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Motorsport

12 Oct 2021

Photos by Gary Hawkins

Hollyman 911 Challenge double at Snetterton

911 Challenge Race Report Snetterton October 3rd

The final two races of the maiden TracTive Suspension and Porsche Club 911 Challenge season took place at Snetterton on Sunday, 3 October and Rob Hollyman continued his dominance at the Norfolk circuit with another two wins to back up his victory from when the series visited in June. This time it was two sprint races for the field, but that didn’t stop Hollyman driving two great opening laps and adding to his victory tally.
 
Qualifying saw a number of cars hit problems, Tim Bates quickest in his 911 SC despite a with a misfire, although Nathan Luckey had his 964 RS N/GT on song to go second quickest. Hollyman was to line up third for race one but had to resolve an issue with his seatbelts before the races, while fourth quickest Neal Harvey, sharing James Neal’s 964 C2, pitted after two laps with a rear brake problem. Giving away a lot of horsepower to the rest of the field was the two litre 911 of Roger and Morgan Sparrow in fifth.
 
Fortunately all the issues were resolved prior to race one, and at the start it was Bates who led the field away, but Hollyman was on a charge and quickly into second, and then was ahead before the end of lap one. As the flying leader extended his gap over the field, Bates was a secure second with Harvey running third.
 
In the second half of the race Luckey had his red 964 up to pace and was closing on Harvey, his car way better on braking but Harvey getting out the corners better. As Hollyman stayed clear for the win with Bates second, Harvey took third with Luckey less than a second behind.
 
It was a quick turn round for race two, this time with Luckey on pole, but the first lap went to the same script as despite a relatively slow initial getaway Hollyman blasted his 964 into the lead and once more pulled away from the chasing Bates. Neal was now in the 964 raced by Harvey in race one, and it was his turn to run third and hold off Luckey, the pair running close and trading places before Luckey fell away in the second half of the race.
 
Hollyman was first to the flag to pull off an impressive double, Bates second with Neal clear of Luckey and Roger Sparrow fifth.
 
“I couldn’t have done any better,” said Hollyman, “the races made up for qualifying! I did make two awful starts but I didn’t want Tim Bates to get away so was in a hurry to get past him each time. I passed Tim at the Esses each time, and I really enjoyed both races.
 
“I really enjoyed that and was trying to keep Rob Hollyman honest but I lost third gear part way through the first race,” said Bates. “That meant I was having to change from second to fourth so a bit of a struggle but still, it was a good race.”
 
“I could see Nathan Luckey catching me in various places,” said Harvey. “He was stopping better than me early on but then I got everything working and that was good, way better than we expected after qualifying.”
 
“I was battling with Nathan until he had a brief off,” said Neal. “We had swapped places a few times but that was fun.”