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The time for the 2023 edition of EnduroKA’s 12 Heures Du Norfolk finally arrived on August 5/6, as the series looked to kick off the second half of the season in style. With the fantastic entertainment EnduroKA had delivered in the opening half of 2023, there was a great deal of excitement to see what the longest race of the year would bring.
Unfortunately no one told the weather and Saturday’s qualifying session was set to be a wet affair in Norfolk. Ian Mitchell of KAsh Strapped Racing was the first to light up the timing sheet as the session got underway, recording the inital fastest lap. This would quickly be bested by North Motorsport, Graves Motorsport and MilnAir Racing. As cars found their feet, North Motorsport’s Walker-Hansell reclaimed provisional pole for the #51 KA. Times were improving quickly and next to enjoy a spell at the top of the timing sheet was MSVT Racing’s Kevin Glover, whose team was comprised of drivers who had won their classes in 2022 championships across the MSVT Racing portfolio. The competitiveness of the session was apparent, highlighted again as Nicky Taylor stole provisional pole for Graves Motorsport.
Qualifying was then to become a dramatic story of two teams. In the closing stages, Angus Whiteside set an excellent 1:57:239secs for Wolf Motorsport to top the session, before Enduro Motorsport’s Marcus Clutton bettered Whiteside with a 1:57:069secs. It looked destined that Enduro Motorsport were going to take pole on their EnduroKA debut, but on the very last lap of qualifying Angus Whiteside responded with a blistering 1:56:846secs to secure the honours for Wolf Motorsport! Enduro Motorsport would have to settle for second, lining up ahead of: Graves Motorsport, MilnAir Racing, PRO-AM Racing, Windgat Racing, MSVT Racing, Autotech Motorsport #64, Original Chequers Racing and Sukaru Racing.
Having set the fastest lap time of qualifying, Wolf Motorsport’s Angus Whiteside took the reins of the race start. The driver expertly managed the opening exchanges as he looked to build a gap to the chasing pack. Last time out, MilnAir Racing enjoyed an exceptional opening hour and the team repeated the feat at this event in Norfolk, rising to second and just four seconds behind the leader. Kostas Kyritsis catapulted Autotech Motorsport #65 into third, ahead of an incredibly close battle between PRO-AM Racing, Autotech Motorsport #64 and Burton Power Racing. As always with EnduroKA, fantastic overtaking was being displayed throughout the grid. Courtesy of Phil Hart, Semprini Racing had risen from 26th on the grid to 17th and Roger Hasan had powered Orkasport from 24th to 15th.
With a quarter of the race done, pit stop strategy was becoming increasingly prevalent. Out front, MilnAir Racing held the narrowest of leads over PRO-AM Racing – just 0.696secs! This would set the tone for the remainder of the race, as the two lead cars were embarking on epic battle. Autotech Motorsport have been ever-presents at the front in 2023 and this continued at Snetterton, with both of their cars in the top five at the three hour classification. Donington Park winners Windgat Racing split the pair in fourth, while AxiaMetrics were enjoying a steady climb up the rankings, rising to fifth by the four hour mark. Less than one second separated KAsh Strapped Racing and Shine Automotive in sixth and seventh.
After a couple of hours of PRO-AM Racing leading the way in front, MilnAir Racing had reclaimed top spot at the half way point. PRO-AM Racing followed in second, with Autotech Motorsport #64 keeping the car in front honest in third. Burton Power Racing were enjoying a strong drive and found themselves in fourth place, courtesy of solid opening stints from Burton/Valentine/Werrell. Autotech Motorsport’s #65 KA continued to ensure that the team had two cars running in the top five of the standings.
As we progressed through the second half of the race, MilnAir Racing and PRO-AM Racing continued to exchange places at the top of the order. Both teams were seemingly executing fantastic race strategy, while their drivers continued to pump in rapid lap times. Donington Park winners Windgat Racing continued to find themselves near the top of the order, while Shine Automotive’s driving trio had put their team in contention with a storming drive. Elsewhere, Enduro Motorsport’s Marcus Clutton began to repeatedly replicate his qualifying pace to push the #69 KA back up the order, rising to 8th at the eight hour classification.
It seemed through the final few hours that MilnAir Racing might just edge PRO-AM Racing for the race win and, after the epic duel that lasted the majority of the twelve hours, MilnAir Racing did take the checkered flag first to secure a well-earned victory for the #46 KA. A huge congratulations to Jack Wright, George Wright and Jonny Milner for becoming the fourth different winners in as many races this year! PRO-AM Racing fought valiantly all race and deserve enormous credit for their second-place finish. Congratulations to each of their drivers (Roberts/Kelly/Thompson/Drought/Midgley) for the impressive result. The third congratulations and final step of the 12 Heures Du Norfolk podium belonged to AxiaMetrics.com’s trio – Irvine/Jackson/Weatherill. The team utilised savvy pit stop strategy and good pace to propel themselves to the podium and narrowly deny Windgat Racing silverware by less than eight seconds! Autotech Motorsport’s strong 2023 continued with their #65 KA finishing in fifth and the sister #64 finishing in seventh. The #1 KA of Burton Power Racing split the two cars, finishing in sixth. 77 Racing, Enduro Motorsport and MSVT Racing rounded out the top ten.
SuKAru Racing were the recipients of the latest Dagenham Dustbin, winning the marshals choice for the best presented Ford KA racing on Sunday. As always, competition for this prestigious award was tough and SuKAru Racing saw off strong efforts from rival teams to earn the prize.
Having narrowly missed out on pole position, Enduro Motorsport’s Marcus Clutton did claim the fastest lap in the race by setting a 1:41:078 on his 378th lap of Snetterton’s 200 circuit.
A massive EnduroKA thank you goes out to everyone who helped make the 2023 12 Heures Du Norfolk a brilliant event.
Bring on Oulton Park next month!