Stefan Arand left Rother Valley on a high after he regained his UIM GT30 World Championship title.

That feels great, after yesterday I thought there was no way I could retain the title but apparently there was.

It would mean that he would need to catch and pass the over-night points leader Britain’s Thomas Mantripp and that was precisely what he did.

Arand knew that the third heat would be the crucial one and that starting from mid pack on the grid would make that task slightly harder.

I knew I could drop the score from heat two, but all the guys ahead of me on the grid want to win so starting so far down meant getting a good result was going to be difficult.

The Estonian driver didn’t panic though and slowly worked his way through the traffic ahead of him till he had Mantripp in his sights.

Then with just over half distance completed he made his move down the long back straight and quickly dispatched the British racer down to second place.

Mantripp said after:

I held him off for two laps but then I thought about the bigger picture.
With my win and two second places I knew that Arand had everything to lose in the last heat.

UIM GT30 World Championship – Heat 3 Results

1st) Stefan Arand EST
2nd) Thomas Mantripp GBR 0:07:69
3rd) Karol Soodla EST 0:14:26
4th) Viktoria Soodla EST 0:26:06
5th) Aivar Kommisaar EST 0:26:67
6th) Jack Pickles GBR 0:41:76
7th) Elliot Fleet GBR 0:51:78
8th) Astra London GBR L1
9th) Kimi Eskelinen FIN L1
10th)Tony Judge GBR L3

As the GT30 racers left the start jetty for the fourth and final time Arand made the perfect start and quickly opened up a lead over his British rival.

Mantripp eventually knew that today wasn’t going to be his day even though it had stated so well when he went quickest in ‘free practice’.

When I’m racing I try and get into my competitors minds, so putting in an early reminder that I’m quick out there showed them that I wasn’t about to roll over and surrender.

Unfortunately for Mantripp, Arand had other ideas and even though he made a couple of slight errors in turns the Estonian had built up a big enough lead that he would remain untroubled out in front.

As he took the chequered flag the emotion got to the reigning champion:

I cried like a baby as I crossed the finish line.

It has been a really tough weekend because right now everyone has me in their sights as I’m the person they have to beat and today they tried but didn’t succeed.

Mantripp told me:

I came here to win.

But the Estonian racers gave me a tough fight. I’m pleased with the result because we have shown them that we have the pace, next time tough I’m looking for that win.

The third place in the World Championship and UIM Bronze medal went to another Estonian racer, Karol Soodla, who races for the same team as Arand.

He was quick to pay tribute to his team mate saying that she was long overdue some international recognition:

In GT15 she attracted bad luck because she should have been a Champion.
Now she is at home in the GT30 and it won’t be long before she is taking the top spot.

UIM GT30 World Championship – Heat 4 Results

1st) Stefan Arand EST
2nd) Thomas Mantripp GBR 0:21:06
3rd) Karol Soodla EST 0:26:92
4th) Aivar Kommisaar EST 0:31:02
5th) Viktoria Soodla EST 0:33:06
6th) Jack Pickles GBR 0:45:81
7th) Kimi Eskelinen FIN L1
8th) Elliot Fleet GBR L1
9th) Astra London GBR L1
10th)Tony Judge GBR L3

2018 UIM GT30 World Championship – Results

1st) Stefan Arand EST 1200 points
2nd) Thomas Mantripp GBR 1000 points
3rd) Karol Soodla EST 750 points
4th) Aivar Kommisaar EST 563 points
5th) Viktoria Soodla EST 521 points
6th) Jack Pickles GBR 327 points
7th) Elliot Fleet GBR 195 points
8th) Astra London GBR 177 points
9th) Kimi Eskelinen FIN 164 points
10th) Tony Judge GBR 110 points