FERRARI HILLCLIMB CHAMPIONSHIP
REPORT : ROUND 15 : WROUGHTON

And so to the final round, which attracted no less then 18 runners. Of particular interest was Robin Ashley's F40 which must surely be the first appearance ever of one of these tipos in the Series. Robin had already wrapped up the Championship with his Dino and therefore had nothing to lose in bringing out his "spare" Ferrari.

The Championship excitement, however, centered around Richard Baker and John Marshall who came to this final round on equal points and needed to settle who would finish in second and third places in the overall 1998 rankings.

Practice showed that Robin Ward (308GTB) was undoubtedly going to be the class of the field. He was followed by Graham Reeder's GMFC "O" class-winning F355 and Richard Baker (308GT4) who was a couple of seconds quicker than arch rival John Marshall (308GTB).

After the lunch break the first run times were the ones to count as a brief rain shower just before the second runs added a few seconds to everyone's time. Robin Ward set a stunning time and won the class ahead of an equally inspired Len Watson (328GTS), albeit with a margin of less than 0.3 secs. Graham Reeder finished third and then came a jubilant Richard Baker, who thus achieved second in the Championship by finishing narrowly ahead of John Marshall.

Other notable performances came from Richard Barnett (328GTS), who finished only just behind the leading group, and Robin Ashley, who soon experienced the triumph of F40 power over grip and spun frequently.

With the PEP factors applied, Robin Ward took maximum points, followed by the Baker/Marshall protagonists who ended the Championship just two points apart. Overall, however, it was Robin Ashley who won the season's contest, with a large points lead having driven his little Dino beautifully all year!

Click here to see the Results.
Click here to return to the Ferrari Hillclimb Championship page.