Broughan stamps authority on Highlands feature

A barnstormer of a feature race at Highlands Motorsport Park was a fitting end to a great weekend of racing at the fourth round of the Bridgestone GR86 Championship – and it was Arthur Broughan who took the spoils.

Broughan had been the fastest man all weekend but had to wait until the 12-lap feature to enjoy the chequered flag. Victory made up for a couple of challenging rounds and after leading the series after the first round, Highlands success put Broughan firmly back in the title hunt.

“I knew the start would be the most important part of the race so I knew I had to take the lead out of turn one,” he said on the podium afterwards. “I got that done and the rest of the race was really, really good. I have to say thanks to the boys for a rapid car!”

Cooper Barnes was an outstanding second after his best performance of the weekend while Chris White took yet another serious haul of points for third.

It was White who made the best start at the lights but Broughan – having missed out at the same spot in Saturday’s race – managed to muscle his way through into the Bus Stop chicane. He led as the field headed off for the rest of the opening lap.

White tucked in behind, while Hugo Allan was third and Cooper Barnes impressive again in fourth. Ajay Giddy was in fighting form, passing Simon Hunter on the bridge on the opening lap. At the end of a breathless opening lap, it was Broughan from White, Allan, Barnes, Justin Allen, morning race winner Josh Bethune, then championship protagonist Zach Blincoe with plenty to do, Giddy, then Mac Templeton and Hunter.

A great race started to evolve as a long line of cars behind White heralded another ultra- competitive GR86 race. Broughan was the fastest man in the early stages and quickly built a narrow margin over White and the chasing pack behind. There was more action through the Southern loop on lap four when Barnes got past Allan, and Justin Allen went wide, just holding off Bethune as the NAPA car survived a grassy moment.

Templeton was looking to make progress up into the top ten battle but had to contend with Giddy. As the two battled, Hunter made the most of the situation and snuck through to pass both Giddy and Templeton in one corner, and he took Lee Zeltwanger with him, though Giddy quickly found a way past the rookie.

Further round an entertaining fifth lap, Barnes – having passed Allan – sent it up the inside of White to go second and he set off after Broughan. He completed lap six – the halfway mark – two seconds in arrears.

Behind Barnes, an absolute dogfight was developing with White, Allan, Allen and Bethune all covered by under half a second at the end of lap eight. It was great racing and an excellent showcase for the country’s premier one-make one-model championship. Blincoe was working hard for vital championship points further back, finding a way past Hunter and settled down in seventh.

Everything, in fact, was starting to settle, perhaps because the drivers had asked so much of their tyres in the fantastic racing of the early laps. Broughan though, still had his foot firmly planted to the floor and had increased his lead to three seconds by lap nine.

It stayed that way to the flag and after an excellent race it was Broughan by 3.5 seconds – a huge margin in a competitive field – followed by the excellent Barnes, then White, Allan, Allen, Bethune, Blincoe, Hunter, Giddy and rookie Zeltwanger.