British GT, Donington – Race Report
A Strategic Triumph For Scuderia Vittoria The 23 cars that had survived practice and qualifying (the #22 SLS, #24 Audi and #28 Ginetta all finding their issues to be insurmountable in the time available) formed up on the track a few minutes after the scheduled time – the inclement weather having caused several delays throughout the afternoon – and prepared for battle. The rain had finally stopped, but the track had only just begun to dry out and, in contrast to Rockingham, it was clear that there would be no alternative to grooved tyres for the start of the race at least. David Ashburn led the field away for the first of two formation laps on the damp track (the clock not running until both laps had been completed, meaning a post-seven o’clock finish) and happily all cars started without issue. Ashburn made a good start in the #1 Trackspeed Porsche 997 GT3 R, but – while the majority of cars had the ‘second’ driver aboard – Beechdean had opted to start with Jonny Adam and the Scottish ace carved his way through the field in Senna-esque style from fifth on the grid to lead by the time the cars arrived at the Fogarty Esses for the first time. By the time the DBRS9 had completed the Melbourne loop and crossed the line, his advantage was already two seconds. That lead immediately began to stretch by several seconds per lap, and Gregor Fisken took advantage of the wake created by the #7 Aston’s progress by taking second on the Melbourne loop on Lap 3 in the #2 Trackspeed Porsche; but the Brands Hatch winner was going to have to be patient before being able to get to grips with his countryman ahead. Things weren’t going so well for Hector Lester and David Back in the #3 and #20 Ferrari 458s respectively, who decided that the most prudent course of action was to cede a few places rather than risk their cars in the early stages. Neither driver had raced the 458 before, nor driven the car on wets. It was a very different story for Tom Sharp in the #18 Rollcentre Ginetta G55, who was embarking on what has to be regarded as the drive of the race; the Ginetta Supercup leader starting the race in 12th, but was soon carving his way through the field to a remarkable fifth by Lap 15. Along the way, the youngster had taken the Nissan GT-R GT3 of FIA GT1 World Championship driver Nicky Catsburg around the outside of Coppice in a fantastic move that had Martin Short and Lawrence Tomlinson, among many others, slack-jawed in amazement. Charles Bateman was making good progress also in the #5 Scuderia Vittoria 458. After a disappointing qualifying session, the car seemed to be running strongly as Bateman patiently picked off the similar Ferraris of Andrew Tate, Jim Geddie and Duncan Cameron, as well as the Audi of Mike Guasch and the Porsche of David Ashburn, to rise to third by Lap 13. Phil Glew had made a very good start to lead GT4 and took advantage of the #48 Lotus Evoras traction to put several cars between himself and the #49 Evora of Leyton Clarke, who had Dan Denis hot on his heels in the #50 Scuderia Vittoria G50. Unseen in the opening lap excitement, Jordan Witt had had a disastrous start and began Lap 2 plumb last. The Chevron GR8 driver quickly pulled himself back together and was soon making progress through the field. By Lap 8, the yellow car was ahead of the GT3B Ferrari 430 of John Dhillon and up to 14th. Mike Guasch appeared to be getting to grips with the conditions after losing his place to Bateman and had closed the gap to the MTECH Ferrari of Duncan Cameron. As the two cars approached the Melbourne Hairpin on Lap 14, however, the Audi ran into the back of the Ferrari and was forced to pit in order to have the flapping bonnet fastened down. The repairs were carried out as quickly as possible by the United Autosports mechanics, but two laps had been lost. With 30 minutes of the race gone, Adam led by 30 seconds from Fisken and had already lapped the field up to 13th. But that was as big as his lead would get as, on Lap 17, the #2 Porsche driver lapped quicker than the #7 Aston for the first time. It looked as though the leader had had the best of its Avons, and that appeared to be confirmed when Adam spun out of Goddards two laps later. He only lost a couple of seconds, but his advantage was back down to 25s. The two CRS Ferraris would soon be visiting the pits, but for very different reasons. Andrew Tate ended his first stint after 19 laps to hand over to Alex Mortimer – the first scheduled stop of the race – and the decision was made to send the #11 back out on slicks. As things turned out, the track was still several laps away from being fully suited for treadles rubber and Mortimer lost a lot of time in the hunt for grip; as much as would have been lost with an additional stop, though? Meanwhile, Jim Geddie learned that his #10 458 had been handed a drive-through penalty for a pitstop infringement before the start, which he served on Lap 20. The Geddies’ misfortune was the Johnsons’ gain as the #6 Speedworks Corvette moved up to eighth. Ron Johnson had spent much of his stint so far battling with the #12 CCTV Predator Ferrari Scuderia of Phil Burton, but the latter’s stubborn resistance had been hard to overcome and went a long way to determining that Burton would later collect the Sunoco Drive Of The Day award. The GT4 situation still saw Glew with a huge lead, but the #49 Evora was starting to slow as mechanical gremlins hit, leaving the #42 Ginetta of Josh Wakefield in second ahead of Denis in the #50. The final quarter of the first hour saw more and more cars pitting for their scheduled stops, with Fisken pitting from second after 55 minutes, having reduced Jonny Adam’s lead to just over 16 seconds. The leader himself was in two minutes later, leaving the second Barwell Aston – the #47 Vantage of Peter Erceg – as the only car still to stop. Unfortunately for Andrew Howard, he got only as far as Redgate on his outlap before his cold slicks caught him out and he lost traction. He managed to keep the #7 out of the gravel and rejoined, but the hard-earned lead was gone. The front-runner was now Tim Bridgman in the #2 Porsche, ahead of Michael Lyons in #5 and Stephen Jelley in #1. With a third of the race having been completed, the order was 2(GT3), 5, 1, 7, 11, 10, 21, 90(INV), 6, 18, 3, 12, 48(GT4), 20, 47, 97(Cup), 50, 13(GT3B), 23, 42, 44, 49 and 25. We would sadly lose the #25 Stark Racing Ginetta G55 early into Stefan Hodgett’s first stint with unknown issues. Earlier in the race, Ian Stinton had been enjoying himself greatly in the red car as he again got stuck in to the damp conditions. With all cars now on slicks, the pace was getting ever quicker and a new record was being established with virtually every lap. Gordon Shedden was demonstrating his talent in impressive style, by setting several fastest laps early in his first-ever race stint in the #3 Rosso Verde 458, while Alex Mortimer was similarly setting the pace in the #11. Andrew Howard’s unhappy race ended on Lap 37 when he dropped the #7 DBRS9 into the gravel at the Esses. With the car in a dangerous position, the safety car was scrambled for the first time to enable its retrieval. Matt Griffin had just taken sixth from the Beechdean car when the incident happened. Only a few cars took advantage of the caution period to change drivers, with Michael Lyons, Gordon Shedden, Stephen Jelley and Martin Short being the only GT3 drivers to stop. Alex Mortimer also headed for the pits, but his stop unfortunately coincided with the race going green again. Scuderia Vittoria also pitted the #50 GT4 Ginetta under caution and in so doing pulled back a lot of the deficit to the class-leading Lotus. The Invitation class Nissan also called at the pits, but as Alex Buncombe remained at the wheel, it was clear that this was an indication of an issue affecting the car. It turned out that the pump for the compressed air gear-change system had become hot due to the fitting of a mandatory exhaust silencer and this was affecting the gear selection. The situation was soon rectified by the JRM and NISMO engineers and the GT-R was back in the race. The Beechdean Aston was recovered to the pits, but was quickly retired from the race. The stops under caution meant that only three cars were on the lead lap after the restart – #2 (Tim Bridgman), 10 # (Glynn Geddie) and #21 (Griffin). Bridgman made the most of the clear air ahead of him to lower the fastest laptime to 1:32.340 on Lap 43, and would knock another tenth off two laps later. As he had done several times in qualifying, Adam Wilcox – now in fifth place in the #12 Scuderia – set the fastest Sector 1 of the race so far after 85 minutes, but his Ferrari wasn’t able to deliver the same level of performance in the remaining two sectors. It was still a good showing so far from the older car. The halfway point arrived with 50 laps on the board. Glynn Geddie had just handed back his #10 CRS Ferrari to his father, Jim, leaving the #2 Porsche with a 20 second advantage over the #21 Ferrari in second. Charles Bateman was third in the #5 458, with Wilcox fifth and Matt Bell sixth in the #23 Audi. All six GT4 cars were still running, with the order being 48, 42, 50, 44, 49 and 47. The #48 Lotus – now in the hands of BTCC winner James Nash – enjoyed a one lap lead over the rest of the class, but only the #50 had stopped twice. A few minutes later the second round of scheduled stops began. The two oldest Ferraris in the field – the #12 Scuderia of Adam Wilcox and the #13 MTECH 430 of Aaron Scott – both came in, as did the leader in GT4. When Phil Glew returned to the track, the #48 found itself in third behind the #44 ABG KTM X-Bow of Marcus Clutton (which had still to stop for a second time) and the #50 Ginetta G50 of Dan Denis (which didn’t). The GT4 battle had just got very interesting. The #23 Audi, meanwhile, had risen to fourth overall, but the unplanned stop earlier meant that the R8 LMS dropped several places when Matt Bell pitted on Lap 53. With 75 minutes to go, Andrew Tate repeated Andrew Howard’s earlier indiscretion and dropped the #11 CRS 458 into the Fogarty gravel. Again, the car was deemed to be in a dangerous position and the safety car was out for a second time. The caution period this time lasted seven minutes, during which the top two pitted, as well as the #5 458 (for its third stop), the #42 and #50 Ginettas and the #90 Nissan. The #47 Barwell/Secure Racing Aston Martin Vantage also pitted, but this was because of gear selection difficulties that would have a significant influence on the results, as it turned out. The race went green again with 68 minutes remaining, but both Gregor Fisken and Duncan Cameron were held up behind the #47 – which was stuck in third gear – as the cars ahead went back up to racing speed. Despite the frustration, Fisken held station; but, as the cars rounded Goddards, the Aston driver, Sergio Lagana, suddenly decided to pit and cut right across the #2 Porsche, causing Fisken to jump on the brakes. The following MTECH Ferrari had to go to the right to avoid a collision and in so doing assumed the lead. As the line hadn’t yet been crossed, this was in violation of the rules and it was suggested that the prudent course of action would be for Cameron to allow Fisken to go back ahead. This didn’t happen, however, and the race continued. Shortly before the two-hour mark, Gordon Shedden again set a new fastest lap in the #3 Ferrari – 1:31.697 – but was still down in eighth place and a lap adrift of the #18 Rollcentre Ginetta, now in the hands of Matt Nicoll-Jones. David Ashburn pitted the #1 Porsche for the final time on Lap 65, just as Peter Hignett was told that the KTM would have to serve an eight-second stop/go penalty for a too-short stop. With an hour remaining, the order was: 21 (GT3), 2, 10, 5, 23, 18, 1, 3, 12, 6, 20, 97 (CUP), 48 (GT4), 13 (GT3), 42, 44, 49, 50, 47, 90 (INV) Cameron’s lead over Fisken was 7.077s, with almost a minute back to the third-placed #10 Ferrari; while Phil Glew’s lead in GT4 was only four seconds over Josh Wakefield. Jim Geddies handed back to Glynn after 70 laps – dropping the #10 to eighth in the process – and the junior member of the team set a new fastest lap (1:31.652) soon afterwards. On Lap 76 the leaders pitted. The gap between the two had grown to 13.183s, but the Ferrari would have to serve an additional ten seconds on account of its Rockingham result. Both teams did their jobs well, and the cars left in the same order, albeit closer together. But Michael Lyons now led by 37 seconds in the #5 Scuderia Vittoria Ferrari, which had already made its three mandatory stops. The question now was – could the 458 get to the end without a refill? The final stop had been made at the outer edge of the 458’s fuel range, so it was going to be tight. As Lyons settled into a 1:33 pace, Tim Bridgman set about closing the gap to Matt Griffin in the fight for second. Both cars were lapping quicker than the leader, but the Porsche was also closing on the Ferrari by a few tenths each lap; with a 1:31.205 – what would become the new lap record – proof of how hard he was pushing. But even as the gap closed to less than half a second, Griffin held his nerve and stayed in second. The gap to Lyons, meanwhile, was down to 22 seconds with 25 minutes to go. In GT4, hopes of a Scuderia Vittoria double were ended by a misfire during David McDonald’s final stint. The #50 would finish the race fourth in class – the team soldiering on in order to collect valuable championship points – but a new engine would be required after the race. This left James Nash a lap clear of Jake Rattenbury, with Marcus Clutton third (despite a second stop/go for another mistimed stop). However, the #48 was ordered into the pits to serve a five-second stop/go for not respecting the track limits. Nash took the penalty immediately, but had enough of a lead to still be comfortably clear afterwards. A slow lap for Bridgman with 20 minutes remaining allowed Griffin to pull four seconds clear of the Porsche, and the MTECH Ferrari was now just 17 seconds behind the leader. It was going to be very close at the end. Suddenly, the safety car was seen proceeding down the pitlane with its lights illuminated. Julian Draper had dropped the #20 Ferrari into – where else? – the Esses gravel trap and needed to be recovered. The second MTECH 458 fared better than the two cars that had earlier found the same expanse of kitty litter and was able to drive back to the pits after being recovered. The caution closed the gap from first to second to just over three seconds, but, crucially, the two #5 and #21 were separated by the Ferraris of Adam Wilcox and Gordon Shedden when the safety car pulled off with a dozen minutes remaining. The Black #12 moved over after a couple of laps, but the BTCC points-leader stayed ahead of the MTECH car despite Griffin’s obvious frustration. Out front, Lyons knew that he was marginal on fuel, but that he had no option but to push to keep his lead – even setting his car’s best Sector 1 time with just seven minutes remaining. But suddenly a message flashed up on the timing screens that announced that the #21 Ferrari had been assessed a time penalty for overtaking the #2 Porsche before the line at the end of the second caution period. This had been a long time in coming, but not unexpected, and it meant that the Ferrari would lose its place. As the three hours ran out, Michael Lyons was on his 105th lap. The Scuderia Vittoria team gathered expectantly on the pitwall and cheered their driver home as he crossed the flag to take his and Charles Bateman’s second win of the season. “Wow! That was a mega race,” said a delighted Lyons. “Those last twenty minutes just took forever, I never thought the race would finish. All the safety cars through the race both helped us and hindered us in equal amounts, so I suppose it just evened out really. “The times in my last stint were great and against some really strong competition, so I’m really pleased with how it has all gone, this really is the race to win in British GT, and to beat the factory drivers too was very satisfying. “The team have also done a great job all weekend, and the strategy and the way they spotted the opportunity to build a free pit stop was incredible, so I have to say thank you to the guys too. “The amazing thing is that this now leaves us firmly back in the championship chase with one round to go! After winning at Oulton Park earlier in the year which seems like such a long time ago, we now have a reasonable chance. I will do my best to win at Silverstone the last race and just see what happens!” “It’s a mega result for Scuderia Vittoria – win number 11 in our first year,” beamed Piers Masarati. “The boys drove brilliantly and the team got everything right – we basically out-strategised everyone else. “It’s a shame about the Ginetta – Dan and David have had so much bad luck this year – but it’s still been a great day!” Matt Griffin crossed the line 2.5s ahead of Tim Bridgman, but the timing screen was immediately shuffled as the penalty was assessed at 3.5s. The Porsche thus finished second and the Ferrari third. “It’s great to get back on the podium and an excellent result for the team, but I can’t help feeling a sense of ‘what if’,” admitted Fisken. “I was really enjoying myself out there, especially in the opening stint, when the track was at its trickiest. I’ve always revelled in those sorts of conditions because of my background in historic racing where power comfortably outstrips grip. “Tim was then able to extend our lead before I got back in. We were comfortably clear of the rest so to have the GT4 Aston Martin compromise our race like that is just so disappointing. I had no choice but to stay behind even though the Safety Car was going faster. That allowed the others to claw back everything they had originally lost. Without being so badly delayed I think we would have won, especially when Tim showed in the final stint that we also had the dry pace to compete with the Ferraris. That at least bodes well for the final round where we will be looking to end our year on a high.” Matt Griffin was understandably disappointed with his car’s late penalty; “This penalty is a difficult one because for sure the rule is that under a safety car you can't pass until the start line but the Aston decided late to go for the pits and nearly took Gregor out,” he said. “Duncan had no choice: he had to go past or hit Gregor. To dart into the pits like that was dangerous and could have caused a crash, so I think the penalty is harsh. You have to look at the circumstances.” Stephen Jelley finished a further three seconds adrift in fourth, with Glynn Geddie the final finisher on the lead lap in fifth; the father/son duo extending their championship lead to eight points in the process. “I’m satisfied with our weekend’s work at Donington and we can now really look forward to Silverstone,” said Glynn. “We’re now in a very strong position but there’s still a lot of work to be done before we can seal the title. We could have won the championship at Donington had results gone our way but it wasn't to be although we have to be pleased that we stretched our lead. But we’re happy with the way the car is running after a lot of hard work from the CRS Racing team during the course of the season so we’re confident of finishing the job. However, we must ensure we remain as professional as ever to give ourselves every chance of succeeding. We’ll work alongside the team to make sure we are prepared as possible for the finale before yet another season comes to an end.” The Rosso Verde Ferrari finished sixth on its debut, a lap in arrears, with the #23 Audi, #12 Ferrari, #6 Corvette and the #18 Ginetta rounding out the top ten. The last of these cars had been denied an eighth-place finish only by the last safety car period, which wiped out its advantage over its pursuers, but it had been an excellent run for Rollcentre; especially when you consider that a wheel-gun issue had prevented them from changing tyres more than once. "Matt did a really excellent job today, really pleased with both lads," said Martin Short. "There has been very little time for Ginetta to make modifications, get them homologated, etc, but they are stepping up the pace, and the car is moving forward. There is a new aero package coming which will help, and there is still a lot to come from the chassis and especially braking. All in good time." James Nash and Phil Glew completed a dominant win in GT4, a lap clear of the #42 Century Ginetta of Josh Wakefield and Jake Rattenbury; while a fighting third from Peter Belshaw and Marcus Clutton in the X-Bow strengthened their title bid. “It was a fairly straightforward race, really,” said Glew. “We got a good start, we had great pace in the wet and pulled a massive lead and we kept that lead pretty much all through the race. We had a scary moment towards the end with the stop-go penalty, but we had a big lead so it didn't matter too much. James and I got on really well, we have a good team around us, and it’s been a great weekend. All thanks to the Lotus Sport UK team.” The #49 Lotus and #90 Nissan GT-R both retired from the race in the final hour. With just one round to go, at Silverstone on October 8th – and with additional points on offer, due to its two-hour length – 12 drivers are still fighting for the title: 1 Glynn Geddie 121.5
1 Jim Geddie 121.5
2 Duncan Cameron 113.5
2 Matt Griffin 113.5
3 Michael Guasch 110.5
3 Matt Bell 110.5
4 Charles Bateman 107.5
4 Michael Lyons 107.5
5 David Ashburn 103
6 Tim Bridgman 89.5
6 Gregor Fisken 89.5
7 Hector Lester 88.5 The GT4 title has also still to be resolved: 1 Peter Belshaw 178.5
1 Marcus Clutton 178.5
2 Leyton Clarke 152
2 Freddy Nordstrom 152
3 Dan Denis 141.5
3 David McDonald 141.5 This could very well be a finalé to remember. MH | 
