The weekend of the 15th and 16th August saw the 9th Lotus Festival take place, being held for the 6th time at the Brands Hatch circuit in Kent. There has been motor racing at Brands since 1926, when it was first used for grass track bike racing.

Gareth Downing in the Lotus Evora GTE

Staffordshire University were there as part of their GT Cup commitments, staff and students working in partnership with the National Motorsport Academy and drivers Kevin Riley and Gareth Downing in the Lotus Evora GTE and also students working in a long time collaboration with Slidesports and team owner Mark Jenkins – assisting in the running of the Pallex Motorsports Porsche 997 GT3 Cup.

Staffordshire University students working with Slidesports to run the Pallex Motorsport Porsche 997 GT3 Cup car.

The weekend had three sessions instead of the usual six, the result of a last minute calendar change, with a race on both the Saturday and Sunday. In the Saturday qualifying, Gareth went out towards the end of the session to claim fourth fastest time and pole in the GTC class. Talking to the GT Cup media afterwards, Gareth said;

“It was pleasing. The circuit suits the Lotus as there are no long straights so we are not sacrificing anything to the Ferraris. It’s all about cornering, handling and carrying the speed. We’ve made subtle changes to the car and it’s working.”

The Pallex Motorsports Porsche of James Greenaway qualified fifth overall and first in the GTB class.

Staffordshire University students working over the weekend

In the first race, the black and gold Lotus got off to a slow start, later shown to be due to mechanical issues and Downing dropped through the pack, managing to pick up third place in the GTC class and sixth overall. Greenaway took first place in the GTB class, and second overall.

Mandatory pit stop in the Sunday race.

Time taken on Saturday to chase and resolve the technical issues seemed to pay off for the Lotus of Downing and Riley as it was running well before the Sunday morning pit stop race. Downing found himself second after Paul Bailey’s Aston Martin Vantage and Phil Burgan’s Audi R8 collided, the Safety Car had to be dispatched bunching the field together, mandatory pit stops rearranged the field and a second Safety Car on lap nineteen. This unfortunately disadvantaged Downing and he managed to bring the car home third in class for the second time in the weekend.

Weekend team photograph

The next GT Cup rounds are at Donington Park on the 19th and 20th September and weekend highlights will be shown on Motors TV.