Qualifying: steep learning curve

Qualifying was slow to get underway, maybe it had something to do with the fact that the GP loop is not often used. While the continentals set about learning the track, the seasoned British competitors showed them the way. It was Graham Moss who came out on top in the ex-Voyazides Cobra Daytona, with David Methley second fastest in his trusty Marcos 1800. Jan van der Kooi in the Lotus Elan will start 3rd and Roelant de Waard 4th in the Shelby GT350. In 5th is Jamie Boot in the TVR Griffith, followed by the first of the touring cars, Tim Scott Andrews in the Ford Falcon. Row 4 will be Oliver Douglas in the Cobra Daytona and Adam Cunnington in the Lotus Cortina, with Carlo Hamilton in the Ford Falcon and Smeer/Izaks in the Shelby GT350 rounding out the top-10. Rene and Thijmen de Vries were fastest in CT07 in their Mini Cooper and Florian Lübbert and Christian Henke likewise in GTS11 in the red TR4. 

There were no less than 14 laptimes disallowed for track limit infringements. King of the gravel traps is of course Jaap van der Ende in the orange Ford Falcon. He remembered his way through them from a Toyota Corolla Trophy Race in the 1980s which he nearly won.....

Race 1: Moss makes the most of it

It was all Cobra Daytona in today's SuperSixties race at Donington Park, with Graham Moss leading every lap but one, when he came in for his compulsory pitstop. Late-stopping Oliver Douglas had one lap of glory before order was restored. Unfortunately, Douglas was forced to retire shortly afterwards due to a broken thrust bearing. By that point, Jaap Sinke had already pulled into the pits with a coolant leak from the Big Healey's engine block. This caused quite a few competitors some nerve-wracking moments at the blisteringly fast Coppice Corner, with several spins and skids. Marcos-mounted David Methley had to work hard for second, with a determined Jan van der Kooi harrying him all the way, ven though the engine misfired at times. The green Lotus Elan held second at one point, but it wasn't to be, a small mistake meaning he had to settle for third. Roelant de Waard's quest for fourth was settled when Jamie Boot in the TVR dropped out. Fifth at the finish was the first of the touring cars, pedalled by Tim Scott Andrews. Carlo Hamilton had been reeling him in and actually took the class lead with a very well timed pitstop, but the light/dark blue Falcon repassed the light blue/white one on lap 14. Next up was Adam Cunnington with some masterly driving in his Lotus Cortina, ahead of Jos Stevens in the second of the Lotus Elans. He could relax after the pursuing Marcel Kutak had to drop out with a broken throttle cable. Volker Weidler and Jaap van der Ende rounded out the top-10 in yet more Ford Falcons, while class winners De Vries/De Vries (CT07 Mini) and Lübbert/Henke (GTS11 TR4) had a race long scrap for 11th, which the Mini guys won in the end. Time for a well-earned beer and some routine maintenance on the cars as well. The crews of the 5 retired cars set to work to patch them up, while the DNS Shelby GT350 of Jacques Smeer had also been fixed after a parts raid. Jan van der Kooi borrowed a brand-new alternator from his rival Jos Stevens (talk about camaraderie!), but unfortunately that didn't solve the problem. The Lotus kept spluttering.

Race 2: Methley's mastery

Sunday's SuperSixties race started with an exciting opening lap. It all got a bit tight in the Craner Curves, which Bart-Jan Deenik solved by taking to the grass, gaining two places! 

Jan van der Kooi had taken the lead and tried hard to stay ahead of David Methley. The Marcos was marginally quicker though and was 5.8 seconds ahead of the Lotus Elan after 40 minutes of racing. Roelant de Waard took third in the Shelby Mustang GT350. Jamie Boot in the TVR Griffith looked on course to threaten him at first, but he was upstaged by Volker Weidler in the Gross' Falcon. Volker made good use of a set a fresh Dunlop rubber to take fourth overall, just 2 seconds behind De Waard. Behind Boot were the no. 2 and 3 in the big touring car class, Tim Scott Andrews and Carlo Hamilton, in Ford Falcons of course. Carlo finished ahead on the road but had spent 7 seconds too little in the pits, which multiplied into a 35 second time penalty. Adam Cunnington was once again displaying some great cornering antics in his Lotus Cortina, until a halfshaft cried enough and he lost a wheel. Jos Stevens (Lotus Elan) and Jaap Sinke (Healey 3000) passed Jaap van der Ende (Ford Falcon) to take 8th and 9th at the flag. Rene and Thijmen de Vries went well again and finished 11th overall in the Austin Cooper S and first again in the small touring car class. Bart-Jan Deenik was victorious in CT08/09 and Florian Lübbert and Christian Henke took their fourth GTS11 class win of the year in the Triumph TR4.

Top 10 race 1:

Top 10 race 2:

Full results: https://www.supersixtiesracing.com/nl/uitslagen/

More news from the Donington in SuperSixties Magazine 2026#2, download here:  https://indd.adobe.com/view/aa936e96-ae03-4205-a3f2-f90aa1e77f93

Ranking after 4 of 11 races: https://www.supersixtiesracing.com/nl/ranking/