Charlotte Birch scores first points of the season at Brands Hatch

Securing her first top-15 finish of the Milltek Civic Cup season, Vinna Sport racer Charlotte Birch  took good steps forward in performance and achieved her first points scoring finish of the campaign at Brands Hatch.

Photo credits: JEP

Securing her first top-15 finish of the Milltek Civic Cup season, Charlotte Birch achieved her first points scoring finish of the campaign at Brands Hatch.

After qualifying in a strong 13th, the Vinna Sport driver finished race one in 15th position after enjoying a number of close midfield battles. In race two, Birch ran as high as ninth following an excellent start, before taking the chequered flag in 16th. After being spun at the start of race three, Birch was unable to show her potential in an event where she took strides towards the overall top-10.

Returning to the Milltek Civic Cup at Donington Park last month, Birch made a solid start to the season. The Vinna Sport driver achieved a best result of 17th and was now targeting a spot inside the top-15 to score her first points scoring finish of the season.

The Brands Hatch Indy circuit hosted round two with the drivers racing alongside the British Truck Racing Championship. An expanded schedule of three races meant further opportunities to progress throughout the weekend. As Charlotte’s local circuit, Brands Hatch has been a positive track for her in the past and therefore she was looking to take steps forward across the event.

Qualifying took place on Saturday morning and was held over a duration of fifteen-minutes. After building into the session, Birch set a superb lap time just past the halfway point and briefly moved up to 11th position.

A red flag period then followed with the session restarted for a final four minutes. Birch returned to the circuit but was unable to improve upon her earlier time of a 54.139. This lap placed her in 13th and put Charlotte in a good position to begin the weekend on the front foot.

For the opening race of the weekend, Birch lined up from 13th on the grid and made a good start to complete lap one in 14th position. The Vinna Sport driver was then shuffled back to 17th on lap two, before Jamie Petters moved ahead on lap three.

The race then settled down into a rhythm and this allowed Birch to focus forward and push towards the points scoring places. On lap six, she lapped faster than the next five drivers ahead and with a group of seven cars covered by just one second ahead of her, there was still good opportunities for Birch to move forward.

As the battles ahead intensified, Charlotte closed in on Sam Nicolaou and briefly moved ahead on lap eight, before he reclaimed the position at Surtees. Birch was up to 17th three laps later after Jamie Petters pitted and then following a new personal best time, she was re-applying pressure to Nicolaou.

While Birch looked for a way through, Garry Townsend closed in and he was able to move ahead on lap 15. One lap later, an incident at Clearways resulted in Jake Renshaw’s machine being beached in the gravel with Charlotte now back into 17th. On the final lap, a superb pass on Nicolaou elevated Birch to 16th and with a track limits penalty assessed to Josh Bromley ahead, Charlotte claimed her first points of the season as the Vinna Sport driver was classified in 15th.

Photo credits: JEP

Grid positions for the second race of the weekend were based on the finishing positions of race one, while the top-10 drivers were reversed. Birch therefore lined up from 15th position and made an excellent launch. She was immediately looking to move forward as the drivers approached Paddock Hill bend, before contact was made between drivers ahead of her at Druids. Birch’s teammate Francisco Howitt was spun and Charlotte did a superb job to avoid two stationary cars while using the inside line to move forward.

At the end of lap one, Birch was running in a superb ninth position and with the majority of her rivals sliding around on cold tyres, she was driving smartly to maintain position. After a strong second lap, Birch fell back to 12th and this resulted in a slight loss of momentum. With a number of fast drivers recovering from earlier setbacks, Charlotte fought hard to defend her position but fell to 16th by the end of lap five.

On lap six, Jake Renshaw and Aidan Mitchell also made their way through with Birch settling into 18th position. On the following lap, Matt Wilkins stopped with a technical issue on the outside of Druids and this resulted in the safety car being deployed.

The race resumed with just two minutes remaining and Birch was alert on the restart as she ran just a quarter of a second behind the driver ahead. As positions just outside the top-10 were exchanged in the closing stages, Sam Nicolaou ran wide and Birch capitalised to gain one further position to end race two in 16th. Birch missed out on a second points finish by less than two tenths of a second in another closely contested race in the Milltek Civic Cup.

For the final race at Brands Hatch, the grid positions were based on the driver’s second fastest times from Saturday’s qualifying session. Birch made a good start from 18th position and did a nice job to avoid a stalled car ahead of her on the grid. The Vinna Sport driver was challenging for a top-15 position as she approached Druids for the first time.

As Birch looked to the inside of the corner, a driver was rejoining the circuit after running wide and this resulted in the drivers running three-wide. Contact was made between the battling trio with Birch able to continue with minimal time lost. Misfortune then struck as the drivers approached Surtees with Charlotte being spun from behind. Birch rejoined from the grass, however she fell to the rear of the field and the car had received some damage following the opening lap incidents.

On lap two, Birch was able to move back into 25th position after Adam Parker pitted and after Francisco Howitt was involved in a separate incident, Charlotte was up to 24th. Birch was looking for a safety car intervention to catch the rear of the field and although the racing in the midfield was intense, the drivers were doing a good job to remain on circuit.

Into the second half of the race, Birch began to catch Simon Welch and despite the earlier damage, she was making inroad on her rival. On the final lap of the race, Birch reduced the margin to less than a quarter of a second before taking the chequered flag in 24th position.

It was an unfortunate end to a weekend in which Birch took good steps forward in performance. Her qualifying effort highlighted this and coupled with an excellent start in race two, there were many positives to take from the weekend. By securing her first points finish of the season in race two, Birch established herself as a strong midfield contender as the Milltek Civic Cup drivers take a short break before returning to action at Silverstone on the weekend of 17th/18th May.