British GT, Donington – Race Report
RPM Weathers The Storm

Eleven cars, a 2.5 mile circuit and torrential downpours – not the most promising mix of ingredients for an entertaining two hours; but somehow it all came together to produce a fascinating race at the Derbyshire circuit.

The weather had been overcast and blustery all day on Sunday, with occasional light and very brief showers passing through; but, just twenty minutes before the start, the by-now black clouds burst in a big way and dumped a large volume of rain onto the area at a rapid rate.

So bad was the rain that the race started behind the safety car, and effectively from a standing-start.

After two laps the rain had almost stopped and the cars were released; huge plumes of spray being thrown up as the cars accelerated towards Redgate.

Duncan Cameron looks more and more comfortable with the MTECH Ferrari Scuderia with every race and he immediately began to build a lead over Phil Burton’s VRS 430 in the very tricky conditions.

Elsewhere in the pack, things were less settled. Philip Walker was taking it easy for the first couple of laps in the RPM Ford GT – just getting a feel for the Avon wets for the first time this weekend – and so lost three places. Craig Wilkins was the first beneficiary of this, and he capitalised by taking Hector Lester on lap four to move up to third. The Viper was followed by David Jones in the Ascari and Daniel Brown in the Mosler.

It soon became clear that the 18-year old was the fastest man on the track by some margin and was up to fourth by lap five, having started seventh.

Wilkins’ very strong start continued when he claimed second from Burton at Redgate; but the ABG man soon found that the Mosler was right with him. As the cars crossed the line at the end of lap six, the Viper and Mosler were side-by-side and Brown was officially ahead by 0.06s. The silver car had the inside line, however, and Wilkins was ahead through Redgate. He defended his place as far as McLeans, before finally yielding to the Rollcentre machine.

Paul Warren was by this point hitting a rich vein of form and had already powered the previously troubled Chad Racing Ferrari up past the three GT4 cars and the Ford GT from the back of the grid.

This was the beginning of an excellent duel between the #3 and #2 cars, with Walker quickly getting the feel of the Ford and taking the fight to Warren; even as the red and white car continued its upwards progress.

At the head of the field, and with the track drying rapidly, Cameron’s almost eight second advantage started to disappear, as the Mosler closed in.

Things almost ended in tears on lap 14 when, with the gap now gone completely, the two cars had a minor coming together at the Craner Curves. Neither car was damaged, but the Mosler had a wobble that dropped it back three seconds.

Brown regrouped and resumed his charge; this time successfully, with the lead changing hands on lap 19.

In GT4, Jody Firth had managed to wrest the lead from newcomer Benji Hetherington, but the Team WFR Ginetta wasn’t able to grow its lead over the century Motorsport G50 by more than a few seconds. Both of these cars were trailing the ABG X-bow, which was being lapped consistently and rapidly by the ever-impressive Phil Keen.

Phil Burton was on the radio to his team complaining of a lack of power from the #12’s engine. The response was that it was possibly water-penetration and to keep going. Unfortunately, on lap 17 – having fallen behind the Chad and RPM cars – the VRS motor let go in a big way as the car crossed the line. “I can’t believe they left him out there,” said a watching Piers Masarati. “It was definitely missing a bank of cylinders – it sounded like a tractor!” 

Burton pulled off just after the pitlane exit and began the walk back to the garage.

Craig Wilkins had been doing a sterling job in the Viper; keeping the big car in contention in third and maintaining a comfortable advantage over the Ascari. That advantage was, however, starting to come down as the track dried; but, just past the quarter-way point of the race, the heavens opened again.

In just moments the conditions were as bad as they had been at the start and the whole circuit was being lashed with very heavy rain. Laptimes began to rise and it was no surprise when the safety car board was shown at the start of lap 22; much to the relief of Dan Brown, whose windscreen-wipers seemed reluctant to do their job.

In the run-up to the race, the RPM team had been running through various scenarios; and, spookily, one of these involved a safety car appearing at the 35-40 minute mark. This scenario called for an immediate stop and driver change, with the team confident that there would be enough fuel for the final 100 minutes. On lap 25, the Ford came in – Walker having given by far his best driving performance of the season – and began the 108 second process. Alex Mortimer resumed with the safety car still out, but destined to come in very soon.

On this occasion, the safety car worked well, in that it immediately picked up the leader. Alas for Century Motorsport, they had just been lapped by the Mosler and Hetherington was obliged to sit in the queue.

Jody Firth, meanwhile, had not yet been lapped and was thus free to make his way round and join the pack of the queue, effectively gaining a lap on the #41. As the safety car came in, so did Firth, to begin a ‘free’ pitstop.

The race order at the end of lap 27 was now 9, 21, 20, 22, 3, 66, 23, 52, 2 and 41 and we were back to green flag racing.

Brown made an excellent job at the restart and pulled out an impressive four-second lead on Cameron on the first lap; continuing to pull away with each lap thereafter.

Hector Lester’s stop on lap 28 indicated that the Ferraris were now able to take on enough fuel to reach the end. But it would not be a good day for the #23 Rosso Verde 430.

Allan Simonsen’s usual role in a British GT race is “Superhero who saves the kid and gets the girl”; but on this occasion, it was more akin to “Bloke leaning on bar in background,” such was his (understeer induced) anonymity. Not even a late change to slicks could do anything to improve the car’s fortunes, although the Dane did manage to set the fastest lap of the race on his way to sixth.

This time, there would be a new lead-actor, and his name was Griffin….Matt Griffin.

Duncan ended a fine stint from second on lap 33, allowing the pole-setter to climb aboard the #21 Scuderia. David Jones headed pitwards two laps later, followed by Brown, Wilkins and Warren on lap 36. Significantly, though, the final three all pitted under the safety car – it was raining again, and just as hard as before.

The rain died away after just a few minutes and the call for the safety car was perhaps a bit premature; but, more importantly, this time the caution period was not handled correctly.

Matt Griffin sat behind the safety car, waiting for the wave-by, while the race leader, Alex Mortimer, pounded round almost two minutes ahead. In between, and a minute off the leader, were Martin Short, Aaron Scott and José Balbiani; while behind the MTECH car – and similarly being screwed by the safety car – were Allan Simonsen and Godfrey Jones.

The hoped for wave-by never came, although Mortimer lost thirty seconds to his pursuers due to his position on track when the restart was signalled.

There were now 55 minutes to go.

Scott and Balbiani immediately got by the Mosler to go second and third, but it was clear that the Rollcentre car was beginning to struggle. Martin Short could do nothing to prevent the car falling backwards; losing position to Griffin and Jones before retiring with more engine woes on lap 58. Short told Graham Tyler that he and Brown were having to drive flat out all the time and that all the weight that had been added to the car was now just putting too much strain on the engine.

As Mortimer did what he had to do, and no more, out front, Scott was starting to bring down the gap to the leader; the Viper lapping consistently quicker than the Ford. But when the gap got down to about 21 seconds, the RPM driver started to match the ABG car’s pace and his advantage was maintained.

Balbiani, meanwhile, had been shadowing Scott at a distance of four seconds for a number of laps; but his opportunity to close came with the demise of the Mosler.

The Rollcentre car’s engine lot fluid prior to its retirement and this - combined with the rain and other aviation pollution from the planes using the adjacent airport - led to the laptimes increasing by three to four seconds. Balbiani’s car seemed better able to cope with the slippery surface than the Viper – which itself was closing on the Ford once more – and closed right up; taking second on lap 61.

The Argentine was now showing his true colours, after a less than stellar showing at Knockhill, and was driving confidently and quickly on his debut at the circuit.

But the man attracting all the attention was in fourth place, having already reduced the gap to the leader by more than 30 seconds since the safety car; and he was lapping considerably quicker than the top three.

By lap 69 the Irish driver was challenging for third place; although it would take another four laps to break down Aaron Scott’s resistance.

Balbiani also succumbed to the inevitable, losing second on lap 76.

With seven minutes remaining, the MTECH Ferrari was 15 seconds off the lead, meaning Griffin had reduced his deficit by more than a minute during the course of his stint; and he hadn’t finished yet.

On lap 77, Griffin clocked a 1:19.870 – just four-tenths off the fastest lap set by Allan Simonsen on slicks just a couple of laps earlier on the drying track – while the Ford managed a 1:22.523. Mortimer upped the pace to the 1:21s, but Griffin remained several tenths faster. It had done the trick, though, and it was now clear that it would take a mistake from Mortimer for him to lose this one.

The RPM driver didn’t become British GT champion by accident, however, and a mistake was never on the cards; the Ford crossing the line to take its first win of the year by eight seconds from the MTECH Ferrari.

“We had always planned an early stop,” said Philip Walker, “and we were close to the window when the safety car came out and that made the decision for us. It was just as the most torrential rain came down, so it was perfect timing.” Added Mortimer: “The car was great and it was inspired timing by the team. Philip drove a great first stint, which is what put us in a position to profit.”

“Duncan had an absolutely fantastic stint,” said Sunoco Driver of the Weekend Griffin, “but we had a very tight window in which we could pit and unfortunately for us that meant we couldn’t pit under the safety car. I think I was about 60 seconds behind Mortimer and by the end it was down to eight.”

The battle for third had a sting in the tail for Chad Racing when the car began to suffer gear-selection problems just a few laps from home. After a 1:28.735, Balbiani managed to clear the problem and set the car’s fastest lap of the race – 1:21.880 – on lap 78, but the problem came back again and the Argentine had no chance of holding back Scott; the Viper taking the final podium place by three seconds.

The Ascari never really featured after getting caught behind the safety car; despite being one of only three cars to make it into the 1:20s. However, the important thing for the Jones brothers was that their main championship rivals were behind them and that their lead in the title-race had just gone up.

Nigel Moore had the easiest win of his season so far, while Nathan Freke could do nothing to rescue Century Motorsport’s day – the team also switching to slicks near the end, but still finishing three laps down on their rivals. They did get the consolation of fastest lap, however.

The KTM X-bow almost beat the Team WFR Ginetta, but a stop/go for passing under yellows during Phil Keen’s stint ultimately resulted in them finishing 19 seconds adrift; Marcus Clutton also putting in an impressive stint.

The series next reconvenes in a month’s time at Silverstone for the second two-hour encounter. Let’s hope it’s as good as this one…and hopefully with a larger grid.

MH