EGERTON racer Tom Bradshaw endured a frustrating first outing of the season.
Returning after more than 18 months away, he stormed to a commanding pole position in the first round of the FIA Masters Sports Car Championship.
Bradshaw took his Chevron by the horns and tackled the Donington National circuit with vigour.
However the following day’s one-hour race was to end in retirement due to mechanical issues with all eyes on the next outing in Zandvoort in Holland at the start of next month and then the final round at Spa in Belgium a few weeks later.
A former modern single-seater and Porsche front-runner, Bradshaw spent the qualifying session duelling with Gary Pearson’s Lola T70 Mk3 but was able to secure pole position, completing his fastest qualifying lap 0.166 seconds quicker than Pearson in his Lola.
Buoyed by the excellent qualifying session on the Saturday, Bradshaw entered the one-hour race on the Sunday on the front row of the grid.
After the rolling start he powered away with ease towards turn one, Redgate, and controlled the pack commandingly for four laps.
Entering Coppice for the fourth time, his Chevron B19’s engine stuttered after clipping the apex which proved to be terminal.
Bradshaw pitted and the team assessed the situation instantly and tried a number of mechanical improvements to try and get their man out for the remainder of the race. Unfortunately, the problem could not resolved, and the team decided to retire the car.
Taking the positives of the speed shown in qualifying, the crew have been hard at work ahead of heading to Holland from September 4 to 6.
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