After quite a lengthy winter break of almost seven months, the Alfas return to Silverstone to contest the opening two rounds of the Hitek Electronic Materials Alfa Romeo Championship on the popular 1.64 mile National circuit.
The drivers and teams have been working hard around the winter to get the cars ready and the regular line up of drivers is being joined by a number of familiar faces from previous campaigns and one or two new faces who we welcome to the paddock.
Four times champion Tom Hill will be looking to regain his title in the very competitive Revs Italia prepared 3.2 litre GT although a number of drivers will be hoping to have similar success and there is likely to be strong competition in all classes. It’s good to welcome back Ian Stapleton for his first outing with the championship since Silverstone 2014 in the impressive 3.8 litre GTV.
Ian will be joined in the Modified class by last year’s class winner Scott Austin in the ex Vincent Dubois 156 turbo, 2021 champion Barry McMahon in the very quick 156 turbo and Andy Page returning in his Giulietta 116. Jamie Thwaites has acquired an ex TCR racing Giulietta which should be a strong candidate for overall honours, and Riccardo Losselli returns, this time driving the Alfa Workshop 2 litre Mito, whilst newcomer Mark Skeggs completes the Modified line-up in his GTV 3.2.
Tom Hill’s rivals in the V6 class will be regulars Dave Messenger in the Darnell’s Engineering 156 GTA, the ever popular and constantly improving Gabriele Iaccarino in his 3.2 GT with Revs Italia’s Roger Evans completing the line-up in the 147GTA that often gave Tom a good run for his money last year and gave the spectators some exciting racing in the hands of Graham Seager.
With last year’s champion Andrew Bourke missing from the line-up, second and third placed drivers Jon Billingsley and Toby Broome will be looking to gain an early advantage in the always competitive Twin Spark Cup class in their Bianco Motorsports supported 147 and 156. Stacey Dennis and Andreas Georgiou make welcome returns to the action in Bianco Motorsports 156s, with Adrian Norman in the 147 that he regularly campaigned last season. James and Richard Ford are in their customary 156 cars, both having required major engine rebuilds over the winter.
2023 sees a return to the two dropped scores rule which is applied at the season end, whereby a competitor can drop any two scores of their choosing out of the total 12 races so that these are not taken into account in determining the final points table.
Thanks go to all our sponsors this year: HITEK Electronic Materials Ltd, Yokohama tyres, Axis Shift and the Alfa Romeo Owners Club. Their continuing support of the championship is much appreciated and valued.
Keith Ford