Bute Motorsport GT Cup, Brands Hatch Indy - Race Two Report
A Great Day For The GR8 With an hour to go before the second GT Cup race of the day at Brands, the heavens opened in spectacular style and absolutely deluged the Radical UK Cup race which preceded it; whatever happened with the weather from then on, it was clear that the track would not be frying out any time soon. A tour of the garages revealed that the interval between races had been sufficiently long to allow repairs and tweaks where needed and all 18 cars would again make the grid. Success ballast had been fitted or removed as required and we were good to go. The various weather-related incidents had required numerous repairs to barriers throughout the day, but somehow the timetable was running just a few minutes late when the grid cleared ahead of the two pace-laps. The rain was once more teeming down, ensuring that Charlie George got a good soaking as she delivered her piece to camera from the grid for the Motors TV coverage. Peter Bamford and David Tomlin led the pack away from the grid behind the Pace Car – the winner of the first race determined not to make any errors on the formation laps after his earlier moment – but this time it was Paul Cope’s turn to play catch-up behind after a stall on the grid almost dropped him to the rear of the pack. He did manage to recover to his appointed grid spot before the lights turned green, at which point the field once again thundered towards Paddock Hill Bend. Mindful of what had happened four hours earlier, Peter Bamford did not put up too much resistance to David Tomlin as the #66 Ferrari lunged for the inside. The move stuck and the red car was ahead; but what neither of the lead two cars had anticipated was a charge around the outside of the first corner by the #85 Group 1 Chevron of Jordan Witt, which got the small yellow car in between the two Ferraris; and the another run round the outside of Druids which gave Witt the lead. The Chevron driver later admitted that he had been praying for rain all day, and that he was determined to make the most of his opportunity. His lead was 0.766 at the end of Lap 1 and 2.133 after two laps; and it just kept on increasing after that. As the GR8 moved away, we again had a great scrap for third forming up as Bamford, Andy Ruhan, Michael Symons and Michael Saunders circulated nose-to-tail. Ruhan’s tyres were working better on the very wet track than Bamford’s and second and third places swapped owners on Lap 3. Symons now saw his own opportunity to make progress at Bamford’s expense and had the #31 BMW GTR E46 lined up perfectly on the #60 Ferrari as the cars exited Clark Curve on Lap 4. As he pulled out to attempt the pass along the Brabham Straight, however, his car hit standing water and he was immediately pitched into a spin that ended with a thump in the pit wall. The car bounced back into the path of the remaining cars, but somehow they all missed – Gary Eastwood’s Ferrari by little more than millimetres – and Symons was able to make it to a place of safety under his own steam. Both races had ended in retirement for Michael Symons, which was a great shame given how competitive his BMW clearly was. This incident spread the top six cars out and temporarily brought a halt to the action at the front. Elsewhere, however, things were still very close. Francis Galashan was going very well in the Group 2 #57 Porsche 996 GT3, taking 11th from Rupert Martin’s Ferrari on Lap 5 and lapping at a pace that suggested that Paul Cope would not have it all his own way. The Venturi again led Group 2 in seventh overall. Mark Radcliffe led Group 3 in the #19 BMW M3, and this time enjoyed a gap of almost two seconds over the #9 E46 M3 of Adam Hayes; and in between the two orange cars was the Black Ferrari of Gary Eastwood. Michael Saunders had been closing on Peter Bamford for fifth for a couple of laps and had the gap down to under a second after eight lap; but a big wobble at Graham Hill Bend on Lap 9 heralded brake problems that would see the #99 TVR Cerbera post its second retirement of the day at the end of that lap. Saunders’ absence allowed Blanckley to close on Bamford and the Porsche was up to fifth soon afterwards. But with the rain by now having stopped, the momentum was about to start swinging the other way and Bamford started to find his feet once more. Over the course of the next few laps, Blanckley found himself pursued doggedly by Bamford; and despite the two setting very similar lap times it looked as though the Ferrari driver had the edge. Indeed, on Lap 19, Bamford set what would remain the fastest lap of the race – 56.095. One lap later this duel was suddenly resolved in Bamford’s favour when the 997 spun at Graham Hill Bend. Blanckley remained stranded across the track in a most precarious position for several seconds before finally being able to rejoin. By this point he had dropped to tenth and out of contention, leaving Bamford with a clear road ahead. At the head of the field Witt continued to lap in truly impressive fashion and his lead continued to climb; going past the ten-second mark on Lap 19. Behind him at this point was Andy Ruhan, who had found a way past David Tomlin on Lap 14. Once into second, however, the Porsche could not make any headway into the Chevron’s lead which continued to inexorably grow. Tomlin did his best to come back at Ruhan, but the 60kg that he was carrying after winning Race 1 was a lump-of-lead too far and the Ferrari remained two seconds behind. More significantly, Peter Bamford was now rapidly closing the gap to Tomlin – in the closing stages by up to a second per lap; but traffic was still a factor, and a slightly slower lap for Bamford on Lap 24 after lapping Sean Winder’s Ferrari 360 left him with too much to do on the final 1.2 miles.  |
Having dominated proceedings from the opening lap, a delighted Jordan Witt crossed the line after 25 laps to give the Chevron GR8 its first win anywhere in great style; “After the chaos of race one, I knew I had to be ahead to do well," recalled the 20 year old. "I let a Porsche go up the inside line for Paddock Hill Bend off the start line, and took the faster wet line around the outside, and went straight past three cars. Then I took the outside line at Druids Bend again, to pass the lead Ferrari and take P1. I was leading going into the Graham Hill Bend, where I had a huge moment, with full opposite lock on the brakes, but caught it and carried on, to first place, by over 11 seconds. I was very pleased. “It was a really good race weekend and went really, really well. I couldn’t ask for much more from our first race in the GT Cup. It was great fun to race in, the car was fantastic and we got a brilliant result.” Andy Ruhan came home second, 11.455 seconds later, while David Tomlin had a cushion of just over a second when he claimed his second podium finish of the day. Gary Eastwood had tried his best to make up as much ground as possible during the race, and had actually gone from 15th to fifth over the 25 minutes, but he had had to battle every inch of the way and his lowly qualifying position was ultimately just too big a disadvantage to overcome. A great effort, nonetheless. Paul Cope crossed the line in sixth to take his second win of the day, while Francis Galashan was just 2.5s behind – second in Group 2 and eighth overall. In between the two cars was the Group 3-winning BMW of Mark Radcliffe, whose margin over Adam Hayes at the end was a relatively comfortable 3.5s. Four of the six Group winners at Brands Hatch were first time winners in 2011 - illustrating again the depth of competition throughout the GT Cup field; and both races had been close and exciting. With four rounds remaining on the calendar, the leading points positions now looked like this: Group 1
1 Andy Ruhan 214
2 David Tomlin 192
3 Michael Symons 156 Group 2
1 Tom Andrew 171
2 Sean Winder 169
3 Francis Galashan 151 Group 3
1 Barclay Dougall 181
2 Adam Hayes 147
3 Mark Radcliffe 132 Overall Championship 1 Andy Ruhan - Porsche 997 (GP1) 214
2 David Tomlin - Ferrari 430 (GP1) 192
3 Barclay Dougall - BMW E46 (GP3) 181 There is now a four week hiatus before the Bute Motorsport GT Cup reconvenes at Donington Park for the next two races. In the meantime, you can watch the Brands Hatch races on Motors TV on Friday July 29th at 19.25 (UK). MH | 
