Goodwood Trophy 2012

The car’s magic and the track is fantastic

Mark Gillies added a third Goodwood Trophy victory to his tally as Saturday’s programme kicked off with a 25-minute race for Grand Prix and Voiturette cars raced between 1930 and 1950. Pole-sitter Gillies lost out to last year’s winner Mac Hulbert as the Union Jack flag dropped with ERAs blanketing the podium positions. However, Hulbert made a mistake at St Mary’s on the second tour, Gillies sweeping past on the outside at Lavant to take the lead. He was never headed, but the battle for second was far less clear cut. Hulbert dropped out at half-distance, his ERA having refused to run cleanly in practice. It was left to Irishman Paddins Dowling and Duncan Ricketts to keep things interesting, the former’s upright ERA B-type appearing to have the edge over Ricketts’ lowline ERA E-type. However, with just three laps left to run, Dowling pounced as Ricketts was baulked by an oblivious backmarker.

After the race, an elated Gillies said: “The car’s magic and the track is fantastic. I’d like to thank Mary Smith who owns the car for letting me race it.” Second-place man Dowling added: “It’s like racing in paradise. It’s a privilege to race here.”