Tockwith Motorsport claimed their third win in four races in their Audi R8 LMS, but Phil Hanson and Nigel Moore weren’t given an easy time of it with a number of strong Class 1 competitors.
At the start it was Craig Dolby in the Wessex Lamborghini Gallardo who left the line with clear Thruxton track ahead of him as Calum Lockie in the FF Corse Ferrari 458 GT3 couldn’t match Dolby’s pace off the rolling start.
A few laps later and teenage racer Hanson would pull the Audi up into third place – dispatching a number of Class 2 and 3 entries in the process.
However, at the front Dolby was able to hold out from Lockie and the pair were pulling away from the Tockwith machine which looked to be running to a regimented schedule and didn’t want to break that mould.
Further down the top ten and a man making steady gains was the Mosler of Manual Cintrano who was putting in steady lap times, waiting out his time before he could hand over to pro driver Javier Morcillo to finish off the remaining sixty percent of the race.
Come the first round of pitstops and it was clear to see that Thruxton was taking it’s toll on the Dunlop tyres and as Dolby looked to get back out in the Lamborghini, he was told to change rear tyres by a Dunlop technician – allowing the Tockwith Audi to get in and out before the Wessex car could finish its tyre change. However, Nigel Moore – who jumped into the car – was still a lap down, such was Dolby’s pace.
Until the next round of pitstops, things carried on untroubled but it was only when the remaining Pro drivers handed over to their Am counterparts that the order started to shuffle as Morcillo made the most of his skill advantage over those ahead to get himself back onto the lead lap.
However, a late stop for new rubber on Moore’s Tockwith Audi R8 helped him get back out with 20 minutes on the clock and bang in a number of fast laps to ensure he would storm into first place and take victory as the chequered flag fell.
With the Audi on the top step of the podium, that meant the Wessex Lamborghini of Craig Dolby and Nigel Mustill had to settle for second just ahead of the FF Corse Ferrari.
