The HITEK Electronic Materials Alfa Romeo championship heads to the south-east for the popular and well supported Festival Italia meet at Brands Hatch for rounds 7 and 8 around the 1.2 mile Indy circuit.
Heading the entry list is last year’s Festival double race winner Scott Austin in his Integrale engined 156 turbo, one of nine cars in the Modified class which includes 2021 champion Barry McMahon in the 156 turbo, making a welcome return to the grid. Andy Page is in the Giulietta 116, a car dating back over 40 years but a frequent sight on the Alfaracer grids. George Osborne in his immaculate 75 also makes a welcome return to the championship for his first outing this year. The 2021 Power Trophy class winner is sure to be right there with the leading pack. The TCR Giulietta of Jamie Thwaites returns to the action after a broken hub flange caused a premature end to his last outing at Cadwell Park. Cadwell Park race 2 winner Ian Stapleton is once again in the very distinctive and rapid GTV6 whilst Modified class winner in race 1, Mike Hilton, is in the attractive and much admired 4C. Mark Skeggs has put in some solid performances this year in the GTV and will be looking to get into the class podium positions this weekend. Completing an extremely varied and exciting Modified class line-up is Daniel Wood, debuting the ex Ron Davidson 164.
At the halfway stage of the season it’s very tight between the top two in this year’s championship with Twin Spark Cup driver James Ford holding an 8 point lead over V6 class leader Tom Hill in the spectacular Alfa GT with dropped scores still to come into play. James is unable to race this time out so it’s a great opportunity for others to make up ground before the cars go to Donington Park in September. In third spot overall is 2021 Twin Spark Class winner Richard Ford in his distinctive 156, just 2 points clear of Power Trophy class leader Stacey Dennis, who is having a thoroughly enjoyable time with the Bianco Motorsports supported Giulietta. Twin Spark driver Toby Broome is also putting in some consistent performances and is only 3 points further back in 5th in his 156.
Joining Tom Hill’s Revs Italia Alfa GT in the V6 class is Dave Messenger in the Darnell’s Engineering 156 GTA and Gabriele Iaccarino in his 3.2 GT. Both drivers missed the last outing at Cadwell but will be hoping to take advantage of the dropped scores rule to get a bit closer to the class leader. Tom himself will be relishing the chance to race amongst such a varied group of Modified entries and it would be no surprise to see him well up the order come the chequered flag.
A healthier Power Trophy entry than usual sees no less than four Punto Abarths join the Giulietta of Stacey Dennis on the leading part of the grid. We extend a particular welcome to newcomer Alex Dargan-Bloss alongside the three Abarths of Luke Praoline and Simon and Chris McFie who are making welcome returns to the Alfa grid and a familiar sight around the Brands Hatch circuit on Festival Italia.
In the Twin Spark cup, Richard Ford and Toby Broome’s 156s are joined by season regular Adrian Norman in the 147, last year’s Oulton Park class winner Giles Billingsley in the Bianco Motorsports 156 and making his second outing of the year is Edward Robinson in his 156, again supported by Bianco Motorsports.
Thanks go to our sponsors Hitek Electronic Materials, the Alfa Romeo Owners Club, Yokohama Tyres and Axis Shift for their valued contribution to making this a successful championship, and to Motor Sports Vision and the 750 Motor Club for their collaboration in enabling this event to once again be a popular inclusion in the Calendar.
Keith Ford