The 2003 Open Endurance Championship

Round 4 - 8th June
Daytona Milton Keynes

A damp start and an unpredictable forecast, greeted the teams, for this the 4th round of the Championship.

Auctionmyigloo & SRT on the front row

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

Shortly after the start, the 7-lap advantage for the ProKarts was awarded and the leader board displayed Storming-Normans at the head of the field. Meantime the Biland of SRT had gone off like a rocket with the Max's of The Red Brigade, Auctionmyigloo and SRP7K in hot pursuit.

SCR's Biland in midfield action

With just half an hour completed, Team G were already in the pits with a technical problem, and the SAS team were battling with a seized brake calliper. Disaster then struck the Biland of the flying SRT when the axle fractured and parted company with the kart. As the Max's all pitted for fuel, the ProExtreme of Tecserve took up the pursuit of Storming Normans, followed by Blue Thunder and One Stop Motorsport. With a third distance completed and the Max's of The Red Brigade, SRP7K and Auctionmyigloo worked their way back up to 3rd, 4th and 5th places respectively and were now on the same lap as Tecserve.

The Red Brigade in midfield action

As the half way stage approached, Storming Normans lead was down to 2 laps from SRP7K and Tecserve, whilst a good midfield battle ensued between the Thunder karts of One Stop Motorsport, the recovered SAS and RJB Racing. A brief rain shower then put the cat amongst the pigeons, fooling some teams to pit for wets, but the rain came to nothing and dry conditions returned within 20 minutes or so. This little episode, along with more fuel stops, still gave Storming Normans the lead, but not for long as the Extreme of Tecserve and the Max of Auctionmyigloo were now on the same lap and circulating some 4 seconds faster.

Tecserve's ProExtreme, eventual winners

With an hour to go, Tecserve took the lead and then the Red Brigade relegated the Prokart of Storming Normans to 3rd place, but amazingly still 3 laps clear of One Stop Motorsport who had moved up to 4th place. RJB were making steady progress in 5th place followed Auctionmyigloo, SRP7K and the TKM of SRT Juniors. In the closing stages of the race, The Red Brigade were putting in some stunning lap times, setting a new Championship lap record, and were closing down on the leaders Tecserve, at the rate of nearly 2 seconds a lap. Alas, one more fuel stop was need for The Red Brigade and Tecserve now looked set for victory whilst Storming Normans had regained 2nd place and only in the final minutes were they overhauled again by The Red Brigade as Tecserve took the Chequered flag for a well deserved win.

Results

Overall Results of Round 4

Best in Class 

Report by Paul Bowler.

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