British GT, Silverstone – Race Report
Top Step For MTECH

The second two-hour race of the season began under a cloud of controversy, following the exclusion of the Rollcentre Mosler from the championship, but ended with a very popular first-time win for MTECH pairing Duncan Cameron and Matt Griffin.

Despite the red Ferrari Scuderia having taken pole for the race, the two drivers had been struggling to find a set-up for the still-new car at this circuit and knew that they would have to drive the car hard to stay out front.

But others had designs on the front positions, too, with ABG’s Craig Wilkins knowing that he would have to make early progress if he and Aaron Scott were to stay in the title chase.

For the first time in many weeks, the UK (or this part of it, anyway) was enjoying a prolonged period of good weather, and the race began on Sunday afternoon in warm temperatures and in glorious sunshine.

As the lights changed from red to green, Cameron judged his start to perfection and started to pull away; not so for Phil Burton in the #12 VRS Ferrari, who saw his second place lost to the Barwell Ginetta G50Z of Piers Johnson.

Up to fourth by the end of the lap was the very assertive Wilkins in the silver Viper, having already passed the Ascari of David Jones and the Ford GT of Philip Walker; and moving up to third at Copse on lap two at the expense of Burton. Jones gathered himself together and took off after the Viper; the KZ1R deposing Burton and moving up to fourth. In the process the Preci-Spark machine set exactly the same lap time as the #20 – 1:27.395.

The gap between the two cars continued to reduce, and on lap four the Ascari emerged from Woodcote first.

Hector Lester had made a good start on the opening lap, moving the Rosso Verde Ferrari past the three GT4 Ginettas on the first lap, having started from the rear of the grid, but found himself unable to get past the #3 Chad Ferrari of Paul Warren.

At the front of the field, Cameron was driving well and managing to keep a one-second buffer between his car and the pursuing Ginetta of Johnson, but after ten laps the pace of both cars slackened slightly and this allowed the Ascari to close. Johnson was demoted to third on the tenth lap, and on lap 14 the lead changed hands and Jones started to pull away.

In GT4, an intriguing duel was taking place between the #52 Team WFR Ginetta of Nigel Moore and the #53 Speedworks G50 of Christian Dick. The gap between the two fluctuated around the three-second mark for the whole of the first half of the race and Moore was made to work for his lead. The Stark Racing Ginetta, meanwhile, was a little off the pace and began to drop away from the lead pair.

Andrew Howard was another GT3 driver making progress in the Barwell Beechdean Aston, passing Burton for fifth on lap five and thereafter managing to stay on terms with Wilkins’ Ferrari.

The first retirement of the race came before the quarter-way point was reached.

Paul Warren was starting to feel comfortable in the Chad Ferrari and caught up with the Ford GT on lap four, before finally finding a way past the black car on lap nine. Hector Lester quickly followed suit, but on the eleventh lap the #23 ran full-square into the rear of the #3 430. Both cars resumed and initially it looked as though the Rosso Verde car had come off worse; the front bodywork sticking up at an interesting angle.

However, the impact had damaged the Chad car’s gearbox, and on lap 16 the box locked itself into safe-mode. The car stopped on the outside of Abbey, but despite several attempts to rectify the situation the car was going nowhere and Warren got out; the car being pushed away by marshals before being loaded onto the back of a recovery truck.

Piers Johnson was having to contend with a long brake-pedal in the Barwell Ginetta and this allowed Craig Wilkins to close the gap by lap 15; taking the place before the next circuit had been completed. But this was not the only reason for the Viper’s progress, with Wilkins now lapping as quickly as anyone at this stage of the race.

The next car in Wilkins’ sights was the MTECH Ferrari. The gap disappeared quickly and the Viper was up to second on lap 24.

That same lap – 34 minutes of the race having elapsed – Philip Walker brought the RPM Ford in to hand over to Alex Mortimer. It would be several minutes more before any other cars would reach their personal fuel windows, which would allow them to pit. Mortimer narrowly avoided a penalty after he left the pit box four second too early. Fortunately, the team got the message to him in time and he pulled over to allow the time to elapse before exiting the pitlane.

Having achieved second place, Wilkins initially looked as though he could make inroads into Jones’ lead; but after pegging the gap at around four seconds – roughly the same as the contest for the lead in GT4 – the Viper started to drop back from the Ascari.

Duncan Cameron had by now found new pace from the difficult Scuderia and closed up on the back of the ABG car; being just half a second behind when he pitted on lap 36.

The damage on the Rosso Verde car got progressively worse, but was not deemed to be a danger to other cars and Hector Lester was left to race on. With the car’s aero compromised, however, and with the fuel window not yet open, the Irishman pushed on but fell ever further away from the cars in front. A waiting Allan Simonsen organised the garage to be ready for the necessary repairs when the car came in, but the #23 was already a lap down when Lester stopped on lap 33. the subsequent repairs cost the car a further three laps and for the second race in succession, the Dane was a long way out of contention.

David Jones had accumulated a 12 second lead by the time he pitted on lap 38, to hand over to brother Godfrey, but Craig Wilkins’ lead lasted just one lap before he too pitted.

In GT4, Christian Dick had managed to reduce the class lead to just a second following a sustained few laps of pressure, and when Nigel Moore pitted on lap 40 the Speedworks driver stayed out. The question now was whether he could build up a lead before himself stopping.

Matt Griffin announced his arrival in the MTECH Scuderia by setting the race’s fastest lap to that point on his first flier – 1:25.791.
 
On lap 40, both lead cars struck trouble; Piers Johnson disastrously finding the gravel and Andrew Howard going across the grass and losing several seconds on his inlap.  The Aston got away with it, but the Ginetta was beached for several very costly minutes before finally being retrieved. Olly Bryant subsequently set the fastest lap of the race in the G50Z, but he could do nothing about the three-lap deficit he now had; eventually finishing sixth.

Ian Stinton was the penultimate stopper on lap 45, but Dick stayed out until lap 50 before handing over to Richard Sykes; alas, without the Speedworks car retaining the class lead.

Griffin wasted no time in reclaiming the lead for MTECH, passing Jones before he was comfortable in the car; while Aaron Scott was a further ten seconds back in third.

Alex Mortimer had not been idle in the Ford GT, banging in a succession of quick laps in an attempt to reduce the significant deficit that he had inherited. He was in fifth place after the (GT3) stops had been complete and was slowly closing the gap to Jamie Smyth in the Aston.

At the head of the pack, Griffin looked comfortable in the lead and was extending his advantage with every lap, if not running away with it. Aaron Scott, meanwhile, was fully focussed on catching the Ascari ahead; the gap coming down consistently, but in small segments of a few tenths at a time. This was going to be tense stuff.

But suddenly, with 28 minutes remaining, the Ascari was in big trouble; Godfrey Jones bring the KZ1R into the pitlane at little more than a crawl. He eventually crossed the line and the crew were able to push the car back to its pit, but gearbox failure was soon diagnosed and the car was out.

With the third-placed Aston more than 30 seconds behind, Scott took the sensible approach and concentrated on getting his car safely home, rather than trying to close on Griffin. But Alex Mortimer had by this point closed onto the tail of the Aston and finally cracked Smyth’s resistance – the Aston struggling with negligible grip – on lap 69.

Adam Wilcox had also closed on the fight for third and took advantage of Smyth’s plight to move up to fourth on the next lap; but Mortimer had enough in hand to stay ahead, despite almost backing off too far after mishearing a crew call.

And that was pretty much the only action in the final 25 minutes. Matt Griffin kept his cool to cross the line a full 30 seconds ahead of Scott to claim MTECH’s first win in BGT – and the first win for the Ferrari Scuderia in FIA-rules competition.

“We had everything crossed during the last half hour,” said Duncan Cameron. “We were telling Matt to slow down. It’s been a fantastic weekend and we’ve finally done it.”

In GT4, Jody Firth cracked Sykes’ challenge early on and took his ninth win of the season. The ‘rookie’ is still awaiting official confirmation of the championship title, but given that the only person who can beat him is teammate Nigel Moore, he is there already. 

Despite failing to finish, the Joneses were still classified and picked up two very valuable points to take their tally to 71. Hector Lester picked up three, despite finishing four laps down, and is now on 70; while their eight points mean Craig Wilkins’ and Aaron Scott’s title hopes are still alive on 63.

The final two race take place at Brands Hatch on September 19th &20th and everything will be decided there.

MH