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Description: Round 11 of 12 of the 1987 Dunlop tyres RAC British Touring Car Championship held over 15 laps at the 4.023 kilometer/2.500 mile Donington Park circuit on Sunday 20 September 1987.
With the penultimate round shaping up it was the usual suspects that turned up with a few changes. Rover mounted Dennis Leech was out to defend his hard won points lead from the similar car of Tim Harvey, with Graham Scarborough and David Carvell making it four usual Vitesses. Mike O’Brien was back in the Alan Docking Commodore as was endurance winner Mike Newman in his 635. The damage to the Graham Goode Ford Sierra at the Silverstone TT was worse than expected and the silver Listerine car would be missing, but Andy Rouse and Peter Hall would make it two ICS RS500s in class A. Class B would be almost crowded with six takers. Frank Sytner would once more be the impossible quick yard stick despite racing the only non-turbo car, while Mark Hales was out to secure his second in the overall point standings in his Terry Drury Escort RS Turbo. Lionel Wiffen was backing Hales' efforts in the second Drury car while Karl Jones was back for more Group A action in the Longman/Duckhams Turbo. Kevin Eaton in the Nissan Bluebird and Jon Dooley in the Alfa 75 would make it five Turbo cars in this class. Colin Pearcy in the MG Metro Turbo still had to contend with Roger Saunders for class C honours with David Kay in a second Renault 5 GT Turbo. Allan Minshaw was final class contender in the Demon Tweeks VW Golf GTI 16V. Finally Chris Hodgetts was out to celebrate his championship in a singleton CHMS Corolla with Geoff Kimber-Smith as only other rwd Corolla for the race. Tiff Needell would make a return with the front drive TOM's GB Corolla with the class D backed up by a pair of Ford Escorts. Keith Norman would make his debut in the North Essex car while Richard Belcher was more familiar with the ropes of his Alan Gaunt mount. This would make for a fine 23 car entry list, on the second visit to the Northamptonshire track, this time using the full Grand Prix circuit.
A little unusual for a BTCC round all action was compressed to Sunday only which would affect two contesters severely. At the early time slot of 9 AM Sunday morning the track was still damp for first qualifying while the later second session saw a lot of oil greasing the track.
Grid:
1.A – Andy Rouse, 1:45.41
2.B – Frank Sytner, 1:48.45
3.A – Mike O'Brien, 1:48.94
4.A – David Carvell, 1:49.73 – DNS due to accident
5.A – Graham Scarborough, 1:50.40
6.A – Tim Harvey, 1:50.89
7.A – Mike Newman, 1:51.43
8.B – Kevin Eaton, 1:53.39
9.D – Chris Hodgetts, 1:53.85
10.B – Jon Dooley, 1:54.05
11.A – Pete Hall, 1:54.27
12.D – Tiff Needell, 1:54.59
13.A – Dennis Leech, 1:55.28
14.B – Mark Hales, 1:56.10
15.C – Alan Minshaw, 1:57.20
16.D – Richard Belcher, 1:57.33
17.D – Geoff Kimber-Smith, 1:57.55
18.C – Roger Saunders, 1:57.88
19.D – Keith Norman, 1:59.97
20.C – Colin Pearcy, 2:01.34
21.C – David Kay, 2:04.42
22.B – Lionel Wiffen, 2:09.33 – DNS due to accident
23.B – Karl Jones, 3:26.08
Once again the pole sitting Sierra would make a mess of the start panicking a few competitors behind. This time Graham Scarborough just made it by while a fast starting Dennis Leech was bringing himself into trouble for the deed taking to the grass to avoid hitting anything. This saw Frank Sytner and Mike O’Brien leading from Tim Harvey up from sixth. But Andy Rouse was the mover, quickly disposing of Harvey and then O’Brien to bring himself in front from Sytner by lap three simply powering his way through every time. Rouse would soon make a break from Sytner who in similar action left O’Brien and the rest well behind. Although the winning margin was only 2 seconds at the finish victory was never in doubt in what was for once a processional race. Mike O’Brien kept the Commodore in fine shape through out helped by Tim Harvey with a slightly sick V8 engine. Graham Scarborough and Dennis Leech was disputing fifth early on decided their fight with in a clash that left Leech with a puncture and a pit call. This left him 16th and last but still netting him a single point for sixth in class A. Mike Newman fell from contention with a spin but still netted seventh in the end. Peter Hall had his Sierra breaking a cwp early on.
Kevin Eaton was holding station to finish best of the rest in the class B Nissan while Mark Hales resettled orders by beating Jon Dooley to last in class, Karl Jones losing his Turbo early on. Colin Pearcy took the undisputed class C honours as only survivor. David Kay retired his Renault with overheating at the very beginning but did win the supporting Cup race. Roger Saunders went off to the escape road at the same time but would return only to retire with a failed hub on the 10th lap. Shortly afterwards Allan Minshaw had a driveshaft failure on his Golf ending a miserable class C scrap. No such worries to be found in class D as Chris Hodgetts would celebrate his overall championship win another class win – his tenth of the year. Tiff Needell would take second helped by a spin by Geoff Kimber-Smith. Richard Belcher won the Escort battle from Keith Norman.
A two week break ensured before Silverstone would take contesters through to the 12th and final round. Chris Hodgetts and Mark Hales would be secure in first and second, while Colin Pearcy had all but wrapped up class C. Only Dennis Leech and Tim Harvey were in for a real fight for class A honours.
Result:
1./ #1 / Andy Rouse / Rouse / A / Ford Sierra RS500 Cosworth / 15 laps / 27m18.66s / FL
2./ #33 / Frank Sytner / Sytner / B / BMW M3 / 15 laps / 27m20.54s / FL
3./ #7 / Mike O'Brien / Docking / A / Holden Commodore VK / 15 laps / 27m39.41s
4./ #8 / Tim Harvey / Maguire / A / Rover Vitesse / 15 laps / 27m52.95s
5./ #3 / Graham Scarborough / unknown / A / Rover Vitesse / 15 laps / 28m00.74s
6./ #10 / Mike Newman / Newman / A / BMW 635CSi / 15 laps / 28m08.13s
7./ #32 / Kevin Eaton / Eaton / B / Nissan Bluebird Turbo / 15 laps / 28m25.18s
8./ #66 / Chris Hodgetts / Hodgetts / D / Toyota Corolla GT / 15 laps / 29m03.89s / FL
9./ #38 / Mark Hales / Drury / B / Ford Escort RS Turbo / 15 laps / 29m19.56s
10./ #70 / Tiff Needell / TOM'S / D / Toyota Corolla FX / 14 laps
11./ #77 / Geoff Kimber-Smith / Kimber-Smith / D / Toyota Corolla GT / 14 laps
12./ #? / Richard Belcher / Gaunt / D / Ford Escort RS1600i / 14 laps
13./ #? / Keith Norman / May / D / Ford Escort RS1600i / 14 laps
14./ #55 / Colin Pearcy / Pearcy / C / MG Metro Turbo / 14 laps
15./ #31 / Jon Dooley / ARDT / B / Alfa Romeo 75 TE / 14 laps
16./ #4 / Dennis Leech / Leech / A / Rover Vitesse / 14 laps
DNFs
#? / Alan Minshaw / Minshaw / C / VW Golf GTI 16V / 10 laps / driveshaft
#45 / Roger Saunders / Saunders / C / Renault 5 GT Turbo / 9 laps / hub
#22 / Karl Jones / Longman? / B / Ford Escort RS Turbo / 5 laps / turbo
#2 / Pete Hall / Rouse / A / Ford Sierra RS500 Cosworth / 4 laps / cwp (suspension?)
#? / David Kay / unknown / C / Renault 5 GT Turbo / 0 laps / overheating
DNSs
#5 / David Carvell / Potter / A / Rover Vitesse / accident
#39 / Lionel Wiffen / Drury / B / Ford Escort RS Turbo / accident
I have conflicting info regarding the entrant of the Karl Jones Escort – either a Longman or an Asquith entry?
With Chris Hodgetts a car down since Spa and a car committed to the forthcoming Bathurt, would be my guess for one car present at Donington.
Jesper
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