The 2003 Open Endurance Championship

Round 3 - 25th May
Daytona Milton Keynes

A warm dry start, greeted an excellent turnout of teams, for this the 3rd round of the Championship.

Qualifying resulted in a Biland/Promax front row, courtesy of SRT and The Red Brigade followed by the ProExtreme of Tecserve with the Pro-Max of Special Racing Projects along side.

SRT's Biland, heads the pack

Shortly after the start, the 7-lap advantage for the ProKarts was awarded and the leader board displayed the 5 Prokarts of Gameracer TV, Storming-Normans, Thermokart, Spencer- Motorsport and CFS, in that order. After half an hours racing, the ProMax's of The Red Brigade and Auctionmyigloo, had taken nearly two laps off the leading Prokarts and the Biland of SRT was also in close contention. As the one-hour mark approached, it was the ProMax of Special Racing Projects who lead the Prokart chase, followed by the ProExtreme of Tecserve, then Thundercats and Blue Thunder. Suddenly an unexpected rain shower of considerable precipitation unleashed itself upon the track, sending teams scurrying into the pits for rain tyres, whilst others hung on for a few more laps to see whether the rain would continue to fall, and it did. After the panic subsided and the rain stopped, the Prokart of Thermokart led from the ProExtreme of Tecserve, with Thundercats, Storming-Normans, Blue-Thunder, RJB and Auctionmyigloo all still on the same lap.

Trailvan's ProExtreme in midfield action

At half distance the variation of fuel stops still put the two Prokarts of Thermokart and Storming-Normans back at the head of the field, with the wet conditions still in their favour. Eventually Blue Thunder and SRT's Biland caught and passed Storming-Normans and once again the rapidly drying track had the teams scurrying back to the pits again to refit their slicks, with the exception of Blue Thunder. As the leader board settled down once again, it was Blue Thunder from Thermokart, Storming-Normans, SRT, Tecserve and Special Racing Projects, making up the top half dozen.

Blue Thunder's decision to stay out on a very tired set of wets, had given them a considerable advantage over the rest of the field and everyone waited to see whether or not they could hold out until the end.

Eventual winners, Blue Thunder

Meanwhile a good midfield battlefield was underway with Ace of Aces and Trailvan's ProExtremes and the RJB Thunderkart, whilst SAS Racing and The Red Brigade were stuck in the pits trying to sort out what appeared to be terminal problems. With just half an hour to go, Blue Thunder's rubber was still holding whilst the SRT Biland had moved back into 2nd place but only just in front of Tecserve and Special Racing Projects. With the chequered flag now in sight, Blue Thunder trundled across the line to take victory and a fast finishing session from SRT pulled them clear of Tecserve, to conclude an excellent days racing with 3 different formulae occupying the 3 podium places.

Results

Overall Results of Round 3

Best in Class 

Report by Paul Bowler.

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