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On June 11th eBay MSVT Trackday Trophy returned for its third round of the 2023 season. Glorious Snetterton sunshine greeted competitors for what promised to be an excellent day of racing.
Temperatures climbed as qualifying got underway and Paddock Motorsport’s Michael Rawlings brought the heat to the leaderboard by setting the early benchmark for competitors to target. Unique Racing #89’s Adrian Pottinger was the first to rise to the challenge and traded fastest laps with the BMW 328i of Rawlings, before a scorching lap time of 2:12:296 ultimately ensured that it was the Renault Clio of Unique Racing #89 and Adrian Pottinger on pole position. Paddock Motorsport would share the front row, just 0.017secs ahead of Unique Racing #8 in third. Team Norfolk’s Kevin Stirling and Mangoes Racing’s Jack Goes rounded out the top five, both overall and in class B. A strong qualifying performance from Aindale Racing ensured Wayne Cockerill fronted class C, ahead of: Colin Wells and Kristian Goodall. The battle for class D pole couldn’t have been much closer – with AWH Yeah Racing’s duo of Wilkinson/Hughes edging Boreham Motorsport #444’s Coombs pairing by just 0.004secs! Fellow Boreham Motorsport driver Jack Hargraves (#66) rounded out the top three in class D.
With the grid raring for the off, it was lights out in Norfolk. Jack Goes (Mangoes Racing) enjoyed a strong start, rising from fifth to third by the end of lap one, behind both Unique Racing Clio’s. Up front, Unique Racing #89 began building a lead up over the sister #8 car. Also enjoying a fantastic start was Supatune Motorsport’s Porsche Boxster S, with driver pairing of Tester/Quinn surging from their qualifying position to hunt down the leaders as we approached the pit stops. In class C, polesitter Wayne Cockerill utilized his earlier pace to continue to head the class through the opening exchanges. Boreham Motorsport #444’s Coombs duo were undeterred by missing out on class pole by the finest of margins and quickly snatched the class D race lead.
Supatune Motorsport’s excellent pace continued as the race progressed and, shortly after the pit stop window, Ronan Quinn leapfrogged his #91 Porsche into the lead. Building on Colin Tester’s strong opening stint, Quinn expertly guided Supatune Motorsport to their first 2023 eBay MSVT Trackday Trophy victory! Both Tester and Quinn put in exceptional performances and were fully deserving of the top step. As the race headed into the final stages, third-placed Charlie Palk (Unique Racing #8) closed in and surpassed teammates Pottinger/Russell (Unique Racing #98) for second place. Palk then set about closing in on leader Supatune Motorsport, but as the checkered flag fell the Clio driver ended up just 5.120secs short. Nonetheless, it was a great day for Unique Racing, as both cars finished on the class B podium with Pottinger/Russell finishing third. Semprini Racing’s Evans/Hart continued their string of fine performances with fourth in B, beating Team BG’s Ben Grewcock over the line by less than a second.
Aindale Racing’s Wayne Cockerill didn’t put a foot wrong in class C and the Toyota Celica driver recorded an excellent class victory. Other than a single lap after his pit stop, Cockerill led the entire race duration and was fully deserving of the top step. The win wasn’t as straight forwarded as it might sound though, as both Colin Wells and Kristian Goodall (Knockout Racing) put in strong performances of their own to finish less than ten seconds behind the class winner – in second and third respectively.
Following on from their opening lap overtake, Boreham Motorsport #444’s Andy and Jay Coombs pumped in consistently solid lap times to secure their second class D victory of 2023. The father and son duo should be delighted with what was a superb race. Jack Hargraves kept the frontrunners honest throughout the race and eventually finished just 7.569secs behind the winners, taking home a well-earned second place. Rounding off the D podium was Duncan Harris, who rose from fifth in class qualifying to record his first class podium of the year. This podium sealed an exceptional day of racing for Boreham Motorsport, with each of the three class D podium finishers being part of the Essex-based team. For the cherry on top of the cake, Chris Warrick romped home fourth in class D to secure a class 1/2/3/4 for Boreham Motorsport. Congratulations to all in the team, as well as all of our other class podium finishers!