Julian Lay collected his first Radical SR1 Cup win at Brands Hatch, after a determined drive in drying conditions. Lay had qualified eighth for the opening race of the day, with RAW Motorsports team mate Gavin McAlpine in 11th. “It was wet and then just went greasy, but I had been second quickest until then, but didn’t adapt to the changing conditions,” said Lay. Race 1:Julian made a fantastic start and by the end of the opening lap was into third place and threatening, before taking Shane Stoney for second a lap later
With leader Ross Elliott going off on the main straight after only three laps, Lay was lucky to avoid him. “When Ross went off, we went either side of him after he got sideways. Stoney went right and I went left, with two wheels on the grass,” he explained. Stoney had the lead but they were nose to tail. “I nearly hit Shane going into Paddock Hill Bend, so knew I was quicker. He was a bit sideways at Graham Hill Bend, so I got a run on him into Surtees and had the lead,” Lay added. His lead started to grow but in the closing laps traffic allowed Stoney to close, but at the flag he had enough in hand to take the win by 0.741 secs.Having lost ground at the start, McAlpine had clawed his way back to ninth place and closed on David Tagg’s eighth, before slipping back to 11th from lap eight.
Race 2: Lay had made a reasonable start again in the second race, lying in seventh place, when the safety car came out with two cars off. “I was stuck behind Mark Williams and the top three managed to get away from the green flag,” he said. His battle was for fourth place, which having finally breached Williams’ defence, was his from lap eight.” I was happy with my pace, but needed to have got Mark much earlier, as it was impossible to close the gap to the others,” he concluded. McAlpine had started 11th again and made three places on the opening lap. After chasing down Mark Tranter, he was seventh by lap 12 and continued to edge closer to Williams and a possible top six finish. Williams responded however in the closing laps and at the flag he was still 0.668 secs away, so settled for a hard fought seventh.