British GT, Oulton Park – Saturday Morning Notes
An Inconclusive First Session

The 2010 season officially got underway at Oulton Park when the first of the two one-hour practice sessions began shortly after 9.30 on Saturday morning. Although the rain had ceased some time earlier, the cool conditions meant that the track was still wet and slicks would not be an option until the closing moments.

The day began with two Ferrari Scuderias failing the 108db noise limit, but which were allowed to join in after silencers were fitted. Once underway, the Audi R8 of Zak Brown and Richard Dean was the early pacesetter with times generally in area of 1:55.

The balance of performance measures following the Silverstone test are as follows:

Avon Tyres British GT Championship - Oulton Park GT3 BoP

Car Weight kg Min Front Ride Height mm Min Rear Ride Height mm Restrictors mm Other Ascari KZ1R GT3 1230 (+30) 89 (+10) 123 (+10) N/A N/A Aston Martin DBRS9 1300 60 (-20) 90 (-15) N/A Rear Gurney Strip Height 10mm max Viper Competition Coupe 1315 84 109.5 N/A N/A Ferrari 430 GT3 1169    (-50) 82 92 N/A Larger rear tyres + composite doors and mirrors Ferrari 430 Scuderia GT3 1270 (+40) 82 92 2 x 62 N/A Mosler MT900 1260 70 70 N/A TBA Audi R8 LMS 1390 (+70) 70 81 N/A N/A Porsche 997 GT3 R 1250 78 93 1 x 76 N/A

(Figures in brackets indicate deviation from standard)

The entry was down to 19 cars, unfortunately, following the no-show of the Team GCR Ginetta, for reasons unknown. All 19 did make it out during the session, although some fared better than others.

In GT3, MTECH were suffering the ill-effects of a very late-delivered gearbox which had necessitated a late night for the team; problems with the downshift, not helped by a wheel-bearing failure, restricting running to just seven laps and a slowest-in-class 1:58.547.

The Rosso-Verde Scuderia, meanwhile, was turning a wheel for the first time since being received from Kessel, making this more of a shakedown than a practice session. True to form, however, Allan Simonsen grabbed the limelight at the close when he put on slicks and knocked seven seconds off the car’s best in the final two laps; four seconds faster than the second-fastest Ascari.

The all-Argentine Chad Ferrari was running well in the first session, setting a third-fastest 1:52.032 as Juan Garriz and Jose Balbiani found their way round Oulton for the first time. The team’s two Scuderia pairings, however, were treating this first hour as a bedding-in session; hence their relatively slow times.

In G4 the KTM X-Bow, as expected, was considerably quicker than the rest of the field, although we would have to wait until later in the day and a fully-dry track to see the real picture. The Joe Osborne Ginetta found the Druids kitty-litter with eight-minutes to go, bringing out the red flags for the first and only time, but the Century Motorsports G50 was having a torrid time; way off the pace and clearly hampered by mechanical gremlins.

Al though rain was expected for later in the day, the sun was shining as the seconds session approached, and we would soon get a true indication of the field’s pace. 

MH