Podium-perfect start to Time Attack Season for Pro-R Racing

Time Attack driver Ben Shimmin couldn’t have started his rookie season any better; the Subaru General Manager from Cross Roads Garage in Tredington finished his inaugural round at Cadwell Park with a string of fastest times, followed by a hard won podium finish.

Shimmin was driving the Pro-R backed car, prepared by Cross Roads and TDRacing. This very same machine had been piloted to outright victory in the Club AWD Class by Cross Roads dealer principal Jon Mathers during the 2011 season, so after a refresh over the winter, complete with a stunning new orange and white colour scheme, all eyes were on Shimmin to see if he could repeat the same level of success.

Despite Cadwell Park greeting the drivers with a deluge of rain upon their arrival – which stayed for much of the day, Shimmin was quick from the get-go, showing his competitors a clean set of wet-weather Uniroyals and the time-keepers a brace of fastest laps, to top the time sheets in both the warm-up and initial practise sessions. With a driving style and car set-up that clearly suited the prevailing conditions, Shimmin also scored well in qualifying, setting several fastest sector times during the build-up of the round.

As the lights went out for the final, the track had dried significantly, which allowed many of the higher-powered cars to exploit their advantage on the more open parts of the challenging circuit. Despite this, Shimmin kept things neat and tidy, chipping away at his times, to net a third overall behind the capable and well-pedalled Evos of Steve Peel and Marc Kemp.

Commenting after the race, a clearly delighted Shimmin said ‘For my first ever event I am ecstatic to be on the podium. The team at Cross Roads and TDRacing have built a phenomenal car, and even this early in the season, it’s feeling very easy to drive. We’re a little bit down on power compared to some of these cars, but that’s no bad thing at Cadwell in the rain! My main focus now is to get my head down and focus on the task ahead at Knockhill. It would be great to try and repeat our success there!’

The Time Attack circus rolls into Knockhill on the 10th of June. Don’t miss it.

For more details on Pro-R, log on to pro-r.co.uk.

For more details on Cross Roads, log on to subaruvehicles.co.uk.