BRA - GTC60 IV Round 5 - Brands Hatch

A margin worthy of the contest

The Championship race at BRA - GTC60 IV Round 5 - Brands Hatch ended with Adam Celárek narrowly victorious after one of those conclusions in which a long afternoon's calculation was reduced to a few yards of road. His Chevrolet Corvette 1963 SCCA took the flag after 35 laps only 0.165 seconds ahead of Kasperi Sirén's Lotus Elan 26R.

It was a success achieved against persistent company rather than through the comfort of a commanding interval. Celárek, Sirén and Romain Pichon formed the central group from lap nine onwards, the three remaining within five seconds of one another for the rest of the race. Sirén was still firmly in Celárek's vicinity in the closing phase, and his fastest lap of 1:41.708 underlined the pace available to the Finnish driver.

There was no question, however, of Celárek merely inheriting the decision. He was at the head of the order for 33 of the 35 laps, and when the moment came to make the result his own, he did so by the smallest worthwhile margin. It was his second Championship victory in succession.

Pichon's turn at the front

Pichon's Sunbeam Tiger MkII was the third constituent of the leading argument, and for a brief but important interval it appeared capable of changing the whole complexion of the race. The Frenchman moved ahead of Celárek by the end of lap 19, breaking the Corvette driver's command of the lead. Celárek reclaimed the advantage two laps later, but Pichon remained part of the leading trio thereafter.

The final lap brought a sharp alteration to the podium. Pichon began it in second place, but was involved in an incident at South Bank and was third by its conclusion. Sirén thereby gained the runner-up position, the Lotus crossing just 0.002 seconds ahead of the Tiger. Pichon nevertheless completed the podium after a notably sustained challenge for the victory.

Thus the first three cars told the race's story rather better than any broad classification could. The Corvette supplied the authority, the small Lotus the final threat, and the powerful Sunbeam the intervention which repeatedly prevented the contest settling into a simple duel.

The order behind

The leading trio eventually had a little room over the next group. Potatohedron brought another Lotus Elan 26R home fourth, ahead of Nat Stevenson in a similar car, while Max Solmyr completed a strong Lotus showing in sixth. MeisterJaeger, who had begun the day third in the Championship, finished seventh, with Jordi Sumoy's Porsche 904/4 GTS eighth.

There was a separate, closely argued contest further down the leading lap between FMG's Mercedes-Benz 300SL and Teceka TCK's Ferrari 250 GT SWB 'SEFAC Hotrod'. They ran within two seconds of one another for a long middle portion of the race and exchanged the advantage several times. Teceka TCK first moved ahead early in that sequence, FMG recovered the place before the pair continued their changing order into the later laps.

Their struggle was interrupted on lap 29, when Teceka TCK was involved in an incident on Pilgrim's Rise and fell from ninth to 11th. FMG went on to finish 10th, with Florian Masse's Ferrari ninth between the Mercedes and Teceka TCK, who finished 12th.

Six points at the summit

The result carried the proper weight of a late-season Championship race. Celárek had arrived with a three-point advantage over Sirén, and leaves with 157 points to Sirén's 151. Pichon's third place lifts him to 131, ahead of meisterJaeger on 128.

Celárek's margin is therefore more secure than it was, but scarcely lavish, and Sirén's speed and persistence at BRA - GTC60 IV Round 5 - Brands Hatch ensured that the Czech driver's victory felt earned rather than merely recorded. The closing fraction of a second was an accurate measure of the afternoon: Celárek had prevailed, but Sirén had made him work for every part of it.