Competing with Vinna Sport in her Honda Civic, Charlotte Birch enjoyed thrilling battles on her return to Track Action Racing Club competition, scoring one overall win and two class victories at Thruxton.
Charlotte Birch enjoyed a positive return to Track Action Racing Club competition with one overall win and two class victories at Thruxton. Competing with Vinna Sport in her Honda Civic, Birch enjoyed thrilling battles with Paul Roddison in both races at Britain’s fastest circuit.
Charlotte led the majority of race one and defended well before Roddison made a last lap move for the win. Determined to claim victory in race two, Birch led every lap on her way to victory while negotiating a red flag period and subsequent restart.
Charlotte returned to action following a mid-season hiatus and was eager to make a successful return in her Honda Civic. Driving in the latest round of the Track Action Racing Club, this was a series in which Birch had enjoyed substantial success both during the 2023 and 2024 seasons.
Thruxton, however, would bring a significant challenge for Charlotte with the Vinna Sport driver having very little experience of the fastest circuit in the country. The high-speed corners coupled with the heavy braking zones would be a challenge, with Birch looking to return to the podium in her second Track Action Racing Club outing of the campaign.
Qualifying got underway on Saturday morning and was held later than scheduled due to an incident in a previous session. As a result, the early morning rain had cleared and this led to a predominantly dry circuit for the Track Action Racing Club drivers.
A large grid of 25 racers were competing at Thruxton and therefore managing traffic was a feature of qualifying. In a session disrupted by a red flag, Birch qualified on overall pole position with a fantastic lap time of a 1:29.029.
Race one of the weekend took place shortly after qualifying and was held in dry conditions with the Vinna Sport driver lining up on pole position. Charlotte got her Honda Civic off the line well and ran side-by-side with Paul Roddison on the run to the opening complex.
Birch was able to hold position through the opening corners and although her rival picked up the slipstream into the Club chicane, Charlotte led the opening lap. By lap two, the lead margin has grown to six tenths of a second before Roddison fought back and set the fastest lap of the race immediately after.
On lap four, Charlotte was once again having to defend from the Volkswagen Scirocco with the two different cars evenly matched around Thruxton. While Birch was quickest in the first sector comprising of the Campbell, Cobb and Seagrave corners, Roddison’s machine was faster through the high-speed sections and appeared to enjoy a greater top speed.
Charlotte set the quickest first sector of the race on lap five, although the gap remained at just half a second as the pair encountered lapped traffic. With clean air for the Vinna Sport driver on lap eight, Birch set a new fastest lap of the race before Roddison closed in once more, starting the final lap just two tenths of a second behind. Following a good run through the high-speed Church corner on the final lap, Roddison was able to take advantage of the slipstream and move ahead of Charlotte into the Club chicane to claim the overall victory at the final corner. Nonetheless, it was a thrilling race between the duo which saw Birch claim victory within her class.
For the second and final race of the event, Birch once again lined up from pole position with Gareth Porter alongside. Charlotte made another good start and held the lead while Charlie Constable moved into second. Ending the opening lap with a margin of one and a half seconds, Birch could focus on setting fast times. However, on lap two the safety car was deployed and this led to a red flag period with the race halted.
When the race resumed, the distance was reduced to eight minutes and Charlotte needed to make another clean standing start. She did just that and opened out a healthy gap, ending lap one just over a second clear of her rivals. Birch’s lead grew to 1.7 seconds at the end of lap two, however with Roddison now second, the race one winner aimed to cut the advantage.
By lap four, Roddison had reduced the lead gap to just four tenths of a second and was looking for a way through at the Club chicane. Despite his best efforts, Charlotte defended her lead superbly and claimed a brilliant victory on her return to Track Action Racing Club competition.
It was excellent meeting for Charlotte who displayed strong one lap pace as well as impressive racecraft. After claiming double pole position, Birch led all but one lap of the event and this put her in an ideal position to add to her podium tally.
The Vinna Sport driver will look ahead to further outings during the 2024 season with the Track Action Racing Club an ideal place to enjoy close, multi-class action.
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