Cancer Research UK 2.4 Hours of Spa

Apex Racing UK’s 2.4 Hour Spa Cancer Research UK Charity Race proved to be a great success. In total, the event raised £1358.25 for the charity which could not have been done without the generosity of iRacers on the service, not to mention the sponsors who very kindly donated around £1500 worth of prizes to be won throughout the race.

The event itself started with three  hotlap sessions in the week running up to the main race and the main goal for the drivers here was to set as fast of a lap as they could around the challenging Spa-Francorchamps circuit. The top three times at the end of the three hotlap sessions would win cash prizes kindly donated by Kimmy’s Rural Fencing. Claiming the fastest time of a 2:17.823 was Blake Townend from Radicals Sim Racing team and in turn earned himself the top prize in the hotlap challenge which was $40 of iRacing credits. Claiming second was Marcus Hamilton from Friction Racing with a time of 2:18.073 and in turn claimed $20 of iRacing credits as his prize. Third was LJ Garnett of Apex Racing UK with a time of 2:18.388 and he claimed the final prize of $10 iRacing credits.

The main event took place on Saturday and 35 drivers took to the grid for the event. On pole was Blake Townend seemingly carrying his pace from the hotlap challenge over to qualifying for the main event. Second on the grid was Sebastian Job just .028 of a second from the polesitter. The second row was filled with LJ Garnett in third and Marcus Hamilton in fourth and the third row was filled with Liam Williams and Dean Prescott.

The race itself was all about survival while still managing to keep up a consistent pace and although LJ Garnett moved too the race lead at the start before falling back to second position a small mistake resulted in a spin and him ending up way down the field making this already long race even longer. As a result of this the remaining top 5 of Blake Townend, Sebastian Job, Marcus Hamilton, Liam Williams and Dean Prescott to fight among themselves, that was until Marcus Hamilton made a small mistake which resulted in him getting a slow down penalty which cost him several positions. Shortly after, Sebastian Job spun on the exit of La Source which resulted in him losing several positions and meant that the Apex Racing UK duo of Dean Prescott and Liam Williams were left to fight for second and third while Blake Townend built a gap up at the front.

Further back, another Apex Racing UK battle was in full swing, this time between Clive Lawrence and Tim Mawson as the drivers swapped positions several times throughout the race but ultimately Tim Mawson was able to finish just ahead of his team mate by just over a tenth over the finish line. They finished in P8 and P9 respectively. Just up the road from them was John Broadmeadow who had a reasonably quiet 2.4 hours with an occasional battle with fellow team mate Lasse Bruun-Hansen who had just completed the first round of the World Championship Series also at Spa just a few hours before. Ultimately a couple of mistakes cost Lasse Bruun-Hansen time and he ended up finishing 12th with John Broadmeadow finishing seventh.

The remaining Apex Racing UK RUF drivers Darren Kirk and Conrad Venter were a little further down the field; however Conrad Venter had to retire from the race due to computer issues. Darren Kirk who had organised the event had some good battles with Samuli Kumo who was the remaining Apex Racing UK driver and one of just three McLaren drivers in the field, ultimately Samuli Kumo came out ahead of Darren Kirk after the Brit made some mistakes costing him some time.

Back up at the front the Apex Racing UK duo of Liam Williams and Dean Prescott were still fighting for position, but ultimately this was costing them time and Sebastian Job, Marcus Hamilton and LJ Garnett all managed to find their way back past. Heading into the closing stages of the race Sebastian Job made another mistake this time out of the final turn and resulted in him making severe contact with the wall, this left Blake Townend, Marcus Hamilton and LJ Garnett to take up the top three positions at the end of the race. Just behind however the duo that was Dean Prescott and Liam Williams were fighting all the way to the end and a desperate outside move by Liam Williams into the final chicane looked to have worked however he carried too much speed into the first part of the chicane and ultimately end up making severe contact with Dean Prescott. Both sim-racers however managed to hold their track positions and finished fourth and fifth respectively.

In the end the event proved to be a big success and we managed to acquire a healthy sum of money for a great cause. The team would like to thank everyone that donated to the cause for the event and the sponsors of the event who very generously threw in some great prizes for the event.

Click here to watch a full broadcast of the race.

Apex Racing UK Team Manager and Organiser Darren Kirk had the following to say:
“Firstly, I’d like to thank every person who helped raise such a fantastic amount for such a worthwhile charity, as well as the sponsors of the event: Leo Bodnar, GTOmegaRacing, iRacing, Kimmys Rural Fencing, Brittalk Communication and ARL-TV who provided the prizes. The event was a great success and quite a challenge, however looking back and seeing what we all managed to achieve and raise is a brilliant feeling and something we hopefully can do again in the future.”

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