Steve Burgess and Ben Dimmack arrived at Brands Hatch as current GT Cup Championship leaders and the weekend couldn’t have got off to a better start for the RAW Motorsports Radical RXC crew.
After Dimmack had been out in Saturday’s free practice, Burgess set the third best time overall for the race one grid. “I did about eight laps in the session after Ben had scrubbed in tyres and bedded things in for me during practice. I got out early in the session, familiarised and had a pretty clear track. The car felt good so no changes were needed for the first race,” said Burgess.
Due to the cars not having use of the pit garages, it was lap three before the field received the green flag, with Burgess on the back of an immediate three-car break. He was soon into second and chasing Tillbrook’s McLaren for the lead. “I had a decent start and the tyres came in straight away, so I got Loggie’s Mercedes passed the pits and Tillbrook into Hawthorn on the second lap,” he explained.
The lead soon started to grow until he started to slow through Clearways on lap five and Tillbrook was back alongside passed the pits. “The tyres overheated at the rear and it was hard braking,” he added. Tillbrook edged ahead through Surtees but his lead was shortlived, with Burgess back in front into Hawthorns again.
Although the lead had begun to grow again, Burgess was quite pleased to see the safety car for once. “Yes I was glad as it gave the tyres a chance to cool and I could see two GT4 between me and second place,” he said. From the green flag it was a three lap sprint to the flag, with Burgess first home with 3.2 seconds to spare, for a well earned and fairly dominant victory.
It was Dimmack’s turn to start the afternoons two-driver race, and after two introductory green flag laps again, he was second into Paddock and pushing for the lead at Druids. The top six circulated in line, with Dimmack under pressure and down to third, with three more challengers trying to follow.
Campbell took third into Clearways on lap 10 and the Mercedes’ of Loggie and Price had gone by too before Dimmack pitted from sixth to hand to Burgess. “It was fantastic for the first few laps, the I started to lose power and places,” Dimmack explained.
Burgess had been holding sixth since re-joining and made it passed Loggie for fifth just before the red flags came out, securing another GTO Class win from their hard fought fifth place. “I was struggling for grip in the slow stuff but got through OK,” Burgess added. It was Dimmack’s turn to qualify on Sunday morning, he was sixth best but felt it could have been better. ”I was compromised on my best lap, but should have looked for clear track, but I would rather be a chaser than be chased,” he reckoned.
Six laps behind the safety left only eight laps of racing once the race went live. Dimmack was challenging Campbell for fourth into Paddock from the start and shot ahead into Hawthorns. He briefly closed on third placed Loggie too, but the flag was soon out and he was confirmed a solid fourth. Burgess was back in the car for the final race of the weekend and hopes of a third class win.
A shower had meant rain lights were needed, but as Burgess switched the Radical’s on, an electrical problem took out the brake lights and he was black flagged from second overall after just two laps and their race was over.