Britcar MSA British Endurance Championship, Snetterton 300 - Report
Scozzese Vittoria con Scuderia Vittoria

They came, they saw, they did it with ease; once again,  invitees  John Gaw and Phil Dryburgh took a  seemingly trouble-free win in the Scuderia Vittoria Ferrari 458, the Scottish-crewed car  taking a lead within the first hour which they would never relinquish.

Behind them, though, there was a race of action, intrigue, and a measure of confusion.

Qualifying

With plenty of free practice before the Saturday afternoon qualifying session, there was plenty of time to learn the new 300 configuration, though very heavy rain, and red flags, in the truncated morning session gave little evidence of what the real pace could be. The Touring Cars breached the two-minute lap on the previous weekend, but it took until a damp Saturday lunchtime before only Aaron Scott, in the GT3 Racing Dodge Viper, could reduce the lap times below 120 seconds, posting 1:58.012.

Things had dried out for the late-afternoon time-setting session, and John Gaw, Paul White (Strata 21 Mosler),  and Aaron Scott all topped the timing screens as the session unfolded, before Javier Morcillo planted a 1:51.016 in the Azteca Mosler with just over half of the one-hour session gone, leaving the screens dormant for a while. Frenetic action ensued as the final 10 minutes clicked over, though, when Gaw, laying third in the standings, and Calum Lockie, in the Strata Mosler, went for a second shot for pole, whilst Morcillo went out to protect his position.

In traffic, the Ferrari and the white-and-blue Mosler ran together - Gaw’s 1:51.986 faster than before, but still not good enough - then, as the final seconds ticked away,  the red Ferrari found some clear track and blasted 1:50.938 to secure pole, whilst Morcillo strangely posted an identical best lap to his previous 1:51.016.

Impressive in the session had been the returning Ultima of Jonny MacGregor and Jamie Smyth, as high as second early in the session, and the leading quartet of Class 3 contenders, split by just under one and a half seconds; newcomer Will Goff, sharing his Porsche 997 with Oliver Bryant, the similar car of Gareth, Morgan and Philip Jones, the superbly crafted SB Engineering  Ferrari 430 Challenge of Bailey/Schulz, and the Elise of Chris Headlam and Jamie Stanley. All of the above split the only Class 2 runners, the Wilkins/Scott Viper, fifth overall, and the “Big Green”  #26 Topcats Marcos, driven this weekend by regular Sam Head, and a former Britcar regular, the peripatetic Jeff Wyatt, having his first race for over a year.

Race

Mixed with the Production runners, the field of 33 cars was a magnificent sight as the lights went green and they barrelled into Riches at the start of the three-hour race.

Phil Dryburgh converted Gaw’s pole into the lead in the Ferrari 458, drawing a slight gap over Morcillo’s Mosler, then a longer gap to the pack behind. Craig Wilkins, starting in the Viper, got the jump on Mike Millard’s Rapier, though the open prototype was back ahead coming out of the Agostini hairpin.  Calum Lockie, third in the Strata 21 Mosler, was coming under pressure from the advancing Millard next time around, though a second attempt at a move around Agostini went awry, seeing the Rapier pitched into a spin and stationary for a long time; rejoining just ahead of a pair of squabbling Production back markers.  Also spinning in the early stages, at the deceptively sharp Hamilton, was Sam Head in the #26 Marcos, whilst Dan Norris-Jones joined the fray late, starting the Priocept Lotus Exige from the pit lane two laps in.

Morcillo then wrested the lead from Dryburgh, only to slow suddenly as the SC board was thrust out at the start/finish line – the luckless Chris Headlam had brought the Orbital Sound Elise to halt coming into Agostini, with a trail of oil left on the track, the legacy of a stone through the oil cooler, sustained during the morning warm-up. 

The field went green again after five laps of caution;  the bunching-up leaving  Craig Wilkins with an Ultima-shaped problem on the tail of the Viper, while impressive recovery drives from Sam Head and Mike Millard were observed. Andy Schulz, starting Paul Bailey’s Ferrari 430, was enjoying a dice with Tim Hood in the heavily revamped Sagaris (virtually a new car around the original chassis, with the team identifying that the new ECU was the key point for future success), but there was a concern with the Topcats #36 Marcos, Henry Fletcher bringing the silver and orange machine to a rest on the infield section, reportedly with crankshaft valve problems; so, after just three laps of racing, the Safety Car was deployed again.  With leader Morcillo about to lap some Production cars, the Safety Car slotted into what was the safest gap - in front of Tim Saunders’ Honda, but three cars ahead of the Azteca Mosler.

With half an hour of the race now elapsed, Lockie tactically pitted the Strata 21 Mosler for the maximum 25 litres of fuel and jumped back in again, as did Jonny MacGregor in the Ultima, both rejoining before the crocodile completed the long, three-mile lap. Next time round it was Morcillo, stepping back in for another stint, and Dryburgh, handing the Ferrari to John Gaw, who got the jump on the Azteca Mosler during the pit stop.

Leading now was Olly Bryant, taking the opening stint in Will Goff’s Porsche 997, in front of Wilkins’s Viper, and a fired-up Millard. The field had become spread out under the caution, with an impatient Gaw and Morcillo caught once again behind those Production back-markers. Tim Hood slowed considerably along the Senna Straight, causing the pack behind to brake dramatically in fear of passing the TVR under yellows, before the car picked-up the pace again; this was the first sign of the fuel pressure problems that would blight their race.

Lap 15 saw the Safety Car let the field go again and Wilkins was in no mood to hang around, thrusting the long nose of the Viper inside Bryant’s Porsche at Riches, then making the move stick at the Montreal hairpin.  Next lap it was Millard in the Rapier - having dispensed with Bryant - who took the lead from Wilkins in the tight infield section.  It was a short-lived lead, though, for immediately the timing screens flashed a two-lap penalty for passing under the Safety Car; the laps were docked electronically and the #7 Rapier tumbled down the order.

We now had two races; the virtual race at the front, amongst the non-stoppers – Wilkins, Bryant, Morgan Jones in the Eurotech Porsche, Sam Head, Andy Schulz, and Stewart Linn in the Optimum Motorsport Ginetta G50 – ahead of the real race for the lead. Lockie was ahead of an assertive McGregor, who was fairly cutting through the lapped cars, under threat from Gaw and Morcillo. “Four Class 1 cars, all within a second of each other – it was brilliant to be part of it,” enthused MacGregor later.

The threat was soon realised and within a couple of laps the order was shuffled, and with Wilkins pitting from the lead just before the first hour had elapsed, Gaw headed the real-timers, ahead of Lockie, Morcillo, and MacGregor. 

Lockie’s position, though, was on the road only, for the officials applied a two-lap penalty for speeding in the pit lane, giving the Scot some work to do; and, like Millard, driving like a demon possessed, the Rapier and the Mosler now placed 23rd and 26th respectively in the joint BEC/Production field.

The first hour brought with it a raft of pit stops – MacGregor handed the Ultima to Jamie Smyth, an incensed Millard gave the Rapier over to Ian Heward, and Gareth Jones relieved brother Morgan in the Eurotech Porsche.

The Scuderia Vittoria Ferrari was now firmly established in the lead, and during the next hour the places behind yo-yoed as pit stops were taken. Andy Schulz did well to get 75 minutes out of the surprisingly thirsty SB Engineering 430, before handing over to Paul Bailey, while stops for Morcillo and Head saw Manuel Cintrano take over the Mosler and Jeff Wyatt renew his relationship with a Marcos. Lockie left it till the half-way mark before a 50-litre fill saw Paul White on his way in the Strata 21 car. Last to stop was Olly Bryant, and it seemed a while before Will Goff rejoined in the Porsche, losing the Class 3 lead to the similar Eurotech car.

Forty minutes into the second hour the #45 Production Mazda had come to a halt before Agostini, and the hard-working Safety Car crew went about their business again.  Just four laps this time, but time enough for Gaw to hand the Ferrari to Dryburgh, and further top-ups for the Ultima, the #26 Marcos, and White’s Mosler.  Cintrano left it until after the caution had been lifted to hand the Azteca Mosler back to Morcillo – not perhaps a good idea on several counts, it was to transpire, and the chequered flag for the concurrent two-hour Production race was followed by an MSA-dictated further Safety Car period whilst the Production cars performed their run-down into parc ferme.

The timekeepers used the lull in proceedings to flash the message that the Strata 21 Mosler  had had the two-lap penalty rescinded - no doubt due to team manager Melindi Scott’s persuasive visit to race control with a fistful of regulation documents - but there was drama on track too.  Phil Dryburgh was following the recalcitrant #4 Sagaris in the Safety Car train, and the sight of a fire emanating from the rear of the car brought back a morbid memory; “I smelled it before he spotted it! It reminded me of the devastating fire we had at our Scottish glassfibre factory back in December- very, very unpleasant flashbacks. Because I know how quick a GRP fire can take hold, I was yelling like a girl on the phones to get their team warned.” Indeed, Tom Ferrier and the Vittoria crew hot-footed it down to the GTF garage to warn the  team, but by that time Steve Glynn had realised the problem and accepted the invitation of extinguisher-wielding marshals, jumping out of the smoking car and leaping, unintentionally comically, over the Armco. The damage to the car was cosmetic, though Glynn’s athletic reputation will need a little more repair work.

The planned two laps under the Safety Car had been lengthened by the TVR fire, so it was lap 61 before racing, and a final blast to the finish, recommenced. Aaron Scott had performed an atypical short middle stint, and now Craig Wilkins would be taking the Viper to the finish, 40 minutes hence; though several of the front-runners were putting the heavy hitters back in – Morcillo, Millard and Bryant, notably, though Paul White was to see the race out in the Strata 21 Mosler.

Now, back for a moment to the wisdom of Azteca pitting their Mosler in the closing minutes of the second hour; to satisfy the MSA, the first two hours, the hours that the Production cars run in, is classified as a separate “race”, and the Britcar regs regarding no refuelling in the last 15 minutes of a race apply to the first period as well. The men in serious trousers therefore applied a draconian four-lap penalty to the Azteca team and to the luckless Millard/Heward Rapier as well, which had similarly transgressed. For Azteca, it was academic, as Morcillo’s Mosler coasted to a halt on the grass inside Coram, with gearbox failure; but Millard was even more fired-up, posting fastest lap of the race as he passed cars for what would have been position on any other day.

Philip Jones, taking the final stint in the Eurotech Porsche, was powerless to resist Paul White’s challenge for third place overall, though the Porsche did give the Mosler a wake-up call by hanging on a little too gamely; and Olly Bryant, positively flying in Goff’s Porsche, unlapped himself from both of them as the clock ran down.  Jones then came under a massive threat from Millard, the Rapier drawing up to the tail of the Porsche at Murrays, taking a look along the Senna Straight, past the “last lap” board, and tucking in behind again at Riches, before making the move stick in the infield section. All to no avail though, as the penalties had thrown the Rapier down to eighth place in the final standings, and Phil Dryburgh crossed the line after 83 laps to make it two in a row for the Scuderia Vittoria Ferrari 458.

A smiling Phil Dryburgh was economic in his summary; “A great team, with a good car, well driven. It’s what endurance racing is all about – full stop.”

Taking second, the first points-scorer home, and the Class 2 winner, was the Wilkins/Scott Viper, and Craig Wilkins was ”Ecstatic – it was well planned, and the team gave us one hell of a car,” while Calum Lockie and Paul White bagged the top Class 1 paid points in third place overall. 

The Jones family were typically unfazed by fourth overall and the Class 3 win, cousin Philip reckoning there is still more to come out of the combination of car and drivers, and the Goff/Bryant partnership felt they had missed out in their inaugural Britcar partnership; “We lost a lap under the safety car,” rued Goff, though the pair plan a full campaign for 2012.

Sam Head and returnee Jeff Wyatt had a solid race in the Topcats “Big Green” Marcos Mantis, Head putting in perhaps one of his best drives to date, in atonement for his earlier misdemeanour; “I dropped it at Hamilton, and lost 11 seconds, so I had to cut back through. The car was faultless, and Jeff was a great to drive with.”

The SB Engineering Ferrari 430 had whatever penalty that had been applied rescinded, and the Paul Bailey/Andy Schulz partnership bagged seventh place and the second paid points in Class 3, though it had been difficult, as Schulz explained; “We need more work on the suspension – there was no grip, and a hell of a lot of oversteer.”

The Ultima suffered fuel pick-up issues and could not sustain the early promise, finishing ninth, while the final classified finisher was Lee Mowle’s Ginetta G50, shared with Stewart Linn and Gary Simms, after a steady first showing in Britcar. The Priocept Racing Lotus Exige had a troubled race, starting late from the pit lane and expiring after 59 laps.

Steve Wood