Rick Parfitt Jr. repeated his feat of 2010 by winning the Celebrity Challenge race at Silverstone Classic after a battle for the lead with music producer Paul O'Duffy.
The race – initially intended to be a 20 minute affair – got off to an inauspicious start with ex-footballer Luther Blissett spectacularly barrel rolling his Morgan Lightweight at Village on lap one. Blissett lost the car under-braking, hitting the inside of the curb and launching the car. Though he was able to climb out unhurt the wreckage of the Morgan caused a red flag, and a shortening of the race to a 15 minute dash.
Once back underway – this time without serious incident – the race at the front developed in a five way tussle between O'Duffy, Parfitt Jr., Brendan Cole, Heston Blumenthal, and Radio 1's Comedy Dave Vitty.
O'Duffy and Parfitt Jr. – son of the Statis Quo star – swapped the lead back and fourth between them, at one point the lead changed three times between the pair in the course of five corners, Parfitt Jr. taking the lead at Abbey, O'Duffy re-taking the lead at Village – the first of the tight hairpins in the new complex – before locking up at Brookland, allowing the 2010 winner back through to the lead.
Parfitt quickly built a lead, amassing a five second advantage inside of a lap ahead of O'Duffy. However, all that advantage disappeared with a mistake at Village sending him well wide, dropping him to fifth, and the tail of the lead pack, though in a half lap of Silverstone that showed off his racing ability – he has also raced in the Ginetta Challenge – he had moved up to challenge for the lead once more as they started their final lap.
The group was just four cars strong for the final lap shuffle, Comedy Dave having exited the lead battle after spinning out exiting Brooklands the lap before.
Parfitt taking the lead left chef Blumenthal and dance Cole fighting O'Duffy for the lower steps of the podium, both finding a way past on the final lap to demote the music producer from first to fourth in the space of one circuit of the 3.6 mile Silverstone Grand Prix track.
One time winner of The Apprentice Lee McQueen picked up fifth place, ahead of the spinning Comedy Dave.
The Celebrity Challenge race was run, helping to raise money for the Bobby Moore Fund for Cancer Research UK.
