Originally published in Motor Racing UK issue 17 – May 2021

Mick Palmer Reports:

Factor 50 was a prerequisite at Silverstone as the Touring Car Trophy kicked off the 2021 season on the International section of the Northamptonshire circuit. When the cars took to the track for qualifying the sun was still climbing and a cold wind was blowing. Track temperatures were dominated more by the rush of cool air across the surface than the glow in the sky meaning that the opening minutes of the session saw much lateral movement as the cars coming onto the track tried to get their Goodyear tyres into the operational window, and the sooner that could be achieved the sooner that the fast laps could be put up on the board.

Lap-by-lap the drivers eked their times up little-by-little and the split in the pecking order was there to see from the off. The Kent brothers – Lewis and Bradley – had their white, orange and black liveried Kent & Essex run Hyundai i30N machines line astern and followed each other closely in the early running. The limited Hangar Straight tow and the similar effect from Club along the finish straight was there for the taking but it wasn’t just about that. The pair – along with Max Hart in a similar i30 N run under the Maximum Motorsport/Motus One banner – were hammering the kerbs at Village time after time. The trio set themselves apart from the field with their metronomic abuse of the red and white painted markers before climbing the link onto the Hangar Straight. Most of the rest of the field were in a different postcode when it came to the turn. Late braking and lock ups and a fair distance from the apex that had been chosen by the lead three saw time lost over and again for the rest of the field. Jac Constable in a Power Maxed run Cupra Leon and Darron Lewis in a former BTCC Ciceley Mercedes A Class consistently got the right rear locked up and in the air, but their turn in was later and sharper with a slight scrubbing of speed thanks to the more acute angle and slightly later chance to get on the power.

Bruce Winfield in an Area Sport Leon had a brown pants moment coming out of Farm at the midway point of the session. The gold and white machine veered left across the runoff towards the barriers at high speed with smoke emanating from screeching locked tyres. Marshals were on the move ready to attend what they thought was a very serious, very high speed incident before the car came to a halt, having miraculously missed the barriers. Colourful language of relief from the orange army and words to the effect of “the biggest fucking accident that never followed through” were the let off. It would have been the kind of accident that would have necessitated barrier rebuilds.

In the closing stages of the session Bradley Kent led Lewis by two tenths of a second before  Hart sneaked in between the pair with 10 seconds left on the clock. The flag flew and the Maximum Motorsport/Motus One driver still had a lap to go. A strong second sector and a bit of a tow from a recovered Winfield saw Hart pull out a storming lap to pip Bradley Kent by a tenth of a second to pole. Darron Lewis lined up behind the Kent brothers and 16-year-old Hugo Cook posted fifth in the Simpson Audi RS3 he’d driven in the Britcar race the day before. William Butler, Dan Kirby, Constable and Winfield followed in a slew of Leons with Toby Bearne rounding out the top ten in the second NGTC Mercedes A Class.

Between qualifying and race one there were a number of pertinent issues to be worked around. Darron Lewis lining up behind Lewis and Bradley Kent meant that the written press were flummoxed at how to name the drivers in their race reports if they went toe-to-toe. You could separate the Kent brothers by referring to them as Bradley and Lewis, but what if Lewis was going head-to-head with his brother and Darron Lewis, who would be Lewis? Thankfully Lewis – Kent that is- would make it easier for us all by spending the afternoon in a different race to Darron. The other issue was food. Due to Covid it meant that you had to order hot food from The Wing. The usual cluster of take away vans at the end of the international paddock were absent meaning some scribes and photographers were hanging around teams like dogs waiting for scraps to munch on, while some of us were prepared with Ham sandwiches and a plethora of unhealthy snacks to keep us on form.

The heat was building for the 22 lap race that was slotted to get under way just after 1:25pm. That factor 50 was not enough to stop the burning from the sun that was now fully exposed. I for one have not learned that wearing a baseball cap backwards is a bit silly in these situations. A red blotch on my forehead swelling over the following days stood as testament to that. An impromptu flyover from a former RAF de Haviland Vampire was a nice, if unplanned coincidence prior to the green flag lap. There was not the pomp and ceremony of the Red Arrows on a Grand Prix weekend at Silverstone, but for aviation enthusiasts it was a nice little extra. Behind closed doors racing is an odd experience if you venture away from the pits. I positioned myself at the photographers plinth looking down the main straight and the emptiness of the venue was odd. These meetings don’t attract lots of spectators, but even last year teams and drivers had greater scope to bring more than just essential personnel, which fleshed out some of the spectator areas. With only fellow photographer Jakob Ebrey the stand and the distant sound of a 750 Motor Club meeting in the background on the National layout, quiet fell upon the grid from our vantage point while the cars were prepped. It was an odd moment. A bit like daytime shots during British post-apocalyptic movies like 28 Days Later. With the wind momentarily lapsing and the heat beating down it was slightly uncomfortable to think that a normal thing such as a motor race was just about to happen.

The current situation with pandemic restrictions meant that 2020 did not see the BTCC make its planned Silverstone International race debut. The track is fickle, suiting some championships to a tee, but others suffer considerably with the layout. For a first Touring Car race at the track it has to be said it wasn’t a race laced with wheel-to-wheel action, but it was one full of intrigue.

When the lights went out to start the 2021 season Hart was away. The blue i30 N leaped forward decisively from Bradley Kent (who was making his first TCR start, and immediately had his brother come past and move into second) to set up a lights to flag victory. Lewis (Kent that is) followed into the second podium position. Bradley exited stage right with a puncture at Farm. The following pack went three wide into Village with Darron Lewis finding both Winfield and Dan Kirby to his left. Over The Loop Winfield took a tight line and looked up the inside of Kirby at Chapel, onto the Hangar Straight, from an angle where it was never going to come off, not without Kirby giving up the corner before they arrived – which he didn’t. It was an impatient move as the two Leons turned right. The gold and white machine of Winfield tagged the blue Kirby car and the Trade Price Racing boss caught a wild slide while Winfield slowed immediately with a puncture, letting William Butler and Jac Constable through ahead of Hugo Cook who’d dropped down from his starting place. Hart didn’t get the chance to build a lead as a safety car was called quickly after VW racer Olly Turner had stalled on the grid.

Lewis Kent was right on the tail of Hart as the cars came back round readying for the restart. Getting heat and managing pressures was key to any prospective attack but the Motus One Darron Lewis and took third at Village with a well-executed move down the inside. Those positions would remain static for some time but at the front the battle initially looked like it would fade as Hart maintained a lead of over a second for the first seven laps, after which Kent really began to grind down on the leader.

The pair consistently lapped in the 1m08s bracket from lap four onwards with the odd excursion into 1m07s territory meaning that they pulled away from the field at the rate of a little over a second a lap. Kent started to put pressure on Hart from lap 10 and brought the gap down to 0.3s, but the VW Cup traffic from the rear of the grid managed to hold up the second Hyundai at crucial points meaning that from lap 16 it was a case of Hart managing to keep the gap stable, pushing in response to Lewis Kent to ensure the first race of the season went to him.

Behind the leaders Darron Lewis forced his way into third past Kirby on the 12th lap with Cook moving up to fourth past the Cupra a lap later. The 16-year-old had battled through the pack with some consistent driving and some solid overtaking, but his TCT debut was not to clock off with that position. A last lap fuel shortage meant that Kirby could claim fourth with the Audi driver cruising slowly across the line in fifth, ahead of Butler by four seconds.

The circuit layout had delivered some satisfactory moments at Village, Chapel and Club, but the field spread had put on display from the off that Max Hart and Lewis Kent were in a two horse race. Lewis Kent said that the key to race two was “to get through traffic” as quick as possible, and for this round that was key. The other TCR and NGTC class cars that were ahead of them were just that. Traffic. It was a case of right there and then whichever of the two could get through that group quickest would likely leave Silverstone with the winning trophy for race two.

The atmosphere in the pits was tense. Far more tense than after qualifying. The temperate was ramping up further and the temptation to enjoy a lazy hot afternoon was not on the books. Former BTCC racer Andy Wilmot had parked the DW Racing Astra at the end of the formation lap, and along with the Will Powell car (run by Motus One/Maximum Motorsport) it was a case of all hands being called up to get the machines ready. Little bits and pieces on other machines were tidied up and drivers came to and fro into the shaded F1 garages. The tight confines of the section of the Silverstone Grand Prix pitlane that the TCT had – between scrutineering and the Britcar garages – meant that everyone could see what everyone else was up to – who was relaxed and ready and who was teetering as the signal to form the grid in the pitlane approached.

Lewis Kent, in fifth, was first to the dummy grid – by a considerable margin. The Essex and Kent i30 N sat in the baking sun in position, occupied by a driver with his visor up whose focus was obviously dead ahead on the task before him. Dan Kirby was the next to line up – directly ahead of Kent and then Darron Lewis in the Team Hard (formerly Adam Morgan Cicely machine) took up fourth with the second Merc of Toby Bearne lining up towards the rear. Jac Constable – who’d missed his one-off BTCC meeting last year thanks to appendicitis was next to line up before the rest followed. BARC scrutineers eyed up the Max Hart i30 N as his wheelnuts were re-torqued and William Butler and Hugo Cook lined up at the front of the field.

The pitlane release saw the cars circulate and come to the grid, some to have tyres rotated, some to have tyres changed. The marshals were pretty strict (or to put it another way – loudly vocal) ensuring that nobody was allowed onto the grid without a facemask, leading to some last minute panic for a couple of cars towards the rear as team members scrambled for the face coverings that we are all still having to live with. The mass exodus of personnel from the grid at the Silverstone International/Grand Prix layout is always interesting. The huge grassed pitlane means that there is quite a bit further to travel to get beyond the mandatory pitlane line to clear the pitwall for a start. Certainly compared to Oulton, Brands or even the Silverstone National circuit. With such a short layout there were one or two still taking up position behind the pitlane line as the cars came around ready for their final gridding.

William Butler was slow away from his pole slot as the lights went out, with fellow front row starter Hugo Cook getting bogged down and swamped by the upper end of the field. The pair were out of contention straight away. Dan Kirby slotted between them and took the lead through Farm. Darron Lewis and Lewis Kent made excellent first phase getaways, initially making Max Hart look like his maintaining of sixth was mediocre, but in the second phase the race one winner fired up attack mode. Lewis and Kent went through Abbey and Farm in line astern and heading into the Village switchback Lewis Kent placed his car to the right of the A Class Mercedes and took second with ease.

Kirby had built a respectable gap of over a second with some immediacy as the pack fought behind him with Kent being tailed by Lewis and Hart. The Power Maxed driver looked quite comfortable into Stowe, but it was already obvious he was going to have to cope with a Hyundai onslaught. That was something Darron Lewis was already suffering.

After losing second to Lewis Kent the Team Hard racer now had Max Hart on his tail. The Hyundai went to the right into Stowe but the Merc kept apace on the outside through Vale and had the inside line into the left hander, but Hart kept his cool, moved to the outside and maintained position to ensure he had the better line for the entry into Club. Lewis had to cede third but made Hart work for every inch onto the start/finish straight.

Kirby had a 1.7s lead at the end of the first lap as Kent and Hart hunted him down. The next time past it was down to one second then 0.3s by lap three. Kent hooked onto the back of the Cupra through Abbey and Farm and made his move at Village to take the lead. Kirby did not surrender the place easily and pulled out of the slipstream of Kent at Stowe to try a move around the outside. Kent held the lead and Hart tagged onto the back of Kirby, trailing him across the line and, like the leader, was able to pass Kirby into Village for second. Again Kirby had a speed advantage along Hangar and tried to muscle outside at Stowe, and again the ballsy attempt was fended off.

The leaders getting past the VW backmarkers this time was a different story. Kent aced this part of the race far better than Hart and was able to cement the lead he’d built. A controlled decisive drive meant that the winning margin was 1.5s with the last seven laps run with a less than two-tenths difference. Hart pushed on over that period and was frequently just over the edge but Kent managed to soak up the pressure to take an impressive victory.

The pair have marked themselves out as the two to watch it would appear, but there was another drive through the field that was beyond impressive. Kirby crossed the line third, 20 seconds down the road, and a-second-and-a-half ahead of Bradley Kent. In what was effectively his first TCR/TCT race after his exit on lap one of race one, the younger of the Kent brothers had an aggressiveness to his performance that will keep the field looking in their mirrors if he is behind them throughout the year. His qualifying performance was outstanding but his run to fourth was the performance of the weekend.

From the back of the TCT grid Bradley passed Danny Krywyj and Toby Bearn quickly before unpacking his tracking gear and hunting down those ahead one-by-one. When he wasn’t in the middle of any of those battles – and there were many – his pace was only a tenth or two off that of the leaders.

The first victim was Andy Wilmot where the joins the Hangar Straight. The Green Astra was running wide and appeared to be wrong footed by Kent who easily nipped through and up a position as they turned onto the Grand Prix Circuit. Bruce Winfield was next up. A slinky move inside entering Club put him into eighth. The run down the Hangar Straight and through Vale set the next one up – Jac Constable being that target. The next move was an attempt on Bruce Winfield at Village which wound up with some side-by-side action before a diving inside through Chapel secured that place. He also made short shrift of Hugo Cook and Darron Lewis before setting his sights on the podium position that Kirby had, which is where the only blot on the copybook came up, and that was due to having the guts to give it another go.

His first shot at Kirby was to go around the outside at Club but the Leon was able to outdrag the i30 N onto the main straight. Another outside position move, this time at Village, didn’t work out either. He then looked outside at Stowe as they, along with the Hard Merc of Lewis came across the VW Cup racers. He lost some time to those cars and Lewis hooked onto his rear. Kent made the move down Vale and put two wheels on the grass with a total lock up seeing him go wide into the ninety degree left hander, giving Lewis the chance to retake the position. Kent didn’t give up on the place though. One lap later and at the same place Lewis was locking up in excitement at trying to grab the podium position from Kirby which offered Kent the chance to take back fourth place, which he was able to carry to the line.

Despite winning race two Lewis Kent was keen to make the point that his younger brother had been pulling off moves left right and centre. Obviously he was happy to have won but the gregarious nature of the compliments were natural. The Essex and Kent team are essentially a family concern and Lewis has been an ever present since the original TCR UK series launched in 2018. The growth of him as a driver and the outfit has been quite a journey. For Lewis 2018 was a learning year, 2019 saw the first victories and a challenge for the TCR class. Last season saw more wins and a battle with Henry Neal for the overall crown – while he took the TCR class (along with the offer to race in the BTCC – which didn’t come off). There was a dabbling with European TCR rounds. Spa in 2019 was followed by Paul Ricard last season, and intentions to move further in that direction have been on hold. For 2021 two new Hyundai i30 N machines have been brought in for the pair and Lewis looks like he’ll battle for the overall crown with Bradley already looking like a race winner.

Essex and Kent are facing off in a championship featuring two BTCC teams and have grown to the point where they can hold their own. It’s a point worth considering too. It’s hard to say if they could themselves head into that championship, but Europe with the TCR machines is certainly a realistic move. There is a third car – as raced by the squad for the last three years – for sale or rent, and it is something that I think some BTCC teams should be looking at. There are complaints that some drivers are landing in the BTCC without enough experience and learning on the job is not the best way forward for them. When Stewart Lines first touted the Touring Car Trophy part of the remit was to provide an arena that could be a finishing school for drivers heading into that series. With three of the meetings this year taking place at circuits that the BTCC does not race at and a host of recently retired – yet relevant – NGTC cars available to run without BTCC penalties, it’s a wonder that it isn’t an avenue that has been trodden even further.

The opener for 2021 was an on track success. Two stars in the making headed the field and stories of both young and experienced drivers through the field created an interesting narrative. The championship moves next to Castle Combe where it won’t have the luxury of F1 garages. It will be awnings all the way as the series joins the biggest racing community in the South West. The high speed circuit will test the drivers and teams, and by the end of that meeting it will become clear as to who, if anyone, can challenge the championship leading pair.