Willis wins WHT last chance race as Walker goes on another charge

Photo: Ida Wood

Oldfield Motorsport’s Connor Willis was victorious in a restarted Walter Hayes Trophy last chance race at a drying Silverstone.

The 36-car field got two sighting laps to understand track conditions, as it was very sunny but the track was wet in several areas.

It proved slippy at Copse as several drivers slid way off at the opening corner, and then there was chaos at Luffield. Stuart Adam spun off, and when he tried rejoining he just tagged Neil Fowler Motorsport’s Chris Porritt.

There was an on-track clash, with Dave Porter retiring on the grass on the inside while Neil Hunt and Gerhard Hauschulte also retiring.

Red flags waved as KMR Sport’s Neil Tofts led the field into lap two, and it was decided there would be another formation lap and the race would restart on lap one. Two reserves had already joined the 36-car grid, and the restart took the original grid order at the front but with gaps and with some order changes at the back.

Tofts was first into Copse on the restart, but Simms Engineering’s Ben Simms passed him into Maggotts and ran deep into Becketts to ensure Tofts could not get back past. However Tofts’ straightline speed avantage meant he was in first again by Brooklands.

Wayne Poole Racing’s James Colborn was third, Willis repeated his diving Brooklands move from the first start to be fourth and WPR’s Alex Walker climbed six spots to 10th. Willis took third on lap two despite going off entering the Wellington Straight, where he then cleared Simms. When Tofts slid into Woodcote and hit the kerbs, Willis overtook him too.

Tofts and Simms continued to fight, with Simms taking an alternative line through Becketts, but on lap five of 10 Walker got involved. He went down Simms’ inside at Copse, fended off an attack from him at Becketts and continued his run of fastest laps as he then overtook Tofts on the next lap.

There was 1.766 seconds to make up on Willis, and the gap initially reduced but Willis snatched the fastest lap late on to finish 2.861s clear.

“It was a blast,” Willis said post-race. “It was awesome. The conditions made it even more fun with having to adapt throughout the race. Having to pass nine cars, and then also having to adapt to the conditions. And the track was dry and there was dry lines appearing, you could see it visibly and feel it in the car.”

Having done both of this morning’s races, Walker will be on worn tyres for the semi-finals and was being risk-averse behind Willis.

“The whole point was just to get to the next race, so once the gap I saw was quite big, I kind of just wanted to get around and keep the car in one piece and see what the track was doing as well, as it’s evolving quite a lot,” he said.

“It’s not a full dry line at all yet, but it’s, it’s definitely getting there, whereas this morning was full wet.”

Simms reclaimed third by flying past Tofts into Becketts on lap eight, with Tofts then running very wide. However he slipstreamed back past with ease, and on lap nine Simms went side-by-side into Maggotts then braked later to nail a move around the outside at Becketts. Tofts then drifted off there and this time was gapped by Simms.

Afterwards, Simms told Formula Scout that “finding the dry patches was the key to” taking his Jomo JMR7 to the podium.

Colborn was a lonely fifth, and Team Dolan’s Adam Quartermaine climbed 12 spots to sixth while team-mate Mattia Tremolada joined the grid as a reserve, rose from 35th to 15th then spun at Copse mid-race and finished 28th.

Pirate M-Sports’ Leanne McShane rose nine spots to 10th, Bob Hawkins (TM Racing) and Stephen O’Connor (Dolan) climbed 14 places each to 11th and 12th, and Speedsport’s Leon Frost went from 34th to 17th. The top 22 progressed to the semi-finals.

Last chance race results (10 laps)