THERE was double disappointment for Hampshire drivers in the big sports car meeting at Silverstone over the weekend.

New Forest racer Justin Keen powered the Lister Storm LMP into a top-six slot in the Le Mans Endurance Series 1,000-kilometre race before Robbie Kerr's Zytek ran into the back of him, damaging the rear suspension and costing the team any chance of a high finish.

The pit stop to repair the problem saw Keen and co-driver Rob Barff drop from sixth to 24th place.

Then it went from bad to worse as another accident then a brake failure forced the Lister out of the race which was won by the Kaffer/McNish Audi R8.

Winchester's Steve Hyde and co-driver Piers Johnson suffered even worse luck in the British GT Championship race.

Hyde had got the Eclipse Motorsport TVR Tuscan up to third place before an ill-fated pit stop cost the team a drive-through penalty which was later found to be unnecessary!

When Hyde handed over to co-driver Johnson it was decided that too many team members had worked on the car, a ruling which was changed later on - but only after the Eclipse had dropped from third to seventh place. The team were rightly furious and their mood didn't improve when the car spun on oil during the second race and ended up on the gravel trap, eventually finishing in 16th position.

In the same race Southampton youngster Ricky Cole combined with Pete Le Bas to bring their Team Xero Corvette C5R home in ninth and eighth positions.