The third race meeting of the 2012 Pirelli Ferrari Open was held at Brands Hatch on the Jubilee bank holiday Monday &
Tuesday.

Qualifying begun as the last race finished, with FF Corse driver Gary Eastwood leading the way and setting a time on the Indy circuit of 51.16s, good enough for pole position. Alongside him on the front row was Sam Smeeth in his Ferrari F430 Challenge, also heading the Class 3 Challenge.

David Hathaway headed the Class 2 field in his F360 Challenge and Paul Brooks' 456 was the quickest in Class 1.

Race 1

Local Brands Hatch ace Gary Eastwood quickly put a couple of seconds between him and Sam Smeeth, a gap he held and slightly extended until taking the chequered flag 30 laps later. The class positions remained relatively static with Sam Smeeth winning Class 3 and David Hathaway & Paul Brooks also taking their class victories.

Race 2

Race two the following day saw a fantastic battle in qualifying between Gary Eastwood and Paul Bailey, which came out in the favour of Paul Bailey and his Ferrari F430 GT2 after a last lap effort to beat Eastwood by 0.2s.

The second row was taken up by Mick Dwane in his 458 Challenge and Jacques Duyver, taking the Class 3 pole, in his F430 Challenge.

The weather conditions changed dramatically for the worse after qualifying and the race was held in torrential wet conditions. The fast starting Gary Eastwood quickly headed the field after disposing of a more cautious Bailey.

Coming through from the 7th on the grid after problems in qualifying, the man on the move was Sam Smeeth and he also found a way past Paul Bailey on lap 3 into 2nd place overall. Furthermore he quickly forced his way onto the back of Gary Eastwood before finding a way through into the lead on lap 9. Eastwood, realising his 100% winning record was in danger, gritted his teeth and as the weather deteriorated further he found an extra turn of pace. On lap 22 he re-took the lead in determined fashion and looked set to take a well-deserved victory. However fate was to play a final hand and he hadn’t counted on the river running across the circuit at Surtees getting worse. On the 24th tour he aquaplaned off the circuit at the tricky left/right section, resulting in a big spin on the grass.

This enabled Smeeth to retake the lead, a position he held to take a well-deserved first win in the Ferrari Open. Eastwood’s spin promoted fellow FF Corse team mates Jacques Duyver and Mick Dwane onto the podium with 2nd and 3rd respectively behind Smeeth.

The Ferrari 355 Challenge of Lee Moulden won Class 1, ahead of Vance Kearney, both drivers finishing ahead of the entire Class 2 field, which was headed by Nick Kaye in his Ferrari 360.

Click here for Race 1 results.

Click here for Race 2 results.

Next meeting: July 20-22, Spa-Francorchamps (D/H)

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