Festival Italia 2026

The Hitek Electronic Materials Alfa Romeo and Italian Intermarque Championship paid its second visit of the season to the popular Kent circuit, this time to contest rounds 9 and 10 of the 14 race championship on the 1.2 mile Indy configuration as part of the annual Festival Italia meeting.

A 30 strong entry had been helped by the unfortunate cancellation of the pre ’85 races, resulting in a 12 strong entry in the Turismo class. Regular drivers George Warren, James Powell, Steve Godfrey, Dave Pickup, Antony Britton and Jasper Gilder were joined by the GTV of James Wright, the Alfetta GTV of Brett Syndercomb and the 33 of Gary Holman, together with the Napolina liveried GTVs of George Osborne and Chris Snowden, Chris’s black GTV racing at Brands for the first time in 40 years. Also joining the class was newcomer Ben Sharpe and all were welcome additions to the grid.

In the Modified class, regular drivers Scott Austin in the 156, Andy Page in the 116 Giulietta and Jack Berry in the Alfa Workshop 4C were joined for the second successive outing by Mike Hilton’s Maserati Gransport Trofeo, having taken the overall accolades in its first outing on the GP circuit here just four weeks earlier. Another Maserati on the entry list was the Granturismo GT4 driven by Richard Dougal making an interesting addition to the entry. Completing the exciting line up was Ian Woolfenden in Barry McMahon’s GP circuit race two winning Giulia Veloce, with Vance Kearney entering his Ferrari 430 GT3 running as an Invitation class car.

In the Power Trophy, 2025 champion Toby Broome took a break from his Modified class problems and was at the wheel of Graham Seager’s 147 GTA, sister car to the Revs Italia 147 with which he took the title. That car had been acquired by inaugural Turismo class winner Nathan Bignell, who was also on the entry list and hoping for better fortune this time. Dave Messenger was in his usual 156 GTA with Richard Ford giving the GT another outing following its recent rebuild. The Bianco Motorsport supported cars of Mark Skeggs in the GTV and championship leader Stacey Dennis in the Giulietta completed a strong class entry.

In the Twin Spark Cup, the class leader Paul Plant’s 156 was joined by the Bianco Motorsport 156 driven by Giles Billingsley and the 156 of Marcus Robinson. Garry Jackson had taken the opportunity to get behind the wheel of James Ford’s 156 in James’s absence and was looking forward to making his second appearance on the Indy circuit. Adrian Norman’s 147 had been on the entry list but mechanical and logistical problems conspired to end with its non attendance resulting in 29 cars taking the track for qualifying.

QUALIFYING

As qualifying got underway in the mid morning sunshine it was no surprise to see the Maserati GT4 of Richard Dougal and the Ferrari 430 GT3 of Vance Kearney making the pace but neither was it a surprise to see Toby Broome in the 147 GTA up there with them in the early laps. The extra power of the Modified cars pulled them clear and eventually Richard’s Maserati took pole by just one hundredth of a second from Vance’s Ferrari with a last lap effort of 50.705. Third was the 4C of Jack Berry with a 51.491 ahead of the Maserati Transport Trofeo of Mike Hilton with 52.704. Toby Broome took fifth and Power Trophy pole with a 54.046 whilst Ian Woolfenden was sixth and fourth Modified runner with the Giulia Veloce. The next five places on the grid were taken by the remaining Power Trophy cars of Nathan Bignell, Stacey Dennis, Richard Ford, Dave Messenger and Mark Skeggs ahead of Andy Pages’s Modified class Giulietta in twelfth spot. Nathan had put his car off the circuit on the outskirts of Druids after completing eight laps and the car had to be recovered but he was able to get the car ready to take the grid. Unfortunately, the 156 of Scott Austin only managed a couple of laps due to engine problems and he retired the car from the rest of the meeting.

In the Turismo class, George Warren’s GTV set the early pace but Dave Pickup was first to set a sub 57 second time with James Powell eclipsing that by just over a tenth on the next lap. That looked to be good enough for pole until George Osborne’s GTV pulled out a 56.443 on lap 12 which turned out to be the eventual pole sitter’s time. James Powell took second, Dave Pickup third, George Warren fourth and Chris Snowden fifth ahead of the leading Twin Sparks. James Wright’s GTV was sixth in Turismo, with Brett Syndercomb seventh, Steve Godfrey eighth, Gary Holman ninth, Antony Britton tenth, Ben Sharpe eleventh and Jasper Gilder twelfth.

In the Twin Spark Cup, class leader Paul Plant set a series of ever improving lap times with a 59.052 on lap seven being good enough for pole and 18th on the grid. An excursion into the gravel at Paddock Hill toward the end of the session would prove costly though, resulting in a damaged sump with little time available to repair it in time for race one. Giles Billingsley had set a number of sub one minute times, his time of 59.092 on his last lap being good enough for second and 19th overall with Garry Jackson’s time of 54.479 taking third and 22nd overall with Marcus Robinson a couple of grid slots behind.

RACE 1

With the 156s of Scott Austin and Paul Plant unable to make the grid, a total of 27 cars lined up behind the pace car to take the rolling start. Once the pace car had peeled off into the pit lane, the cars took the start with the Maserati leading into Paddock Hill bend for the first time. Behind the lead car, Jack Berry had managed to get inside the Ferrari and took second at Paddock Hill bend with the Ferrari third. By the end of lap 1, the trio led the 147 of Toby Broome who was ahead of Mike Hilton’s Maserati, whilst the 33 of Jasper Gilder had pulled off the circuit with a throttle related issue bringing out the safety car. The field circulated behind the safety car for three laps and as racing commenced on lap 5 it was once again the Maserati of Richard Dougal from the 4C of Jack Berry and the Ferrari of Vance Kearney. Toby Broome was fourth with Mike Hilton fifth and Nathan Bignell’s 147 sixth. This stayed the order at the front until Mike Hilton overtook Toby to move into fourth with Toby fifth ahead of Nathan in sixth. After the cars had restarted Stacey had been seventh behind Nathan but as she descended Paddock Hill on lap 6, the car had a big moment on the circuit with the following cars doing an amazing job in avoiding a collision. Much to Stacey’s relief, the Giulietta was able to continue but had lost quite a bit of ground to the other Power Trophy runners, running fourteenth overall and sixth in class. Dave Messenger had wondered how he had managed to avoid a collision but he did and was now third in class behind the two 147s of Toby and Nathan. Richard Ford had been running in fourth spot but had been having pre race problems with the fuel gauge and paid the penalty of taking the optimistic view of the gauge’s readings by having to retire the GT after completing 11 laps due to lack of fuel!

In the Turismo class, James Powell was leading and circulating amongst the Power Trophy runners ahead of George Warren’s GTV, George Osborne’s Alfetta GTV and the Turismo 156 of Dave Pickup. On lap 6, George Warren took the class lead whilst George Osborne went into second on lap 10 leaving James in third ahead of Dave’s 156. Dave had been lapping slightly quicker and had caught James but the two cars came together at Paddock Hill on lap 14 resulting in the 147 hitting the barrier and bringing an early termination to the race with a red flag.

In The Twin Spark Cup the leading pair of Giles Billingsley and Garry Jackson had been trading lap times throughout, circulating in the 59 seconds with Marcus Robinson’s 156 also putting in a strong showing with sub one minute times to keep in touch a few seconds back.

With the results being declared after 14 laps it was the Maserati of Richard Dougal that took victory from Vance Kearney’s Invitation class Ferrari with Jack Berry third and second in the Modified class. Third in class and fourth overall went to Mike Hilton’s Maserati with Ian Woolfenden’s Giulia fourth, and Andy Page’s 116 Giulietta fifth.

In fifth overall and leading Power Trophy car was Toby Broome’s 147 GTA, with Nathan Bignell second in class and Dave Messenger third, Mark Skeggs fourth and Stacey Dennis in fifth. Dave had the misfortune of suffering a blown cylinder head gasket at the conclusion of the race and had to retire the car for race 2.

In the Turismo class, George Warren took the win in twelfth overall from George Osborne’s GTV, the latter establishing the lap record for the Turismo class. Dave Pickup was third, Chris Snowden’s GTV fourth and James Wright’s GTV fifth. Brett Syndercomb was sixth and 18th overall, separating the first placed Twin Spark class car of Giles Billingsley and the second placed 156 of Garry Jackson with Marcus Robinson taking third and finishing 20th overall. In 21st to 24th place overall were the seventh to tenth placed Turismo class cars of Antony Britton, Gary Holman, Steve Godfrey and Ben Sharpe.

Race 1 Results

RACE 2

With Dave Messenger and James Powell having retired their cars, a total of 26 cars lined up for the start of the second race with Richard Ford and Jasper Gilder having sorted out their respective issues and Paul Plant having repaired the sump after having to sit out race one. As the cars competed the warm up lap, the Power Trophy GTV of Mark Skeggs pulled into the pits to retire with what transpired to be a gearbox problem.

The rest of the field continued to take the rolling start. All cars managed to negotiate the start with Richard Dougal leading and Jack Berry’s 4C taking second spot from the Ferrari of Vance Kearney through Paddock Hill Bend, though some bunching up had occurred behind them in the midfield. The Twin Spark of Marcus Robinson, who had managed to take advantage of the situation to briefly take the class lead had a coming together with the 156 of Giles Billingsley into Druids, causing a tyre to come off the rim of the Bianco car resulting in Giles having to be recovered from the circuit, and the deployment of the safety car. As the cars crossed the line to complete lap one, it was the Maserati GT4 of Richard Dougal that led from the Alfa Workshop 4C of Jack Berry and the Ferrari 430 GT3 of Vance Kearney. Toby Broome’s Power Trophy 147 had gained one place to fourth, Mike Hilton’s Maserati was fifth and the Giulia of Ian Woolfenden was sixth.The 147 of Nathan Bignell was seventh, whilst championship leader Stacey Dennis had already made up a place to eighth with Andy Page’s 116 Giulietta in ninth. George Warren’s Turismo class car was tenth ahead of George Osborne’s Napolina liveried GTV and Dave Pickup’s Turismo class 156. Chris Snowden in the second Napolina GTV was next, followed by James Wright’s  GTV and Brett Syndercomb’s GTV. Richard Ford had started at the back of the field and was already up to sixteenth in his Power Trophy GT, ahead of the leading Twin Spark of Garry Jackson who had made up a place on Marcus Robinson’s 156. Antony Britton’s Mito was next ahead of the Twin Spark of Paul Plant who was up to 20th after starting at the back of the grid after having to miss the first race. Steve Godfrey’s 156 was 21st ahead of Gary Holman’s 33, Ben Sharpe’s Giulietta and Jasper Gilder’s 33. This was the order for the next four laps as the field circulated behind the safety car.

As the cars resumed competition at the start of lap 6, the order remained largely unchanged except Richard Ford passed Brett Syndercomb’s GTV and Paul Plant made up a place to put him just over a second behind the second placed TS of Marcus Robinson. On lap 7, Andy Page’s Modified car passed Stacey’s Giulietta and Richard Ford moved ahead of the GTVs of Chris Snowden and James Wright, then moved up to twelfth spot  past Dave Pickup on the following lap, with Mike Hilton regaining fourth spot from Toby Broome on the same lap.

At the head of the field, the leading cars were holding their relative positions as they negotiated their way through the back markers until Vance Kearney had to retire his Ferrari on lap 17 with gearbox issues, then Jack Berry’s 4C retired on the following lap with no throttle. This left the Maseratis of Richard Dougal and Mike Hilton leading into lap 19 until Mike Hilton encountered an ABS problem which resulted in his Maserati ending up in the gravel trap at Clearways. This brought about an end to the race with the results being declared at the completion of 20 laps with Richard Dougal taking another well deserved victory in the Maserati GT4 from Ian Woolfenden’s Giulia in second and Toby Broome’s leading Power Trophy 147 in third. Nathan Bignell’s similar 147 GTA took a well earned fourth and second in class ahead of the sole remaining Modified car of Andy Page. Stacey Dennis took sixth and third in the Power Trophy ahead of George Warren’s Turismo class winning car and Richard Ford in his Power Trophy GT.

In the Turismo class, the next four places places were taken with the Turismo cars of class runner up Dave Pickup, third placed Chris Snowden, fourth placed Janes Wright and Brett Syndercomb fifth. George Osborne had to unfortunately retire the GTV at the start of lap fourteen with a broken exhaust but had the consolation of a new class lap record of 56.157 set in race one.

In the Twin Spark Cup, Garry Jackson went on to take his first class win in the championship, also setting the fastest lap of the weekend with a 58.842 in race two, but short of the existing lap record. Marcus Robinson had challenged a number of times for the lead and had succeeded in holding off a challenge from behind from Paul Plant, with the pair finishing second and third in class.

Richard Dougal’s best lap time of 50.452 in race one was very close to the overall lap record for the Indy circuit and Toby Broome’s fastest of 53.77 was close to his own Power Trophy record, but not close enough! Driver of the Day went to Nathan Bignell in the 147 GTA.

Leading the championship after ten rounds with four more to go is Stacey Dennis from Dave Pickup and George Warren.

Leading the Modified class is Jack Berry from Andy Page and Scott Austin.

Leading the Power Trophy class is Stacey Dennis from Mark Skeggs and Richard Ford.

Leading the Turismo class is George Warren with Steve Godfrey second and James Powell third.

Leading the Twin Spark Cup is Paul Plant with Dave Pickup second and Richard Wadlow-Smith third. The next rounds take place at Oulton Park on 29-31 August.

(Points before dropped scores)

Race 2 Results