Photo credits to; @torquetalkwitherin

Ayden Wilson Extends His Championship Lead As Marc Nisbet And Gregor McPhaden Make Chase

After the Scottish Mini Cooper Cup provided some exhilarating racing on Saturday afternoon on the anti-clockwise layout, the Scottish C1s took the stage to represent the Scottish Motor Racing Club on the clockwise layout on Sunday afternoon. With the top 5 split by less than a second in qualifying, the C1s were set up to have 2 spectacular races on Sunday!

Race One;

Marc Nisbet took pole position from defending champion Ayden Wilson by 0.288s in the wet before the track dried up for race one just before the lunch break. Nisbet held the lead coming through Duffus Dip and McIntyre’s on the first lap with Ayden Wilson tight behind, while further back Henry Gillespie and Gregor McPhaden make slight contact which results in McPhaden taking a trip through the gravel trap and dropping to P5 behind James McCracken. Peter Edie in the #44 car found himself off at McIntyre’s after misjudging his braking point while making an attempt to get past Scott Charles on lap two, causing him to drop down to P9, on the same lap coming through the Blackcircles.com Chicane James Nash in the SMRC guest car – run by Minimax Motorsport who also run the #61 of Ian Cochrane – had a tank slapper coming out of the corner but impressively managed to save the car from a spin. Gillespie was swarmed by both McCracken and McPhaden coming out of McIntyre’s on lap three, losing both places after making a slight mistake on the exit of McIntyre’s and losing momentum on the run up to the Blackcircles.com Chicane. Mark Syme in only his second race meet of the season with McPhaden Motorsport made a beautiful move on Kenneth Dock on lap 6, coming through McIntyre’s using his momentum to swing underneath Dock and make a clean overtake for P7. Rain started coming down with 3 laps to go with all the pressure pilled onto Nisbets shoulders while Wilson tried to find any way pass the Edinburgh college car, coming into Taylor’s Hairpin on lap 8, Wilson got by Nisbet until Nisbet managed to cut underneath and get back by on the entry to Duffus Dip until Wilson pulled off one of the moves of the season with a stunning move around the outside of Nisbet! Wilson lost the lead to Nisbet coming onto the final lap of the race with Wilson quite literally on his rear bumper coming through McIntyre’s. Wilson made the move for the win into Taylor’s Hairpin braking later than Nisbet who tried to cut underneath Wilson only to hit his rear bumper, getting his foot down Nisbet still managed to pull alongside as they approached the line with their wing mirrors touching as they crossed the line with only 0.041s between them, in Nisbets favour! Nisbet taking his first win of the season while pulling a page out of the Scottish Mini’s book with a photo finish for the win! On the cooldown lap Dock appeared to go off the track at McIntyre’s however he was able to get his C1 back on track and get to parc ferme. Marc Nisbet wins race one with Ayden Wilson just missing out and taking second with James McCracken in third and Scott Charles winning the newcomers class!

Race Two;

Henry Gillespie lined up on pole position alongside Gregor McPhaden with championship leader Ayden Wilson in fourth and race one winner Marc Nisbet in fifth. McPhaden got the better getaway out of himself and Gillespie taking the outright lead in McIntyre’s with Wilson moving up into third. Nisbet appeared to introduce a new “drag reduction system” as his boot flew open coming into Taylor’s Hairpin on the first lap! Scott Charles took advantage of this through Hislop’s tucking in behind the open boot to get a aerodynamic advantage with Nisbet acting almost as a blocked for all the dirty air ahead of them. Gillespie had a huge spin into Leslie’s, the car snapping aggressively as the back end lost all traction upon landing after going over the sausage curb with everybody missing the spinning Edinburgh College car before he ended up in the gravel trap causing the safety car to be deployed on lap five, with McPhaden losing out massively with his lead being wiped out as a result of the race being neutralised. McPhaden was unleashed onto lap six when the safety car peeled off to let the race get back underway while behind McPhaden Wilson dropped the left hand side of his car into the gravel trap on the exit of Taylor’s Hairpin on the restart causing him to lose a place to James McCracken. Peter Edie meanwhile was sat in a provisional best career finish of fourth, looking for his first overall podium while McCracken looks for his first win of the season! McCracken tried to go around the outside of McPhaden for the lead at Taylor’s Hairpin but instead lost a place to Wilson and dropped to third and as they headed onto lap eight, McPhaden, Wilson and McCracken went three wide into Duffus Dip with two laps to go with McCracken on the inside line taking the lead until the three got to McIntyre’s and Wilson sent it up the inside and got back into the lead! McPhaden dropped to third with Nisbet – with his boot still open – was closing in on the front three, McPhaden got back by McCracken and into P2 on lap nine leaving him chasing Wilson for the win on the final lap, McCracken in third had Nisbet all over his mirrors on the last lap but still found his way up the inside of McPhaden but unable to make the move for second stick, leaving Ayden Wilson to win race two! Gregor McPhaden came in second and James McCracken third whilst Peter Edie won the newcomers class!

Overall Standings – After Caterham Festival;

1st – Ayden Wilson | 177pts

2nd – Marc Nisbet | 139pts

3rd – Gregor McPhaden | 128pts

4th – Henry Gillespie | 117pts

5th – James McCracken | 104pts

6th – Scott Charles | 77pts

7th – Peter Edie | 75pts

8th – Kenny Dock | 72pts

9th – Ian Cochrane | 58pts

10th – Robert Marshall | 18pts

Newcomers Standings – After Caterham Festival;

1st – Scott Charles | 148pts

2nd – Peter Edie | 140pts