From Team F4V Media –
• Nathan Anthony makes strong start to 2024 Legends Cars campaign
• Team F4V racer P12 in overall standings in Championship and Elite Cup
• Seventh place best for Horley driver over two dramatic Donington days
• Home circuit Brands Hatch next for Se-Van racer a fortnight from now
Donington Park National Circuit provided two drama-packed days of Legends Cars Championship racing over the weekend, 27th/28th April, where Team F4V driver Nathan Anthony emerged from the season-opening event with a clutch of top results.
On a weekend where persistent rain and a lot of standing water caused chaos with the timetable on day two of the race meeting, Horley driver Nathan was pleased to be able to deliver a consistent run of finishes – with the exception of an unfortunate non-finish in the round one Final on Saturday.
His best of seventh position overall came in Heat One of round two on Sunday afternoon, and the First 4 Vans, Towergate Insurance, Blue Lizard, Blue Chip Warranty, Creative Funding Solutions and Mowermate backed driver concluded the Donington weekend 12th in the overall championship.
Drawing 19th on the grid for Heat One on Saturday in the ballot, Nathan raced impressively to a top 12 result in the No.29 Se-Van and had higher hopes still for Heat Two where he lined-up sixth on the grid. While lap one didn’t go as planned, Nathan bundled down to 14th place, he came back through to finish the eight lapper in 11th position – only 0.3 seconds outside the top 10.
Beginning the round one Final on Saturday from 14th on the grid, the starting order based on a reversal of championship positions, the Team F4V racer slipped three places on the first tour but set about climbing the order again – doing so impressively.
Picking off places lap after lap, into the eighth tour he was 12th but as he headed into the chicane at the end of the lap some oil which had been deposited on track pitched the Se-Van into the barriers. As it ricocheted back onto the track, insult was added to injury when another car hit the Se-Van.
Determined to put that misfortune behind him on Sunday, no racing at all was possible until the early afternoon as a result of the rain overnight and through the morning. Heat One of round two began mid-afternoon and Nathan lined-up third on the grid. In the battle for second towards the end of lap one, unsighted contact with the unfortunate Rob Fountain’s car led to an instant stoppage.
Due to the timetable challenges after the lengthy delays, the re-started race didn’t begin until after 18.00 and Nathan was again in the battle for the podium. Although slipping back to seventh later on, the result marked his best of the weekend – all live on ITV4 and ITVX. During Heat Two little more than an hour later, a stellar performance delivered 11th place from a starting slot of 20th position.
Nathan Anthony:
“It’s not been a bad weekend in terms of the results, and I do want to say how pleased I was to see Rob [Fountain] out of the car after the nasty accident in Sunday’s first race. It was very unfortunate and I’m just glad the outcome wasn’t worse.
“Obviously the weather made things difficult for everyone on Sunday, which turned into an unbelievably long day, but we’ve come away from the first weekend of the season in good shape in the Masters and pretty well placed in the main championship as well. All in all, I’m pretty happy.”
There is only a fortnight to wait until Nathan is back racing at his home track, Brands Hatch Indy Circuit in Kent, over the weekend 11th/12th May for rounds three and four of the Legends Cars Championship and Elite Cup season – which will again be part of the BTCC package.
Provisional Legends Cars Championship and Elite Cup Standings (after Rd2):
12th Nathan Anthony, 385pts
