Successes on Grand Prix circuits for Horsham race ace Padmore

The Horsham ace has raced historic cars at various circuits around Europe, all three of them current or former Grand Prix circuits.

First up was Spa, where he raced the Lola T292 run by Crowne Racing that he has raced a few times this season.

Sharing the driving duties with Tony Sinclair, who owns the car, he qualified 7th overall for the one-hour race.

At half distance, Sinclair brought car into the pits for their driver change from 4th position and Padmore rejoined the race in 8th with some work required to climb the leaderboard. By the end of his stint, he had raced up to a fine 3rd overall – taking the class victory.

Two weekends later, he was at Dijon in the South of France – a fast and undulating circuit that has previously hosted the Swiss Grand Prix (as Switzerland has no circuit).

A superb effort in qualifying saw them line up 3rd for the one-hour race. Again Sinclair pitted from 4th place, with Padmore rejoining in 7th from which he set off on a rapid climb up the leaderboard.

Gaining one position a lap during his first two laps, he then jumped up two places on his 3rd lap and was soon chasing down the 2nd placed car. Five laps later he had caught and passed that rival to run 2nd overall and leading their class having set the fastest lap of the race.

Sadly, the pace was too much for the car and a mechanical failure just 6mins from the end meant instant retirement – a disappointing end to an excellent drive.

After that, Padmore was at Zandvoort (the home of the Dutch Grand Prix) as he returned to Masters Racing Legends racing in the Lotus 87B owned by Chrome Cars and run by Britec Motorsport – a car he has raced several times in recent seasons.

A close and competitive qualifying session saw him claim 2nd overall for a front row start for their first 25-minute race. A good start saw him run 2nd from the green light and he maintained that class winning position to the chequered flag.

That 2nd place meant a start place of 7th for race two, as the top 8 places get reversed for the grid for the 2nd race. A hectic 25-minute race resulted in 3rd overall after another fine drive.

Next up for Padmore is the much anticipated Le Mans Classic, where he will race the Lola T292 and an AC Cobra. Then at the start of August he will be at Nurburgring for the Oldtimer Grand Prix – another major historic racing event.