Bumper Super Touring grid set for Silverstone Classic

The HSCC Super Touring Championship will be looking to continue the great racing seen at Brands Hatch in front of the masses as a mammoth grid of 45 cars prepare for the season’s blue riband event, the Silverstone Classic.

John Cleland will make his return to the series having missed the Brands Hatch Historic Superprix due to a local supplier letting him down. In his absence the Vauxhall driver has dropped to third in the points, 8 points behind new leader James Dodd.

Dodd and fellow Honda Accord driver Stewart Whyte made the most of the Brands Hatch round, taking a win apiece and filling the top two positions in the championship. Whyte, who had suffered some torrid luck in the opening four races of the year, moved up five places in the standings, taking 17 points from the Kent circuit, having only scored 10 points at Thruxton and Oulton Park combined. The two Hondas are expected to be near the top of the standings once again at Silverstone.

Joining the field for the Silverstone Classic will be 2012 World Touring Car Champion Rob Huff, who will share a Ford Mondeo with Richard Meins. Meins took the car to a brilliant front row grid slot at Brands Hatch, and based on Huff’s pace at a test day earlier in the year, he can be expected to be right up at the front and putting the Hondas through their paces.

The usual series regulars will be on track, albeit some appearing in different machinery, including Paul Smith, who swaps his BMW for a new-to-the-series Audi A4. A second Audi A4 will be joining the Classic field with Wemer Huber at the wheel, one of a number of entries to have been tempted over to the UK to take part in the Super Touring races.

Current BTCC driver Colin Turkington will also join the party in a BMW CSL, sharing the ‘Batmobile’ with Sam Hancock, while former BTCC driver Steve Soper will share a Ford Capri with John Young.

Finally, the entry of Jason Minshaw’s Demon Tweeks-liveried BMW M3, raced by Roland Ratzenberger in the final rounds of the 1988 BTCC season, will provide the chance for the series to pay homage to Ratzenberger and Ayrton Senna, who both lost their lives twenty years ago at the San Marino Grand Prix.

Away from the Super Touring races, BTCC Honda drivers Matt Neal and Gordon Shedden will share a Ford Lotus Cortina in the Sir John Whitmore Trophy for Under 2 Litre Touring Cars. Neal will also pilot the Cortina in the Mustang Celebration Trophy race, which will also see Rob Huff and former BTCC driver Mike Jordan compete in an Austin Mini Cooper S and a Ford Falcon respectively.

Provisional Entry List – Rounds 7 & 8 – Silverstone Classic

1 – Stewart Whyte – Honda Accord
2 – Neil Smith – Alfa Romeo 156
3 – James Dodd – Honda Accord
4 – Graeme Dodd – Nissan Primera
7 – Paul Smith – Audi A4
8 – Darren Fielding – BMW E36
9 – Don Grice – BMW E30 M3
10 – Daniel Wheeler – Nissan Primera
11 – Stephen Dymoke – Alfa Romeo 156
12 – Patrick Watts – Peugeot 406
14 – Rick Wood – Honda Accord
15 – Craig Davies – Ford RS500
16 – Chris Scragg – Jaguar XJ12
17 – Mark Smith – BMW M3
19 – Wemer Huber – Audi A4
22 – Chris Keen – Ford Capri
24 – Alvin Powell – Ford Mondeo
25 – Max Goff – Honda Accord
26 – Mark Hazell – BMW E36
28 – John Pearson/Gary Pearson – Alfa Romeo 156
29 – Jan Bot – BMW E30 M3
31 – Roger Lavender – BMW E36 M3
36 – Keith Butcher – Nissan Primera
37 – Simon Garrad – Renault Laguna
39 – Jan Van Nierop – Audi 80 Quattro
40 – Michael Bell/Cliff Ryan – Ford Escort
41 – John Edwards/Alun Edwards – Triumph Dolomite
42 – Paul Pochciol – Jaguar XJ12
43 – Tom Pochciol – Ford Capri
44 – Jason Minshaw – BMW M3
45 – Richard Postins – Rover SD1
46 – Chris Ward/Gary Pearson – Jaguar XJS
55 – Tom Andrew – Alfa Romeo 155
60 – Mark Wright – Ford Escort
63 – Andrew Wolfe – Opel Belmont
66 – Nick Whale/Harry Whale – BMW M3
67 – Tony Absolom – Vauxhall Cavalier
68 – Richard Meins/Rob Huff – Ford Mondeo
70 – Dave Jarman – Nissan Primera
77 – Volker Eickmeyer/Daniel Ludlow – Ford Mondeo
79 – Mark Jones – Renault Laguna
93 – Colin Turkington/Sam Hancock – BMW CSL
98 – John Cleland – Vauxhall Vectra
John Young/Steve Soper – Ford Capri

Timetable (All times BST)

Friday
Qualifying: 14:30 – 14:50

Saturday
Race One: 14:00 – 14:20

Sunday
Race Two: 15:00 – 15:20