Isaac Canto da Silva holds off David McArthur in WHT progression race

Photo: Ida Wood

Team Dolan’s Isaac Canto da Silva held off B-M Racing’s David McArthur to win the Walter Hayes Trophy progression race.

McArthur’s team-mate Michael Fitzgerald started on pole, ahead of Damian Ditchfield, Dominic Sheppard and Ben Tinckler.

Charging through from fifth on the grid to second at the start was GT Motorsport’s Jan Magnussen, and the former Formula 1 driver had already put his Van Diemen RF78 into the lead before the field reached Maggotts for the first time.

Canto da Silva’s far newer car had too much of a pace advantage for Magnussen to stay out front for long, and he was back in second by Brooklands.

He ended lap one 0.337 seconds behind the young Brazilian, whose team-mate Stephen O’Connor had got into third ahead of Simon Hadfield Motorsport’s James Hadfield.

McArthur was down in sixth, but gained two spots on lap two as the top three converged thanks to a fastest lap from O’Connor.

Magnussen lost second at Copse, with O’Connor going down his inside, then McArthur slid his car past the Dane too at Brooklands.

Canto da Silva now had a lead of almost a second, with the two behind running side-by-side as they began lap four. O’Connor kept his car planted on the outside at Copse and stayed ahead, and Hadfield passed Magnussen at Maggotts.

Second and third were wheel-to-wheel again down the Wellington Straight, with McArthur tucking back into the tow before Brooklands but then lunging to the outside at the corner entry and getting the car turned in tightly enough to get ahead.

This helped Canto da Silva grow his lead to 1.819s, but McArthur set fastest lap after fastest lap in clean air. They began lap nine of 10 with six tenths of a second between them, and with McArthur on average 0.5s faster per lap. That set up a final lap showdown where McArthur tried passing on the outside at Copse, and again at Maggotts but Canto da Silva held on.

O’Connor put in a defensive masterclass in his Van Diemen RF90 by carrying plenty of speed into Maggotts to keep Hadfield at bay, after he homed in on him with better speed out of Copse, until eventually Hadfield got through late on lap eight.

“[Carried a lot more speed into Becketts] but I’d lose it on the way out,” he explained to Formula Scout.

“We did have a brake problem. Down into Brooklands there was a warped disc or something that we’ll have to change. Much later on the brakes [into Becketts]. This is a great car on the brakes.

“I’d say I could even brake later if I hadn’t got the brake problem. There was a vibration in the pedal. We’ll have to change them. I’m not [happy with the result], I think we should have got a top three out of it.”

Magnussen finished fifth, and told Formula Scout afterwards he thoroughly enjoyed leading at the start.

Progression race result (10 laps)