Farnham motor racing team Hawthorns Motorsport sealed second in the TVR Tuscan Challenge championship at last weekend's season finale. Lead driver Jay Shepherd took cautious fourth and sixth place finishes to make sure of the runner-up position.
He said: "I wanted to get second for the team. Everyone at Hawthorns and Colin Blower Motorsport has been brilliant and I just hope I can race with them again next year."
Shepherd went into the final double-header at Derbyshire circuit Donington Park second in the standings, but with only a slender lead. A non-finish in either of the weekend's two races would have dropped him down the final order.
With one of his chief rivals, Andy Britnell, sidelined on the opening lap of both races, Shepherd only really needed to beat Richard Hay. With that in mind, Shepherd, who hopes to graduate from the one-make sportscar championship to full GT racing with Hawthorns next year, opted for a pair of sensible and mature drives.
In the shortened race one on Saturday, he got another great start off the line and was immediately challenging Countdown Developments driver David Mason for the lead. But his car spluttered at Coppice on the first lap and he fell back behind champion Steve Guglielmi and Darren Dowling.
With his car not quite 100 per cent, Shepherd went for the safe finish option and, although he had to defend from series returnee and British GT racer Steve Hyde, he didn't have long to hold out for. A red flag and a black and yellow caution flag period meant the race was halted after just four laps.
In the 15-lap feature race on Sunday, a liberal dousing of oil, especially at Old Hairpin corner, made life very difficult for the lightweight 450bhp cars. While the leaders slithered about up front and spun off on the oil, Shepherd drove what was possibly the most careful race of his life, eventually ending up sixth, just behind Hay, which he knew would secure second place.
It was a weekend of bigger ups and downs for the rest of the Hawthorns Motorsport team. Team owner Rod Barrett had a fine sprint race on Saturday, once again coming out on top of his season-long tussle with TVR chairman Peter Wheeler to take 13th.
He was one of many victims of the oil slick on Sunday, though, finding a patch of liquid at Redgate Corner and charging off into the gravel. With help from a group of marshals, Barrett rejoined to finish 21st.
Steve Moore was left fuming on Saturday, after a nudge from TVR PR man Ben Samuelson tipped him into a spin at the Melbourne hairpin, leaving him back in 19th. He held it together better than many in Sunday's race, skating to a fine 15th position, despite some bumper-to-bumper scrapping with Haslemere's Wayne Phelan.
Jan Persson came off worst of the Hawthorns drivers. As the Tuscans charged off the grid for Saturday's race, Lawrence Tomlinson's stalled car triggered an horrific multi-car crash during which Persson was hit hard by another car and slammed headlong into the pit wall.
Persson was unhurt in the violent accident, but the nearside of his car was destroyed and could not be repaired in time for Sunday's second race.
Final championship positions: 2nd Jay Shepherd 955; 12th Rod Barrett 629; 16th Jan Persson 455; 19th Steve Moore 296.
Hawthorns Motorsport will step up to the British GT Championship next year with a pair of cars in the series' new low-cost 'GT Cup' category.
The squad, headed by Rod Barrett, will continue to run at least four cars in the Tuscan Challenge, which supports the GT series. Barrett is also linking up with Tuscan Challenge team partner Colin Blower to help run his Ultima GTR sportscar in British GTs. The move will help provide a sportscar career ladder for Hawthorns' TVR drivers.
Hawthorns/Colin Blower Tuscan drivers Lee Caroline and Jay Shepherd have both enjoyed two runs in the Ultima this season and shared the car at the Donington Park GT finale last weekend. An impressive performance bagged them fourth overall.
Haslemere driver Gavin Pyper ended his British Touring Car Championship year on a high note, taking a win and a third at the final Donington Park meeting.
Third might sound a lower-order finish for the Surrey-based Scot relative to his sterling performances in the GA Motorsport/Team Dynamics Alfa Romeo 156 this season but, given that he started last on the grid for the longer feature race due to transmission trouble, it wasn't a bad showing after all.
The result places Pyper fourth in the final standings with 107 points.