Super Lap Scotland kicked off 2015 with a record entry of 37 cars for Round 1. There have been small tweaks to the championship over the winter in an effort to further tighten the competition within the classes. The banding for power to weight has been scaled as the classes increase and one single test location for mandatory power to weight testing was introduced. A road car championship has also been introduced.

The weather was good, the paddock was busy... lets kick the 2015 season off! The aim of the day - building up to a perfect lap in the Super Lap Final.

SLS is simply - man and machine against the track and clock. Competitors complete two warm up sessions to perfect their lines and tweak their set ups ahead of qualifying. In qualifying competitors get a couple of attempts at topping the timesheets by completing 2 flying laps, before progressing to the SLS Final; where one lap, that's right, one single lap decides it all. There were several close calls on these all or nothing laps!

There are six classes, all based on the power-to-weight ratio of each car; which allows even the most modest of road cars the opportunity to compete against the super-tuned monsters out on track; with points awarded for qualifying positions and overall finishing positions in each class. Meaning that, a class E competitor (least powerful) could easily take the overall Championship title from a Pro class competitor (most powerful) by scoring more points throughout the season, giving us an overall "King of Knockhill".

Warmup

The warmup session traditionally sees competitors giving their cars a shake down whilst scrubbing tyres or finding out more about the track conditions. With a lot of new faces to SLS and motorsport in general there were a few timing issues early on due to transponders being positioned behind metal or in heavily shielded locations. Paul Rankin's PRO class Impreza and Dave Greenan's Civic suffered technical issues in this session and were retired.

The top three times in the Pro/A/B/C session were set by Forrest (Impreza - 53.449), Rankin (Impreza - 55.583) and Long (R400 - 55.946).
The top three times in the D/E session were set by Tough (M3 - 59.296), Keith (Impreza - 60.859) and Warman (EVO - 60.903).

Practice

The drivers now started to push on, with some practicing batches of 1 or 2 flying laps on cool tyres to get some practice for the scoring rounds later in the day. Other drivers took a different approach and used the time to get maximum laps in to get a better feel for the car and track. Understandable after a long winter away!
The changes to the classes and one testing location seem to have had the desired effect. Some close battles were starting to develop in most classes. Class D proving to be especially competitive again with the top 6 drivers split by 2 seconds, and all on times that would have done very well in 2014, showing good progression in the series and its drivers.
Andy Forrest and Andy Napier, both PRO class Imprezas, suffered engine issues in this session and were retired.

The top three times in the Pro/A/B/C session were set by Dorward (EVO - 55.242), A.Kindness (Impreza - 55.649) and Holmes (EVO - 55.748).
The top three times in the D/E session were set by Tough (M3 - 59.001), Chan (M3 - 59.430) and Henry (Astra - 60.236).

Qualifying

Qualifying is scored, so the pressure is on to perform. Drivers get two chances at two flying laps, this give practice on cold tyres for the Super Lap Final.

Class E

James McEleny showed his experience and shot to the top of the times (61.042) after some issues in the morning. James has raced with SMRC at Knockhill before so will know his way round the track. Yumen Lai did well (competitive debut) in his Clio to take second with a 62.393. This time would have been challenging for the win in 2014! Steven McNab rounded off the top 3 in another Clio, setting a respectable 63.620.

Class D

The battle for the top spot in D intensified in qualifying. Steve Warman upped his game and leapfrogged from 4th to 1st with a 58.695. Viney Chan (Another SLS newbie) took a deserved second with a 58.741. Paul Tough took 3rd with EXACTLY the same time he set in Practice 2 - 59.001. Henry, Milne and Keith all narrowly missed out with competitive times. Points are awarded 1st to 10th so not all is lost at this stage. Note - Brian Ronald is in Class D but showed in Class C on the timing. His Qualification time was 61.280

Class C

Experienced racer Mark Dawson showed his hand in qualifying, taking full points and setting a new P.B in the RedBull liveried Corrado - 56.838. Craig McCready made a scoring return to SLS by taking second with a respectable 59.035 lap. John Young took 3rd with a 62.945.

Class B

There was some confusion at the start of the day with Classes A and B being merged (all drivers are eligible for B) but it proved to be a good move that brought some fierce competition. Hopefully this will encourage others to get involved in Class B. 1 second split the whole of Class B, with SLS debutante Colin Dorward taking the 15 points with a rapid 54.682. A.Kindness took a close second (54.773) despite thinking he had done enough to take full points. David Long narrowly beating F.Kindness to third, showing a winter away has done nothing to separate these two competitors - they were neck and neck for most of the 2014 season.

PRO

PRO was a strange sight in the afternoon sessions. Three of the top cars were missing (Forrest, Napier and Rankin) but two borrowed road cars from friends & family to keep scoring for the championship. Napier swapped his Impreza for a standard Focus RS, and Rankin swapped his Impreza for a Mini Cooper S.
Eric Holmes took full points with a 56.043 lap, narrowly beating Russ Paton (56.719) who's morning had been blighted by a series of niggling issues. Napier took 3rd in the Focus.

Final

One final flying lap to decide the points, all or nothing. 100 points are available for 1st, down to 10 for 10th. Cars went out in order of qualification, with slowest out first, building up to the fastest car. The track conditions were generally good.

Class E

James McEleny failed to improve on his qualifying time, but took full points with a 61.054 lap. Yumen Lai and Steven McNab repeated their qualifying positions and rounded off the podium.

Class D

Steve Warman improved his time to take a commanding victory (57.997) ahead of the very consistent Paul Tough (59.091). Martyn Henry took 3rd (60.036) with a very narrow margin to Chan in fourth - just 0.169 seconds. 1 second separated third to seventh. This class will be one to watch.

Class C

Mark Dawson took first but struggled to match the pace he showed in qualifying, but did enough with a 57.874s lap. Hard tyres perhaps? Craig McCready pushed him hard and took second with an improved 58.537s lap. Kenny Stewart rounded off the top 3 with a 63.521s lap. Dave Graham will be looking to pick up the pace and challenge at the next round. He suffered braking issues throughout the day so could not show his true pace.

Class B

Class B went right to the wire again. Dorward and Kindness split by just 0.256s. Both were given re-runs in the final after being held up on track when completing their hot laps. Dorward failed to improve, but Kindness managed to go 0.001s quicker despite having a fairly scruffy lap on worn tyres. David Long took 3rd a further 0.5s back.

PRO

The depleted PRO field meant it should have been a straight battle between Holmes and Paton for the win. There is always drama though! Holmes span on his hot lap, but still managed a 65.084s lap. Paton had a very close call when passing A.Kindness on his out lap on the back straight, so was given a re-run.
Paton took the deserved win with his best lap of the day (54.217), ahead of a no doubt surprised Napier in his wife's Focus RS! Holmes took 3rd to score vital points despite the spin.

Full class honours are as follows:

	Pro Russ Paton - EVO (1st) Andy Napier - Focus RS (2nd) Eric Holmes - EVO (3rd) Class B Adam Kindness - Impreza (1st) Colin Dorward - EVO (2nd) David Long - R400 (3rd) Class C Mark Dawson - Corrado (1st) Craig McCready - VX220 (2nd) Kenny Stewart - Impreza (3rd) Class D Steve Warman - EVO (1st) Paul Tough - M3 (2nd) Martyn Henry - Astra (3rd) Class E James McEleny - Impreza (1st) Yumen Lai - Clio (2nd) Steven McNab - Clio (3rd)

Fastest laps per session:

Super Lap Scotland comes back to Knockhill on the weekend of 24/25th May for round 2 & 3 double header. Make sure you book tickets via the Knockhill website.

Thanks also, once again, to all those officials, marshals and medical teams who devote so much time to ensuring we can enjoy motorsport events like today.
For all the results and in-depth reports from today, make sure you hop on over to the Super Lap Scotland website or give their Facebook page a like ahead of the next event.

See you all at Knockhill very soon!

For more Round 1 Pictures please visit - Power-Images or Flat Out Photography

Results:

Full Results