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The Brands Hatch Indy Circuit provided the setting for an extraordinary BTCC race weekend for Barwell Motorsport. Kiwi Aaron Slight suffered ups and downs throughout Qualifying and raceday, but the New Zealander battled on and emerged with an increased points lead in the Independents Cup. A major highlight for the Barwell team was also the fact that Aaron sensationally qualified his 2001-specification Vauxhall Astra second overall for the Feature Race grid, once again demonstrating the excellent set-up of his car to full effect.
The closeness of the lap times around the 1.2 mile Brands Indy 'bowl' never ceases to amaze, and Sunday's official qualifying session was no different. The difference in lap times from the front to the back of the 17-car Touring Class field was just 8/10ths of a second! Aaron was in the hunt for the top grid positions from the start of the Sprint race session, and he and the Barwell engineers gradually improved the set-up of his car each time he went out on the track. With a few minutes remaining of this session Aaron looked to have secured sixth, with a time under 2/10ths of a second off pole, but another two cars slotted times in mere 100ths quicker and bumped him to eighth for the Sprint!
Aaron's best individual 'sector' times of each corner had all been bang on the pace, but he had yet to complete one really special lap which matched them all up and produced his best potential lap time. This was clearly the target for the Feature race qualifying session, and his first run was better but still only good enough for the fringes of the top six. He then calmly sat in the pits until timing his final run towards the very end of the session. This time he managed to match up four out of five of those best corner sector times, and the result was a stunning second fastest time - just 2/1000ths of a second from pole, which in distance is only 6.1 centimetres!!
Aaron clearly had the pace to challenge for a top three result on his Brands Indy debut, but racing around this circuit is unlike any other place - and experience counts for a great deal. He had also upset many of the established stars with his qualifying performance, and this would count against him. Right from the green lights at the start of the Sprint race it was clear this was going to be a bruising encounter, as Aaron got tagged by two cars off the startline and then squeezed out wide at the first corner. Before the dust settled next time by he was then unceremoniously turfed into a spin by the factory Honda of Alan Morrison (not for the first time this season), and then had to fight his way back through the Production Class pack.
Aaron had been right behind Tom, but suffered more cruel fortune as he was hit by a Production car and knocked into the Paddock gravel trap.
Aaron's horrible luck continued on during the day, as a problem with the throttle sensor inside the air intake (probably caused by his earlier trip into the gravel) meant that he got stuck in the pit lane as everyone was leaving to form up on the grid. We managed to fix the problem, but he missed the deadline to get out onto the grid and would be forced to start from the pit lane. The 40-lap Feature race at Brands can include many twists of the plot, however, and team strategy can always play a major part in the end result.
This is where we managed to turn Aaron's race around completely, as we crucially anticipated the deployment of the safety car and made the call to bring him into the pits, just in time before they closed the pit lane entrance. This meant that his two-wheel stop was carried out with the rest of the field crawling round behind the safety car. After the pit stop he emerged out of the pits in an incredible fifth place - not bad considering he had started stone cold last (29th place including the Production class field) and also had to work his way through the entire Production class pack!
Slight, meanwhile, was untroubled in fifth and closing down Indie rival, Tim Harvey (Peugeot 406) for the class win and fourth overall. Then, with just six laps to go his rear tyres picked up some of the 'marbles' (chewed up rubber residue from the tyres) on the outer edge of the track, and he had a big slide. This put the snarling pack of Anthony Reid (factory MG), Muller, Neal and Priaulx onto his tail and an amazing battle ensued over fifth place. Aaron got whacked by just about every one of them as places were swapped around at every corner during a monumental five-lap scrap. With Muller and Neal fighting for the overall drivers' title, things were getting pretty nasty as they tried to bully the Barwell Astra out of the way. At this stage we needed a finish, and thus radioed Aaron to not get involved and bring the car home in ninth overall and second Indie Cup runner. Tom Chilton, Aaron's team mate was able to finish right on Aaron's bumper, in 10th overall, as they crossed the line.
With just the final event at Donington Park left, the stage is set for a nail-biting final showdown in the fight for the prestigious Independents Cup championship title. Aaron currently holds a 13-point lead over the VLR Peugeots of Harvey and Eaves, and is looking forward to returning to his favourite circuit.
The final event is at Donington Park, September 21/22
