BGT, Rockingham – Race Two Report
Barwell Does The Business

Joe Osborne and Ollie Bryant took their second overall win of the weekend in the Barwell Ginetta G50Z on Sunday afternoon, but the course of the race was very different to that of the previous day; and it required a late dive to find a way past the immovable object otherwise known as David Jones.

After the gearbox woes that affected several teams during the morning, all 13 cars seemed fit and healthy and ready for the start of the 60-minute race – just as well, as the race actually started ahead of schedule (catching out Autosport’s Kevin Turner, who was still ambling along the tunnel as the cars moved off).

Allan Simonsen appeared to have the start well under control, reducing his speed to almost a crawl as the cars exited the Brook chicane and came onto the banking; but as the field approached the line and waited for the green light, it was Adam Wilcox who got it absolutely right.

The VRS driver anticipated the lights beautifully and carried more momentum across the line than did the Rosso Verde driver. The pair were side by side round Turn 1, but Simonsen seemed to have the edge at Deene and was just a nose ahead onto the infield. Wilcox didn’t let up, however, and was through into the lead at Yentwood.

Further back, Matt Griffin was making a cracking start in the #21 MTECH 430, having started from the back of the grid, and had already made up five places by the time the cars reached Chapman Curve for the first time.

Wilcox kept hold of his lead and we now had a repeat of the closing stages of the first race; except that Simonsen was also under threat of losing position to Godfrey Jones, who was snapping at his heels in the Preci-Spark Ascari. This trio were almost three abreast at times in these opening moments of the race, but the order was maintained.

But the sight of smoke billowing from the other side of the barrier between Yentwood and Chapman Curve signalled two things – that MTECH’s wretched weekend had reached its nadir, and that the safety car would be required for the first time this weekend.

The recovery operation was frustratingly slow and the field had to endure five laps behind the safety car. This meant that any chance of any of the leaders breaking away and building up a healthy lead before the pitstops was now virtually gone.

With 17 minutes of the race having elapsed, the safety car pitted and the lights went green once more.

At first, it appeared that Wilcox had got the second start right as well, and he crossed the line several lengths clear of Simonsen; but the Dane had the better momentum on this occasion and he caught and passed the white Ferrari at Deene. Moments later, Aaron Scott did the same to the Ascari and moved the ABG Viper up to third place.

The GT4 battle had begun in very similar circumstances to race one, with Hunter Abbott making a storming start in the #54 Rob Austin Ginetta, before being blocked and dropping back behind the #52 Team WFR G50 of Nigel Moore; but where Gary Simms had a spin in the early stages, Abbott stayed on the black stuff and harried Moore up to, and after, the caution period.

On lap 13, a small mistake from Moore saw him run put a couple of wheels on the grass and the white car was now in the lead.

Back in GT3, the battle for second had become a five-way fight, with Adam Wilcox heading a train of cars and allowing Simonsen to get away. The Viper was finding it no less difficult to get by the VRS Ferrari than the Rosso Verde car had, and Godfrey Jones was keen to regain the place he had just left.

But the real threat was starting to emerge – in the form of the Barwell Ginetta G50Z.

Ollie Bryant had been very subdued in the opening laps, but the growly car was clearly now coming into its own and it started to pick off the cars ahead. His first victim was Gregor Fisken’s Mosler on lap 11, with his next being Jamie Smyth in the Beechdean Aston on lap 15.

Ahead of him now was the RPM Ford GT in the hands of Michael “Gone In 60 Seconds” Bentwood, but the Mancunian was enjoying himself in the big black car and finding it very competitive at this stage of the race – on lap 17 he demoted the Ascari and then took the Viper for third place at Deene on lap 19.  

The pit window had by now been long open, with Gregor Fisken the first to stop on lap 14; “We spent too many laps behind the safety car,” he told Graham Tyler shortly afterwards. “My job was to hang onto the faster drivers until the stop, which is what I did; so I’m pleased with that. I’m sure Dan will now do a great job in the car.” And young Mr Brown knuckled straight down to it – nine of his next ten laps being in the 1:24s. 

The pitstop cycle continued until the last moments of the window being open. Allan Simonsen had built up a 12-second lead over Adam Wilcox when he pitted on lap 21, with the VRS Ferrari driver stopping on the next lap.

RPM’s race fell apart on lap 22, with the car’s dashboard losing all power as Bentwood headed for the pits. When Philip Walker climbed aboard, the car refused to start and a huge amount of time was lost before the Ford GT could finally be persuaded to pull away. A great shame.

With all stops now completed, 22 minutes were left on the clock and the order was 23, 12, 22, 9, 90, 20, 7, 3, 2, 54, 52 and 44.

Hector Lester’s lead had already vanished by this point and his lead would become fourth place by the end of the next lap, as first Phil Burton, then David Jones, and finally Dan Brown muscled their way past. Burton’s moment in the sun was also brief, with the Preci-Spark Ascari driver claiming the lead just a couple of corners later. 

On lap 25, Brown took second from Burton at Turn 1 and was within a few tenths of the lead by the end of the lap. It seemed inevitable that the lead would soon change.

But David Jones had seemingly channelled the spirit of Geoff Boycott and was settling in for a long, defensive slog; and, in the same way that a nil-nil draw (to switch sporting metaphors) can be as good as a 6-0 thrashing on the right day, this performance was great to watch.

With the Mosler bottled up behind the Ascari, Joe Osborne was able to make further ground on the cars ahead; taking third from Phil Burton on lap 26 and moving ever closer to the leaders.

But his wasn’t the only car making progress. Craig Wilkins quickly dealt with Hector Lester to move the Viper up to fifth on lap 26, and then patiently hunted down Phil Burton; overcoming stiff, but fair, resistance for several laps – at one point taking the place at Deene, only to have it taken away again further round the lap - before finally taking the position across the line with four minutes to go to claim third in GT3.

Andrew Howard and Chris Hyman were also progressing well. The Chad Ferrari had been struggling with worn tyres even before Paul Warren handed the car over to his team mate, but Hyman kept at it and managed to close a 26-second gap to the Rosso Verde Ferrari before taking sixth place on lap 33.

The driver of the Beechdean Aston, meanwhile, was having yet another impressive stint and managed to catch up with Phil Burton at the start of the last lap after making up a lot of ground during his stint. The big DBRS9 squeezed underneath the Ferrari at Deene on the final lap, and was even threatening to make a move on Craig Wilkins’ Viper; but Howard then hit a curb in the wrong place and a subframe bolt sheared. He managed to nurse the car home, but Burton retook fourth.

But while all of this was happening, the fight for the lead had reached epic proportions.

Joe Osborne caught up with Dan Brown on lap 32 and the leading three cars were covered by just half a second. Brown had been harrying Jones all the way; and despite the Ascari running very wide at Tarzan on most laps, the Mosler had been unable to find a way past. With seven minutes to go, however, Osborne saw Brown do the same and managed to manoeuvre the Ginetta onto the inside of the Mosler at the hairpin and was up to second.

But still Jones wouldn’t yield.

At the end of lap 34 the gap from first to third was 0.382s, but one lap later Jones had doubled that and it widened again on the next lap.

But as the cars neared the end of lap 37, Osborne made a stunning move seemingly from nowhere; diving down the inside at Brook with a lunge that hadn’t even been hinted at previously. He held on to the car through the chicane and emerged onto the banking in the lead.

Just one more lap remained in the time available, but the change for the lead had probably cost Jones a bit of concentration and Brown took advantage, diving down the inside for the GT3 lead at Yentwood before the Ascari driver could fully regroup.

Osborne kept his head and completed the lap to take his and Ollie Bryant’s second win of the weekend, with Dan Brown taking another GT3 win for the Rollcentre Mosler.

A very disappointed David Jones crossed the line third on the road and second in class, but the fact that he had driven superbly was probably of little consolation.

"It was a lunge into the last corner from a couple of lengths back," said Osborne of his manoeuvre. "It was a fairly easy move in the end in what had been a very hard race with a lot of overtaking."  This was just one factor in his being awarded the Sunoco Driver of the Weekend for his efforts.

“It was another great weekend and my thanks go to the Rollcentre guys who all did an excellent job, as always,” said a very happy Gregor Fisken. “We had some dramas after qualifying but they worked well to give us a car that we could at least hustle around the track, even if it wasn’t 100%, in race one.

“I’ve also got to say a big thanks and well done to Dan. Despite being just 17, he’s got a very experienced head on young shoulders. We learnt from our mistakes on Saturday, changed the car accordingly and used it intelligently and to good effect on Sunday. Obviously I’m delighted.”

The GT4 race continued all the way to the flag, with Gary Simms managing to keep Jody Firth behind him to make up for his Saturday sins with a class win for Rob Austin Racing; "I got a good start," said Hunter Abbott, "but I left the door open in the hairpin and Nigel Moore nipped past. Then, about four laps later, he made a slight mistake into Turn 3, drifted wide and I went up the inside and past him and never looked back. I handed over to Gary with about three seconds in hand and he did a good job to bring home the win."

Ian Stinton brought home the Stark Racing Ginetta in third place after a very lonely race, following a spin for Mike Harris earlier on.

Even with just 13 cars, the British GT Championship had proven itself capable of putting on a cracking show for the spectators. Next up – Knockhill.

MH