A weekend of Anniversaries and surprises.

Round 2 Britcar Dunlop Endurance Championship - Brands Hatch 1st August 2020

The second round of the Britcar Dunlop Endurance Championship took place at Brands Hatch and was a significant event for Martyn Compton, with the day marking 14 years since he was seriously injured in Afghanistan. The reconnaissance vehicles Martyn had been driving was ambushed by a rocket propelled grenade (RPG) attack, leaving Martyn with third degree burns to 75% of his body. He also sustained gunshot wounds to his right leg. To help celebrate Martyn’s 14th ‘Alive day’, HP and Media Co. Supplied an outstanding Military themed wrap for his vehicle.

Martyn said, “I was overwhelmed to have this surprise as part of my ‘Alive Day’ celebration. I always try to mark the anniversary with a positive event in honour of my friends who didn’t survive that day 14 years ago. I couldn’t think of a better way of doing this than to race this beautiful Praga around my home circuit.!

After a very promising Friday Practice session Martyn and Warren were ready to attack qualifying head on. Unfortunately, the car gods had other plans, with the car suffering an unforeseen technical issue in the garage prior to the session starting. This resulted in the duo losing their qualifying slot.

Warren said, “I’m not going to lie, I was absolutely gutted! So much hard work had gone into this weekend to make it a memorable occasion for Martyn and we were looking fast. Now it seemed that we weren’t going to race at all.”

The VR Motorsport mechanics worked tirelessly in the confined space of the Praga for several hours to repair damage to a wiring loom that had caused a small fire in the car when it was being warmed up.
The smiles finally returned with the sound of the Praga engine firing up, with only once minute to spare before race 1 was underway.

Martyn said, “It was an emotional day after the big unveiling, with many friends and family joining us for the day. I felt the pressure growing as we could not make it out in qualifying and all these guys had come out to support us. The VR crew did not stop, for hours literally upside down until the car came back to life.”

With the guys missing out on qualifying, permission had to be granted to allow them to take part in the race weekend. Permissions was granted by the clerk of the course, however they would be starting from the end of the pitlane, once the rest of the field had taken the start.

As the rest of the field passed, Warren set about catching the pack to see how far he could climb back up the field. By the time the pit window was open Warren had managed to climb back to P2 in class and P5 overall.
Another faultless pitstop performance from the VR Crew, saw Martyn re-join the race in the same position. Martyn drove a perfect stint, catching and passing the Ferrari 488 which led the Class 2 field, then setting his sights on a step on the overall podium.

Martyn said, “I was pushing hard to catch the Porsche 911 GT3 for that spot on the podium, I was being constantly updated by my pit crew on the gap, which I was closing by up to two seconds per lap. Ultimately though, I just ran out of laps. We are still very satisfied with a P1 in class, especially after starting from the pit lane!”