Official Race Report from Paul Lawrence

Brown on top at Castle Combe

Tony Brown took victory in round 13 of the Michelin Porsche Club Championship at Castle Combe on Saturday (2 October).

It was Championship leader Richard Lambert (911 Carrera 3) that was fastest in qualifying, however, with a lap of 1m 23.802s being just faster than that set by fellow Class 2 runner Adam Egar (911 SC). Brown (911 RS) was only third fastest and the first of the Class 1 runners while Chris Stewart set the pace in Class 3 with his 911E.

Lambert led the early stages of the event with Egar and Brown in constant attendance until the safety car was scrambled on the eighth lap due to a shower of rain. Having started 15s behind the cars in the concurrent Porsche Open race, the top trio had already passed all bar the two runaway leaders of that category within three laps of the race starting once again.

But on the 18th lap of the race it all went wrong for Lambert. "I got held up but Chris Stewart's 911E through Camp," he explained. "That meant that I lost momentum down the straight and trying to get time back I went over the grass and into the tyres at Quarry." Lambert managed to recover and retain third position, and second in Class 2 to Egar, but so strong has his season been that this is one of the scores he will now drop from his final total.

When Lambert went off Egar inherited the lead but lost it on the penultimate lap when Brown sliced ahead at Camp corner. "It was a game of two halves really - I let the Class 2 guys go and I just sat behind them in the wet, but I was able to get ahead in the dry," said the race winner. Egar was nevertheless victorious in Class 2 while Stewart scooped Class 3 honours.