British GT, Brands Hatch – Race One Report
Advantage Ascari

Five drivers went into Saturday’s race in Kent with hopes of the title still alive, but by the end of the day that number had been reduced to three, after a fascinating encounter that saw the momentum swing the way of the Jones brothers.

Andrew Howard’s qualifying session earlier in the day had been a revelation; the Beechdean Aston Martin DBRS9 driver raining several eyebrows – as well as a few smiles – by planting the big car on pole for the first time. As things turned out, this was no fluke; this performance instead heralding what was to become almost certainly his best driving display to date.

Dr Jonathan Palmer runs a tight ship at Brands Hatch; too tight, alas, for MTECH – Duncan Cameron having to start from the pitlane after his team missed the announcement that proceedings were running 15 minutes ahead of schedule. The weather was dry, sunny and warm as the cars moved off, and Howard was ready for the lights when they changed from red to green.

The 16-strong field was well disciplined round the crucial first few corners and there were no rash moves or casualties on the opening lap. The Beechdean Aston looked confident and crossed the line a half-second ahead of the Barwell Motorsport Ginetta G50Z; helmed on this occasion by 2006 GT3 Champion Leo Machitski, who was returning to the series in a bid to keep his International B Licence up to date.

Already by lap two the leading trio of cars (the Preci-Spark Ascari of David Jones being third) were beginning to break away from the fourth placed ABG Viper of Craig Wilkins; and as the race developed it became more and more apparent that Wilkins was unable to respond, in a car that was already lacking grip.

The only passing manoeuvre that had taken place so far was that of Howard Spooner, who took the Mark Bailey Racing Morgan – looking mean and moody in black – past the KTM X-Bow of Reinhard Kofler. The Aero 8 had been plagued by high oil-temperatures throughout the weekend, but the installation of a larger oil-cooler looked to be doing the job.

At the head of the field, Howard was driving assertively and impressively, not allowing Machitski to close up and maintaining a gap that quickly went beyond a second. Jones similarly was holding station behind the Ginetta, but he was also biding his time; aware as he was of the position of his championship rivals – fourth (Wilkins) and seventh (Hector Lester). The Viper, meanwhile, was coming under increasing pressure from Paul Warren – another driver who has impressed more and more over the course of the season – who closed rapidly in the #3 Chad Ferrari.

In the middle of the pack, a hugely entertaining three-way fight was developing between three unlikely foes – the Morgan, the X-Bow and the RPM Ford GT of Philip Walker. These three ran nose to tail for a number of laps and swapped places on a regular basis; Kofler in particular seemed to be having great fun as he nipped through on the back of someone else’s overtaking move, on more than one occasion.

By lap nine, Wilkins was losing at least half a second per lap to the Ascari and had Warren right on his tail across the line. The Chad driver had a look around Druids but just didn’t have enough room and held station.    

Towards the rear of the field, Jody Firth was moving away from Ian Stinton’s Ginetta in the WFR G50, but was now involved in a duel with the Piranha Lotus 2-11 of Chris Bialan. The Super Sport class car moved ahead of the GT4 champion early on and then spent the rest of its driver’s stint defending its position.

The late-starting Duncan Cameron seemed to take a while to get to grips with his situation and progress through the field in the Ferrari Scuderia seemed slow. Nevertheless, he had caught up with the battling ForMorBow trio and went by relatively quickly. The red car was some 30 seconds off the lead, however, and a good result was looking unlikely.

Having kept his lead at around a second and a half for several laps, Howard crossed the line at the end of lap 14 just half a second ahead of Machitski, having recorded a lap of 1:36. This wasn’t symptomatic of a problem, however, but the cost of passing the battling Lotus and WFR Ginetta at Clarke Curve. More importantly, the pit-window was just about to open.

As Jamie Smyth waited in the pitlane to take over, Howard seemed to be enjoying himself too much and went past the pit entrance on lap 15. Further back, however, Phil Burton – who had defended sixth place robustly from the Rosso Verde Ferrari – and Hector Lester both stopped, as did Walker and Stinton.

Next time round, the Aston, Viper and Lotus stopped. Andrew Howard exited the Beechdean car after a drive that must surely be in contention for the Sunoco Award.

For one lap, Leo Machitski led from David Jones before both pitted, handing the lead to Paul Warren; also for one lap. Crucially for the championship leaders, Team Pyro completed the Ascari stop quicker than Barwell and Godfrey Jones left the pits ahead of Phil Quaife.

The Stark Ginetta had failed to restart at its stop and appeared to be out. However, Ian Stinton and his band of merry men persevered and Gary Simms joined back in later in the race, to take second in GT4.

Duncan Cameron was the final stopper on lap 22, which left the order as 7, 22, 90, 20, 12, 23, 3, 2, 21, 92, 91, 52, 93, 67 and 44.

Smyth’s lead over Jones was just half a second and he was having to defend well to keep the Ascari behind him. On lap 24 he pulled out two tenths and things looked positive; but on the very next lap the Ascari emerged from Clearways in the lead, having found that crucial gap.

On that same lap, Simon Mason ended the Lotus’ race with a spin into the Druids gravel. The recovery process took several laps, but a safety car was not required. The waved yellows at that spot, however, prevented any overtaking attempt in the trio of cars running third to fifth; Aaron Scott leading Adam Wilcox and Phil Quaife, with no gap at all between the three.

On lap 28, the order was finally shaken up. Smyth had a spin at Surtees and lost two places, while Wilcox found a way past Scott as the Viper approached the scene. There was a suspicion that the pass took place under waved yellows, but no penalty was issued.

In fourth now was Allan Simonsen. The Danish ace had been unable to press from the start of his stint due to high tyre temperatures and so had to allow several laps for things to cool down before the grip came back.

As the race continued, three team managers – Robin Mortimer, Piers Masarati and Mark Lemmer – were all summoned to Race Control, to be informed of the penalties that their cars were about to receive; drive-through for the Ford for pit lane infringement; four-second stop/go for the Chad Ferrari for a short pit stop; and a ten-second stop/go for the Aston for passing under yellows – possible when Howard Spooner dropped the Morgan into the gravel at Paddock Hill Bend.

Jones’ lead was now at about 13 seconds, and it was clear that nobody was going to get near to the Ascari; mechanical/safety car interventions aside. 

With six minutes to go, Simonsen was half a second behind Scott and pushing him hard. The ABG driver defended well, despite non-existent grip, but a momentary lapse at Druids on the penultimate lap was all the Ferrari driver needed, and he was through. This made no difference to the Viper’s championship hopes – which would be ended in any event with an Ascari win – but the extra point might prove crucial for Hector Lester.

Godfrey Jones backed off for the final two laps, but was still seven seconds clear of Adam Wilcox at the end; the VRS driver a similar distance ahead of Simonsen. The #12 had run flawlessly and had again come tantalisingly close to that so-desired first win.

Phil Quaife brought the Ginetta home in fifth to claim the Invitation Class win, although he didn’t enjoy his race much due to very poor grip from the G50Z’s tyres; and Jody Firth and Nigel Moore took another GT4 win.

Mike Edmonds came home sixth in the MTECH Scuderia, with Chris Hyman’s Chad 430 leading home Alex Mortimer in the Ford and the luckless Jamie Smyth. Reinhard Kofler took second in the Invitation Class, with Dave Shelton finishing third in class in the Mosler.

Sunday’s race is poised to be a tense affair. Allan Simonsen starts from pole, while Godfrey Jones starts from sixth. The Dane will no doubt build up a lead, at which point it will be down to the Irishman to keep it there; then they have to hope that the Ascari can finish no higher than fourth. This should be good.

MH