but the opener was a cracker, topped by Jacobsen (14)

Photo by: Jonathan Mills

Even though there were only nine cars on the grid, the Equipe Formula Libre competitors delivered a thrilling first race. Tim Jacobsen was the victor ahead of Jim McGaughay and Ray Smith as the trio sliced and diced for the lead throughout the 20-minute contest. Early on, Dean Forward appeared to have the race under control but suffered a rear wing failure that pitched his Surtees into the wall on the entrance into Redgate.

Jacobsen, McGaughay, and Smith therefore battled it out, with David Sheppard joining the dicing trio. Even though Jacobsen’s March 74B ultimately took the top step of the podium, the top four were covered by just under two seconds at the flag.

Race two was a calmer affair, being red-flagged on the second lap after Smith beached his Ralt RT4 at McLeans. With the race restarted with 15 minutes on the clock and only six cars remaining, Mark Williams took the win in his Lola T462 after passing Jacobsen on lap four.

In the Equipe MG Cup ranks, race one was a subdued contest where Rhys Higginbotham took the flag with his MG ZR 190. It briefly looked like Mark Wright would challenge as he got a stronger start in the still-damp conditions. Wright aboard his MGF Cup no doubt benefited from the mid-engined, rear-wheel-drive layout as opposed to the front-wheel-drive, front-engined ZR of Higginbotham. Higginbotham quickly reversed the situation under braking coming into Redgate on the opening tour, however, and was never headed for the remainder of the race. Dan Ludlow was triumphant in race two in his ZR 190 from the Rover 220 Turbo Tomcat of Stuart Tranter.

Showing a dominant display, Chris Ryan went unchallenged in the 40-minute Equipe GTS race. His TVR Grantura only surrendered its lead during the mandatory pitstop and Ryan duly took the flag ahead of the MGB of Harvey McBrien. Delivering an equally commanding drive, Tim Bates came away with the spoils in the Equipe 70s category in his Porsche 911.

Bates was unstoppable in his Porsche in Equipe 70s contest

Photo by: Jonathan Mills