Olly Jeffries and CML Racing take the 2012 BRCA Touring crown

 

Going in to the final round of this season's BRCA national touring car series Olly Jefferies was one of five drivers capable of taking this year’s BRCA national championship, but following a poor showing at the BTCC warm up meeting on paper Olly looked the less likely of the championship contenders.

Day one of the Mendip national and some subtle set up changes to the TC6.1 saw Olly right on the pace and Olly set the fastest time in round one of qualifying. Round two and once again Olly was the man to beat as he notched up another fastest time. The meeting then started to settle in to the usual tyre strategy discussions and whether to go for new rubber or start to think about saving tyres for the final, but Olly was quick on used tyres and completed day one with another fastest time and securing pole position for Sundays A final.



Saturday saw some other great performances from the team. Ben Putt was showing some awesome pace including a top ten time, Alan Bickerstaff was also going well but needing a couple of strong runs on Sunday if he was to make the A final with Olly.



Away from the racing the team enjoyed an end of season party on Saturday night, a chance to wind down a little and chill out before the final days racing of what has been a hard fought season.

Lining up behind Olly after the final round of qualifying was Chris Kerswell with Elliott Harper just behind him, Andy Moore saved two sets of the tyres of the final and he would start fourth and it was Andy who looked favourite to take the challenge to Olly.

Zak Smith qualified in the B final along with Alan Bickerstaff and Ben Putt while Chris Slater was looking good for C final honours.



Leg one of the finals and Olly led from start to finish taking the leg and relieving the pressure a little, the TC6.1 looking strong now as Olly got one hand on the title crown.

Leg two and it was a nervous looking Associated team as Olly once again led away the pack, Andy Moore made a good start and piled the pressure on to Olly as they went head to head for the BRCA tiles, after five minutes Olly crossed the line ahead do the outgoing champion to take the win, the meeting and more importantly the 2012 BRCA National touring car title.



In the B final Zak Smith showed some of the form he had showed at the BTCC and despite the disappointment of missing out on the A final made up for it somewhat by taking victory in the B final ahead of Chris Grainger.

Making it a clean sweep of A, B and C finals was Chris Slater, Chris cruised to victory adding his contribution to a dominating Associated performance.



Kyle Gardner took the under 17 class of the BRCA national series adding more silverware to the Team Associated trophy haul.



A word from our new champion

“I am obviously delighted with winning the title but I have to say at the risk of sounding cheesy it was a real team performance, in previous seasons a lot of the team have followed my lead with set ups and strategy, this season everyone has matured and now it’s a real team effort with regards to technical feedback, I arrived at Mendip on the back foot and I needed the help of the team, the feedback I got was spot on and we were able to change the car to get it more to my liking, Zak's set up from the BTCC was a great help. It’s been a great season to watch our younger drivers develop in to top racers, the academy programme we instigated two seasons ago has now produce top quality racers and valued members of the team, everyone makes a valuable contribution to the team on and off the track and we now are reaping the benefits of that. Finally I would like to thank CML and Team Associated for the support they have given to the team over the past few seasons and I hope winning this title justifies the faith and commitment they have shown to us all, thank you”



Olly adds this touring car title to the stock and modified 1:12 national title he won earlier in the year and in doing so notches up another title for the Reedy / Team Associated brand

Other interesting facts from 2012, of the five national meetings that go to make up the BRCA series Olly TQ’d three of them and Team Associated were the only manufacture to win more than one round of the series

Well done to all the other drivers using the Associated TC6.1 in the national series, this weekend the team took young Michael Bolt under their wing as a “guest” and he repaid that by winning the H final, a possible driver to look out for in the future, well done to Mitch Hadley who has also campaigned the TC6.1 at all of this seasons nationals



A slight change for Olly next weekend as he contests his first Off Road meeting, a change to try something different and chill a little after a tough season

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