FIA GT1 World Championship Silverstone Race Report With apologies for late posting – Telecoms issues for the dsc Ed have intervened! Two cars suffered a 5 place penalty on the grid for the replacement of an engine here at Silverstone – both the #8 Young Driver Aston and the #12 Mad-Croc Corvette were so penalised. So too were a pair of cars which similarly replaced engines at Abu Dhabi, the #11 Mad-Croc and #14 Phoenix Carsport Vettes - We’ll tell the story of just why these cars are struggling in that way in a news story later this week but the shuffled grid – and the starting drivers – for Round 2 looked like this: Starting Grid and Start Drivers #9 Makowiecki
#10 Hirschi
#1 Bertolini
#7 Turner
#22 Hughes
#25 Menten
#23 Krumm
#2 Bernoldi
#24 Kox
#13 Zuber
#4 Ara
#14 Hezemans
#3 Wendlinger
#34 Bobbi
#37 Bouchut
#41 Palttala
#11 Maassen
#12 Gavin
#40 Leinders
#38 Schwager
#5 Grosjean
#33 Margaritis
#8 Mucke Championship Race Report Whilst rain had been forecast for Sunday (and there was a huge downpour overnight) the 60 minute race for the Tourist Trophy stayed rain-free throughout. Andreas Zuber suffered a minor incident on the grid when he is hit by the #10 Aston as it arrived on station. He was OK though and climbed aboard the #13 Corvette to start the race. Rain or not this was still declared a wet race, all cars must have lights illuminated. The Matech Ford though wasn’t showing any – As things would turn out though that would be the very least of Matech’s problems. The grid-heading Hexis pair got away cleanly but Turner in the #7 Aston was right with them in the #7 Young Driver DBR9 and grabbed third with Menten and Hughes also getting by a slow starting Bertolini at the start with team-mate Bernoldi taking advantage too on Lap One. Further back there was big trouble for Grosjean as he locked up and spins at Turn One, he was hit it seems by the #8 Aston, the Abu Dhabi winner suffered suspension damage and was out on the spot. Next to hit trouble was Bouchut, through Becketts his #37 Lamborghini took a sizeable clout up the rear, he struggled around to pit and into retirement with damage to the left rear. Gavin got by Hezemans in an intra Corvette battle on lap one too, #12 was up to 11th Lap 1 positions
10, 9, 7, 25, 22, 2, 1, 13, 23, 24, 12, 14, 34, 4, 41, 8, 11, 33, 38, 40, 3, 37 pit, 5 out Lap 2 and Makowiecki led, #9 taking the sister #10 car. Warren Hughes too made a move, he passed Menten for fourth. The #8 Aston Martin was in trouble again though – another puncture. The reason given by the team for the retirement yesterday of the car was “to save tyres”. It suddenly needed one – rather earlier than the team had hoped! Mucke pitted for a replacement Michelin and was back into the fray just as Mike Hezemans hit trouble of the most serious kind, the #14 Corvette stopping at the end of the Hangar Straight with the rear of the car fully ablaze. Hezemans decamped rapidly as the fire marshals arrived. The Safety Car was immediately deployed on Lap 4. 4 laps and around 10 minutes later we were racing again with 42 minutes remaining and 20 cars still in the hunt. Menten straight lined Becketts and rejoined still in front of the Maserati pair. Krumm took Zuber, the #13 Corvette getting out of shape and Kox and Gavin taking advantage too. Turner by this stage was all over Hirschi for second Makowiecki led by 2.4 seconds as Bernoldi looked for a way past Menten. He made it on lap 9, #2 up to 5th as Hughes ahead was getting on terms with Turner and Hirschi in the battle for second. Mike Hezemans meanwhile told a hair raising story, he had no warning of the impending fire but eventually smelled fuel, stopped the car as the fire began but initially struggled to get out of the car. Post race Oliver Gavin explained that he had seen the problem developing – “The start was really good and a lot of fun. Everyone seemed to want to go inside and I got up behind the Phoenix Corvette and I could see fuel was coming out of its right side as we went round the Arena corner. He had fuel on his tyre so was slipping around. He went down into Brooklands and was trying to defend his position but slid wide because of more fuel on his tyres; the car caught fire later on the next lap and the safety car came out. Fortunately Hezemans was okay, although the car doesn’t look too pretty now.”
The sister #13 Phoenix Corvette was in trouble too, Andreas Zuber’s mount losing ground rapidly and sounding horrible. All the podium finishers from Abu Dhabi were out of contention in the early laps of round 2. Positions at 20 mins 9, 10, 7, 22, 25, 2, 1, 23, 12, 24, 34, 33, 13, 41, 4, 40, 38, 3, 8, 14 out, 37 out, 5 out The incident-festooned first half of the race wasn’t over yet though, and the next would involve Oliver Gavin once again. Michael Krumm in the #23 Sumo Power Nissan had caught Bertolini’s #1 Vitaphome MC12 but both were being reeled in by Gavin’s 12 Mad Croc C6.R. Oliver again puts meat on the bones of what happened next:
“I’d caught Bertolini and Krumm going into Stowe and they were squabbling over 7th place and they both ended up on the Astroturf on the exit of Stowe. They both headed to the right for braking into Vale and I got a good run on them and I knew our car was good on the brakes there. “I went up the inside and thought I was definitely past them when there was then a big bang on the right rear and I was spun around. It was really frustrating and a big shame as I think we could have been up to 7th. I talked to Michael afterwards but he said he didn’t really know what happened.” The incident put Krumm out of the race and left Gavin stranded in the soaking wet gravel trap for three full laps, his race effectively over. 26 minutes in and with 11 laps on the board the pit window was open – The first flurry of pit callers included Turner, Hughes, Bertolini, Kox, Leinders and Wendlinger. As that train made its way through the pits the emerging Jamie Campbell Walter found himself right alongside Michael Bartels as he too left his pit stall in the #1 Maserati, the pair engaging in a speed-limited drag race down the pit lane, the Maserati just edging ahead but JCW wasn’t done yet. Jonathan Hirschi though was in trouble in the #10 Hexis Aston, he was crawling round to the pit lane, Bernoldi up to second place, 11 seconds behind Makowiecki. Jamie Campbell Walter was still with a determined Bartels, the two trading places again and again, JCW using his knowledge of (most of!) the Silverstone circuit to exploit the strengths of his Nissan and getting by alongside again out of Luffield, eventually completing the move under braking into Copse. #2,25,33,41,11,38 and #8 were the next group to pit with the leading #9 Aston still staying out for another lap, Makowiecki would finally pit after lap 15 – 26 minutes remaining and at that point 17 seconds ahead. Thomas Accary climbed aboard to rejoin the fray with Tomas Enge closing in fast, and posting the fastest lap of the race in doing so. This pair were now 22 seconds clear of the #25 Lamborghini in third. After a fabulous weekend to that point for Hexis the team had a very bad lap indeed –
The timing screens flashed up a drive through penalty for the leading #9 DBR9, Accary had, it seemed, been a little too keen to get back into the fray and had fired up the car’s V12 whilst the car was still up on its jacks – For now though the car was staying out and Enge was right on his tail and holding station. There was trouble too for Piccione in the #10 car, he spun at Vale and lost a further handful of places, down to 14th. Worse trouble still though befell Henri Moser, the #3 SRT Nissan spinning off at Stowe under braking, hitting the barrier and out of the race – The Swiss team were having a wretched Round 2 weekend. Positions at 40 mins 9, 7, 25, 2, 22, 33, 34, 11, 1, 4, 40, 41, 8, 10, 38, 24, 3, 12, 13, 23, 14, 37, 5 Campbell Walter meanwhile was by now up behind Ramos in the #2 Maserati and looking to get by for 4th. The GT-R seemed unstoppable, JCW through at Stowe this time and pulling clear immediately. Christopher Haase though DID prove to be stoppable, a right rear puncture saw to that, the #24 Reiter Murcielago was a further addition to the casualty list. Accary was still ignoring the call to take the penalty, he would later tell dsc that he had “radio trouble”. That probably didn’t explain the fat that he missed several pit boards urging him to pit too, Enge was still behind – Was he simply playing a waiting game, or did he have a problem? He would explain post-race that the Michelins had gone off mid stint once again. He couldn’t attack and had eased off a little to try to revive his rubber. The lead pair though were still pulling away from the rest, Kerchele the leader of the chasing pack now in the #25 Reiter Lamborghini – but the charging JCW was closing in fast. The troubled #13 Phoenix Corvette was by now a confirmed retirement with an engine vibration. 10th place was by now being contested by a pair of cars that had thus far had quiet weekends. Maxime Martin in the #40 Marc VDS Ford going by Max Nilsson in the #4 SRT Nissan.
The Maseratis meanwhile were in action too, Longin grabbing 6th place in the #34 Triple H car ahead of team-mater Heger in #33 whilst Bartels was battling (and winning) against Xavier Maassen - #1 Vitaphone MC12 vs #11 Mad Croc C6.r – for 9th. Positions at 50 mins 9 7 25 22 2 34 33 1 11 40 8 4 41 38 10 12 24 3 13 9 minutes remaining and Accary finally took the penalty, well over 10 minutes after it was assessed, and despite the fact that he incorrectly took a stop-go rather than the prescribed drive through the #9 car emerged having only relinquished a single place (sadly though that one place was the lead!) Whilst Accary moved down a place Campbell Walter moved up – he was alongside Kerchele and through to third place. Christopher Nygaard was moving up too, past Maxime Martin and into 9th place. Miguel Ramos though was struggling, the #2 Maserati had (another!) right rear puncture.
7 minutes remaining and Enge’s lead was 17.4 seconds over Accary with JCW a further 11.2 seconds back. The lead trio looked secure – But there was plenty of fight still left in the contest for minor placings behind them! Christopher Nygaard was continuing to make excellent progress, passing Bartels for 8th and closing in quickly on Armindo in the #11 Corvette on the following lap – 4 minutes remaining and the #8 Aston was 7th. His move on the Corvette was matched by Bartels (up to 8th) with Maxime Martin in very close formation behind.
Too close as things turned out as the Ford hit the Corvette during an ill-advised move up the inside at Copse – Contact between the pair put the Corvette off the road, through a small gravel trap and back onto the road. The Ford continued now up to 9th. Into the very last lap and there were still battles joined, Longin trying to relieve Kechele of fourth. More successful in his efforts though was Nygaard, the Aston man into the top six courtesy of a move by Heger on the Hangar straight and closing in immediately on Longin too, the #34 Maserati though just kept the position to the flag. Post race and long after a press conference where the reactions to winning the famous old RAC Tourist Trophy were gathered from a proud Darren Turner and a determined Tomas Enge. There was drama in scrutineering as the winning Aston was excluded from the race, their performance restricting under-car ‘plank’ “not in accordance with the minimum requirements.” In a double whammy the second placed #9 Hexis crew were given a 15 second time penalty for not respecting the call to take their drive through penalty within 3 laps. Young Driver AMR have appealed the stewards decision so the results remain provisional but for now the #22 Sumo Power GT Nissan crew of Warren Hughes and Jamie Campbell Walter take the RAC Tourist Trophy for a team that didn’t exist at the turn of the year! | 
