British GT, Spa – Race Two Report
Wilkins & Scott Break Their Duck

The second British GT race of the weekend began behind the safety car, but ended with the kind of tight finish that is seen so often in the championship. What was different about this one, however, was that the duo standing on the top step of the podium hadn’t been there before.

The safety car was required because of the fog that had blanketed the Ardennes hills that morning; to the extent that the LMS warm-up session had been cancelled and uncertainty had been cast on the rest of the morning’s activities. Fortunately, it started to lift in time, but was not safely cleared for the 09.05 start.

There was one very notable absence from the grid, however; the Preci Spark Ascari. “The car was perfect yesterday,” said Mike Jordan, “but the engine blew as soon as it was started up this morning.” Spectators would thus be denied the inevitable sight of a through-the-pack charge from the Jones brothers.

And the safety car wasn’t able to prevent the demise of a further British runner. Mike Thomas had somehow fallen a long way back on the opening lap and, in his haste to recover lost ground, span the Stark Racing Ginetta G50 early in his second circulation and hit the wall, with race-ending consequences.

After four laps the safety car switched off its lights and headed for the pits, finally unleashing the combined British/Belgian field. The length of the circuit meant that a quarter of the race had already expired, and the still-foggy conditions equalised the times of the two fields; meaning that things would be a lot busier than they had been in the first race, with the British cars fighting for track position with the Belgian runners to a larger extent than had been the case a day earlier.

Stuart Hall was eager to improve on his fifth-place qualifying position - too eager, in fact; the #9 Rollcentre Mosler spinning off on that first green lap and damaging the rear end, preventing any further running. The driver admirably held his hands up and accepted the blame; “I made a mistake – probably my first in five years,” said Hall afterwards.

Allan Simonsen had the benefit of several Belgian cars between himself and second-placed Aaron Scott, but the Dane immediately set to work to cement his advantage and demoted the #12 Kuismanen Ford GT3 (Belgian GT) to fourth place to run third overall. Scott, meanwhile, was trying to find a way through the Belgian cars in the #20 ABG Viper, while also having to defend from the very close attention of Martin Short’s #8 Mosler and Ollie Bryant’s Ginetta G50.

On lap six, the Rollcentre boss was through into second place, and also passed the #50 First Motorsport Porsche in the mist to run sixth overall. He then followed this up by deposing another Belgian car – the #10 Lamborghini – on lap eight.

Bryant was enjoying good pace in the Barwell Ginetta G50Z and found himself soon able to latch onto the exhaust pipes of the ABG Viper; taking third from the #20 on lap eight. Alas, his triumph was very short lived; the Invitation Class runner stopping further round that same lap after the fuel-pressure problems of the previous day manifested themselves again.

Although any chance of a race result was now gone, the team and driver didn’t give up; and after 20 minutes of radio communication Bryant was able to effect  a temporary fix, which enabled him to restart the engine and get back to the pits. After more work by the mechanics, Andrew Smith took the car back out for the final 15 minutes - during which he set the fastest lap of the race for a British car – and eventually finished 11th.

The GT4 class may have only numbered two cars, but Nigel Moore in the #52 Team WFR G50 and Hunter Abbott in the #54 Rob Austin version were going at it hammer and tongs right up to the pitstops.

Moore had got the drop on Abbott at the start, but found himself unable to pull clear. The gap was rarely more than a few tenths and got smaller and smaller; until, on lap 11, Abbott found a way through and took back the lead. Moore then pitted to hand over to Jody Firth, with the #54 staying out to take advantage of Abbott’s faster pace. Unfortunately, he stayed out precisely 21 seconds too long and Gary Simms would soon be faced with a stop/go.

Several other battles were taking place in GT3 before the pitstop window opened. Mike Wilds took the #21 MTECH Ferrari Scuderia past the Chad 430 of Chris Hyman on lap seven, to take eighth; while Jamie Smyth in the #7 Barwell-Beechdean Aston harried the #12 VRS Ferrari of Adam Wilcox all the way to the stop; the two cars crossing the line at the end of lap nine side-by-side, but with Wilcox prevailing.

As conditions improved and the fog lifted, so the laptimes fell. Martin Short saw the Michelin-clad #12 Ford GT retake track position and was falling back into the clutched of Aaron Scott’s Viper. That the Mosler was unable to pull away at this point – and, in fact, was up to a second per lap slower - indicates that the recent equalisation measures have done their job. By the time Short handed over to Gregor Fisken on lap 12, his lead was just half a second.

Allan Simonsen had a 16-second advantage over his British contenders by lap nine, but a 2:38.395 on lap ten – his previous being a 2:32.507 – tore a big hole in his lead and the top three stopped at the end of lap 11.

Craig Wilkins was the main benefactor at the stops – his out-lap being 3:51.988, compared to 3:56.028 for Hector Lester and 4:01.106 for Fisken. Worse was to come for the Scot, however, as the Mosler was punted off by a Belgian Ferrari on the next lap; costing Fisken a good 20 seconds.

With all stops completed – the final GT3 stopper being the #32 22GTRacing Aston of Adrian Willmott – the order was 23, 20, 8, 7, 32, 12, 21, 3, 54, 52 and 90. 20 minutes now remained and there was still much to be sorted out.

Lester’s lead in the Rosso Verde Ferrari was 11 seconds, but early indications suggested that Craig Wilkins wouldn’t be able to close the gap in the time remaining, despite being generally quicker. However, on lap 17, the ABG driver found himself being overtaken by the #8 KRK Viper, and its Belgian driver inadvertently gave Wilkins some very useful local knowledge on the best lines through several corners. This allowed the #20 to rapidly make time on the Ferrari and the gap was soon reducing by two seconds per lap.

Further back, Fisken found himself in a duel with a confident Andrew Howard – driving very impressively this weekend in the #7 Aston – and had to dig in to defend his third place. In a sustained three-lap effort, the Beechdean boss reduced a 2.3 second gap to just over a second; but by this point he had had the best of his tyres and began to drop back again.

Paul Warren was another to be driving confidently and impressively, in the #3 Chad Ferrari. Having taken over from Chris Hyman in eighth place, he took full advantage of the improving conditions to depose first Duncan Cameron’s MTECH Ferrari and then Phil Burton’s #12 VRS machine, to rise rapidly to sixth. Tom Alexander was too far ahead in the #32 Aston for any further places to be gained, but Warren did set the second fastest GT3 lap of the race – 2:32.326 – before he took the flag.

The fastest GT3 time, however, was destined to be set by Craig Wilkins, who now had Hector Lester firmly in his sights.

By the end of lap 20, the gap had disappeared and the two cars crossed the line nose-to-tail. The Belgian race leader’s track position and pace indicated that there would be two more laps to run, but Wilkins couldn’t afford to hang around and had to take his chance at the first opportunity.

That opportunity presented itself very soon afterwards; "I had a bit of a run on him through La Source," said Wilkins, who was in position as the cars exited Eau Rouge and moved onto the Kemmel Straight "There was a bit of contact but I made it past. It was a bit of a last-minute thing."  

By the time the lap ended, the Viper was a second and a half clear and Wilkins just had to complete the final lap to win; something he managed without further drama, to end a very fine drive indeed. "It's very special to get our first win at last," said a delighted Wilkins. "We have worked very hard for two seasons to get here. All credit to Aaron: he's a true professional; he knows how to drive a car at a pace and bring it back with good tyres and brakes. I got into a lovely car."

"It's been great working with Craig and it's great to get this win," added Scott. "Really we should have had some victories last year. This is the culmination of a lot of hard work by the team, and I'd like to say very well done to all of them."

Gregor Fisken was similarly delighted to fend off Andrew Howard’s Aston to take a podium place to add to his race-one win; “It’s been a superb weekend and full credit to Martin who drove really well," he said. "I’d also like to thank the team who prepared us a fantastic car and were incredibly professional.”

And Martin Short was just as happy; “Gregor performed over and above what was expected of him,” he said. “He did a remarkable job, in very difficult circumstances. To finish first and third is something that both of us can be extremely pleased and proud of.”

Tom Alexander finished his race in strong fashion; coming within two seconds of Andrew Howard at the end and - had the race been a couple of laps longer - not far off challenging for a podium place.

In GT4, things had looked all over when Gary Simms stopped to take the ten-second stop/go penalty for the pit-stop infraction, but the #54 driver was soon back on the tail of Jody Firth’s WFR Ginetta and retook the lead on lap 20. Firth responded, however, and finally clung on to the slenderest of leads – 0.174s – to take a very hard-fought win;  "It was a great battle over the last two or three laps, I think we must have swapped the lead four or five times. It was brilliant. I only just managed to make the lead stick. On the last lap I had a good run through Blanchimont, throwing caution to the wind, and managed to pull a gap on him. That little extra bit of bravery helped."

So a race that came very close to being cancelled, in the end produced some excellent racing. Scott and Wilkins head to Rockingham in three weeks time with a slender lead over three cars in GT3, while Firth and Moore head the GT4 race. Will we see yet another new winner on the very different Corby track?

MH