C1 Endurance Series - Brands Hatch 3hrs 20th August 2022

20th August 2022 saw the team attend their second race in as many weekends, making the 10 hour trip south from Cumbria for the C1 Endurance racing series 3hrs of Brands Hatch.

It was the teams first outing in the C1 Endurance series for 2022, and with new drivers in the line up it would be a weekend of learning and experience.

Drivers Timm Legg and Kiefer Del Piero would be behind the wheel for the weekend. For Timm it would be his very first race ever, meaning seat time and experience gaining would be aim of the weekend, and get comfortable not only in the car but getting used to being in a pack under race conditions. The tightly contested C1 Series is an ideal place for this! Kiefer would bring the experienced head to the team, having raced the C1’s on previous occasions amongst many other racing exploits.

Qualifying
The team would forgo testing, heading directly into qualifying, and opted to go for a heavy race setup to get an idea of race pace, and offer the chance for both drivers to get maximum seat time prior to the race. The session went well, and both drivers improved on pace, and with the whole field split by only 3 seconds, the RABsport team would start 41st on the grid after a lap of 1:07.6 from Kiefer Del Piero.

Race

The race consists of a 3hr endurance race, in which the team must complete 3 untimed pitstops with a driver change.

With experience in a race enviroment, Kiefer Del Piero would head the team at the start of the race, and with the car reprepped from qualifying and ready to race we headed to the grid. With a busy schedule no ceromony was held and the formation lap began. Lights out and away we go! A strong start from Kiefer saw the team slowly gain positions throughout his first stint and after some hard fought battles he was up to 24th place. The driver change came at the 1hr mark, A simple and quick stop being executed by RABsport crew to see Timm Legg placed in the driver seat and out on track for next hour.

Timms stint was a steady and safe one, times in the early laps would be improved on before confidence racing was gained, and eventually keeping pace with the cars around by the end of the stint.
The next pit stop was a tactical call, Kiefer was due to take over, but to reduce driver change time, the call was made to remove and reinstall Timm. This would mean that while he was setting good times he would be able to keep that pace for his remaining 30 mins. At the 2 hour mark the call to box was made, and the RABsport #432 rolled into the pitlane. Refuelling was required at this stop, with a small splash needed to get the car to the end of the race, a timely process with the regulation C1 series refuelling equipment. Once done, Timm slotted back in and belted up, and back out into the race.

A safety car followed the stop after a big crash by another team on paddock hill bend. Thankfully their driver was ok, their car not so and we hope they can make repairs and be back out competing soon.

At the 2:30 point it was time for our final stop. Driver change and a swap of front left tyre, as it was getting a little down on rubber and Kiefer took the reins in 34th place after a solid stop and it would be his job now to keep up the pace.

The last 30 mins went quickly, but after a long two battles kiefer had pushed up to 32nd, and gaining fast on the 31st placed car. He pushed hard to close the gap from 9 seconds to 0.7, but unfortuately time ran out and the RABsport car crossed the line successfully in a solid 32nd.

A solid, and safe weekend by both drivers, really embracing the spirit of endurance racing and getting through the race without trouble. A great team for the weekend and we hope to have them both back in the car in future!

Thanks for reading!

Richard

Team manager

RABsport Racing