British GT, Spa – Friday Notes
Mixed Fortunes

Despite some, at times, quite horrendous downpours and thunderstorms on the run down from the Chunnel to Liege the previous night, as well as overnight rain, Spa-Francorchamps itself was not a bad place to be on Friday morning. It wasn’t exactly sunny, but at least the clouds were white and drifting by a long way above the surrounding hills.

25 cars from the British GT Championship joined 30 others from the Aston Martin GT4 Challenge and the European & Benelux GT4 Cup (or whatever it’s called this week) for the first of the two hour-long free practice sessions.

Things didn’t get off to the best of starts for the CCTV Predator Ferrari Scuderia of Phil Burton and Adam Wilcox, with their car losing its clutch very early on and ruling it out of any further running before qualifying. They fared better than Athanasios Ladas and Michael Mallock, however, whose race weekend ended after just nine laps with a blown engine in the #45 ABG Motorsport KTM X-Bow.

Peter Hignett explained that the X-Bow had been given a 10% power reduction since Brands Hatch; “We’ve not had chance to test since applying the restrictions, so we don’t know yet if the failure is connected to the new measures. The engines are normally bullet proof!”

Mallock was already on his way home by the time the news filtered through, but he tweeted the following response; "The car wasn't going to be competitive anyway with the new power. More importantly, I get to spend the weekend with my ladies; Mega!!" That’s wife and child, for anybody wondering.

Marcus Clutton wasn’t overly chuffed with the restrictions either, his #44 championship leading X-Bow now being some three seconds off the GT4 pace. “This wasn’t our kind of circuit anyway, because the KTM doesn’t have much top-end speed, but now we can’t do much more than hope that luck goes our way and we pick up some points.”

As well as leading GT4, the ABG driver currently lies second overall in the Sunoco Daytona Challenge; “I’m a bit gutted, to be honest, because I think the top four after this round get to test the DP. Hopefully I can hang on in there.”

Other cars hitting problems included a failed clutch for the #24 United Autosports Audi R8 LMS at the start of the second session, while the Preci-Spark Mercedes AMG SLS ended its first session stranded at the top of Eau Rouge when the car failed to restart after a spin. Mike Jordan confirmed to BGT press officer Nick Carter that the Preci-Spark SLS that he tested at the circuit on the Wednesday before the race meeting (as part of the Spa 24 official test day) was a different chassis to the one raced by the Jones brothers; and that, as such, there was no issue with the two-week test ban that applies in the series.  

Matt Griffin set the fastest time of the two sessions (in FP1) – 2:23.070 – in the #21 MTECH Ferrari 458 and was happy with the way things were going; “The car’s really good round here and Duncan’s going well also, so we’re hoping for a good result tomorrow.”

Aaron Scott was similarly content; "The car's good round here and John (Dhillon) has found three seconds since we tested here earlier in the year."

MTECH guvnor Mike Edmunds wasn’t present at Spa on account of getting married on Sunday; the team flying back to attend the ceremony after the race.

Both Trackspeed Porsches went well in the second session, with Richard Westbrook recording the fastest time of 2:23.490 in the #1 and Tim Bridgman third fastest on 2:23.770. Team Manager Keith Cheetham confirmed that all was well and also that the demise of the #1 at Brands was the result of an engine failure; “The Snetterton shunt had put a lot of strain on various components and we hadn’t had sufficient time before Brands Hatch to sort them all. Unfortunately, the engine gave out during the race and spoilt what could have been a very good result – I know we got the win, but it could have been even better.

“We’ve now installed a new engine and its going well. The only thing is that we’re going flat out to attain our pace while a lot of the newer cars are having to be held back. Hopefully we’ll get an upgrade soon, which will take some of the pressure off.”

One car that was attracting a lot of attention was the McLaren MP4-12C, which is making its racing debut here this weekend as an Invitation entry. CRS Racing Team Principal Andrew Kirkaldy – who is sharing the car with McLaren test driver Chris Goodwin – confirmed that all 20 of the cars destined for European teams in 2012 have already been sold; “We could have easily sold three times that number, but instead we will not be releasing any more cars to the European market for another three years. The next cars we sell will be for Asian and other markets.” By doing this, the 2012 customers are guaranteed to receive a properly sorted car, with proper support from the factory. “All customers will receive factory report,” added Goodwin. “McLaren did that to great effect with the F1 GTR programme and will be offering the same service with the new car.”

So what was the aim of this weekend? “No test programme sees a straight-line of continuous improvement, but we’re pretty much where we expected to be at this point,” continued Goodwin. “Normally with a new car, the race car follows a test programme, but we’re racing here as part of ours; so the first goal is to assess how the car performs over a one-hour period under race conditions. This is a new car – it had a shakedown before a run-out at the Goodwood Festival of Speed last week, followed by the test here on Wednesday – so we’re bound to find various issues and discoveries.”

This weekend sees the MP4-12C running on Avons for the first time, so how did it take to its new boots? “The car’s very happy on Avons,” said Kirkaldy. “They’ve done a good job.”

CRS Racing LMS racers Phil Quaife and Adam Christodoulou were both at Spa, although neither were racing; “I’m loving my racing this year,” said Christodoulou, “I just want to drive as much as possible – I’m tempted to drop a few laxatives into someone’s coffee tonight and then offer my services for tomorrow,” he laughed. Quaife was originally due to come to Spa as driver coach for Magic racing, but after they decided not to enter this round he decided to come anyway. Both drivers are just petrol-heads, basically.

Over in the Speedworks Motorsport awning, Team Principal Christian Dick confirmed that the #6 Corvette’s retirement-causing issue at Brands Hatch was of the serious variety; “It dropped a valve, so we’ve got a new motor for this weekend.

“We’re hoping to make further progress this weekend and the circuit should suit the car; the goal is to finish both races and take it from there.”

The Stark Racing Ginetta G55 had received an engine upgrade since the previous round, but the first session was fraught with problems; “There are two fly-by-wire controls on the engine, but unfortunately they’re not talking to each other; so the engine keeps switching to limp-home mode with only 8% throttle! The only way to clear it has been to switch off for five seconds and then refire – the biggest problem is that it happens at Eau Rouge and Blanchimont!”

Several technicians from the Ginetta factory were poring over the car in an attempt to trace and cure the problem; “We’ve had great support from the factory; it’s just frustrating that it’s happening now and eating into the practice time.”

Several drivers had less-than-complimentary things to say about the driving standards of some of the Benelux GT4 runners; “The problem is that some of them are sticking to their lines, but they aren’t necessarily the racing lines that you’d take!” said Charles Bateman. “And the closing speeds do present a problem at times.” His Scuderia Vittoria teammate was more scathing in his assessment; “They’re all over the place!”

The #48 Lotus Evora of Ollie Jackson and Phil Glew set the fastest GT4 time in practice, perhaps inspired by some recent passengers; “The car was at Goodwood last week and Nigel Mansell drove it,” said Ollie’s father Paul. “He even signed the car on the roof!” Other drivers included IndyCar driver E.J. Viso, “But Ollie was the fastest of all of them,” said Gary Ayles, Team Principal for Lotus Sport UK.

A surprising number of drivers were to be found at the Whoopi Snacks stand after free practice ended – “Frites mayo? Cinq Euros s’il vous plait!” – presumably this being the best way to prepare for the qualifying session to come later in the afternoon.

MH