GT Cup, Snetterton 300 – Full Race 1 Report
A Perfect Performance From Andy Ruhan

Dispel the all-too-familiar mental image of a windswept, chilly Snetterton, and substitute bright sunshine, a cloudless sky, and one of the hottest days of the year so far. Then add in a packed programme of quality racing, the new 300 track layout, and a generous attendance, and you’ve got the perfect recipe for a weekend’s motorsport. Into this mix came Round 4 of the 2011 GT Cup Championship and a grid of eighteen closely matched cars and drivers facing a double-header of 25 minute sprint races.

Saturday’s qualifying had been a pretty tense affair, with championship-leader Andy Ruhan at risk of an uncharacteristic grid slot after his Porsche sustained a puncture early in the twenty-minute session. Under the championship regulations, grid order for the two races is based on the top two times set by each driver, and Ruhan’s absence left Gary Eastwood looking set fair for pole in both races, until the final moments. Ruhan managed to fit fresh tyres just in time for a couple of quicker timed laps. His first would be good enough to claim third for Race 2, but his final flyer snatched pole for Race 1 with a time of 1:58.800, just over half a second quicker than Eastwood.

“We weren’t carrying any extra ballast this time, after a bad performance at Brands Hatch last time out,” explained Ruhan. “We’d had a couple of good sessions in practice, but then qualifying started badly. I picked up a puncture, right at the start. I had to come in for that, but managed to get back out in time to grab pole on the final lap.”

David Tomlin, consistently ducking just under the two-minute mark, secured third on the grid for Race 1, but was delighted with a front-row slot for the second sprint. Officially fourth quickest was Danny Winstanley, a race-winner at Oulton Park and a crowd favourite in his bright green TVR Sagaris, but insurmountable ECU problems would see the youngster packing his bags early and heading for home. Another absentee from the rest of the weekend’s events was Robert Koenig, with his Porsche’s gearbox failing after just three laps.

Running strongly in practice and qualifying was Tom Andrew, in the distinctive Morgan Aero 8 and claiming Group 2 pole for both races. His task was made a little easier by the absence of championship Group 2 leader Benjamin Harvey, whose dominant performance in the KTM Xbow at Brands last time out hadn’t been enough to persuade him to change his plans for the Snetterton weekend, and he was heading elsewhere. Other notable absentees included Michael Saunders (TVR Cerbera) and Matt Seldon (a Group 1 winner at Brands). In their place was Peter Morris and Paul Winter, sharing a race each in the #90 Group 2 Porsche 996 GT3 – Morris returning to GT Cup action after a gap of two years.

The championship runs a success ballast system, and after the final race at Brands Hatch on 5th June, Gary Eastwood would be carrying an extra 40 kilos for the first Snetterton race. Winner then had been Matt Seldon, missing at Snetterton, and third had been Danny Winstanley, also a non-starter. As a result, no 60 or 20 kilo allocations in Group 1, and no 50 kilo ballast in Group 2 either, after victor at Brands, Benjamin Harvey, elected to give Snetterton a miss. That left Colin Broster on 30 kilos and Francis Galashan with 15. In Group 3, Adam Hayes carried 40 kilos, Mark Radcliffe 20, and Barclay Dougall 10 kilos.

Sunday’s first GT Cup race kicked off at 10:30. Ruhan and Eastwood lined up side-by-side on the front row, with Andrews sharing the second row with Tomlin after Winstanley’s withdrawal. The only change to the final grid order came about when Andy Yool, pole-setter in Group3 (an impressive seventh overall) missed the cut as the pitlane closed, and was prevented from taking up his rightful slot. Held at the exit, he was allowed to join the tail of the field as the pace car moved off to begin the green flag lap. With hindsight, he was probably fortunate, although it can’t have felt that way at the time. As events would reveal, starting on the fourth row might have had consequences!

The pace car peeled away into the pitlane at just a fraction after ten-thirty, leaving Andy Ruhan to control the roll to the line. He kept them in check right until the last moment, he and Eastwood almost side by side as they approached the lights, and then he floored the pedal.

The white Porsche leapt forwards, and Ruhan had the nose well clear as they hit the brakes for Riches, sweeping through the right-hander and out towards the new Montreal Hairpin. Just behind them, matters were less clean cut. Tomlin was so intent on holding station on Ruhan as the front rows scrabbled through the corner that he fluffed a gearchange, and next moment had Tom Andrew in the Morgan right alongside and banging wheels.  “I was trying to stay close to Andy into Riches, and was concentrating so hard on doing that, that I forgot to change gear!” admitted a slightly sheepish David Tomlin after the race. “The Morgan edged in front, but I held the inside line and braked a bit later, and managed to squeeze back ahead through the corner, but we bumped.”

The contact was enough to send Tomlin’s red Ferrari into a half spin, from which he recovered fairly quickly. Some of those taking avoiding action behind weren’t quite so fortunate, although Barclay Dougall, effectively elevated to Group 3 pole by Yool’s detention in the pitlane, managed to find a way round. “I went out grass-tracking to get around the incident, and that cost me time, although I was lucky not to catch anything. One of the Ferraris spun across the track right in front of me, and I did really well to avoid him!” However, both Leon Price (#88 Ferrari) and Colin Broster (#15 Porsche) would each fail to see the end of the opening lap, the two cars logged as first retirements. Leon Price had won the GT Trophy race at Snetterton in early May, co-driving with Rob Barff, and might have hoped for an equally strong run in the Cup, while Broster could have been justified in hoping for a repeat of his Brands Hatch second place.

Ruhan and Eastwood were pressing on, blissfully unaware of the dust cloud behind them, while Andrews held his line and third place from Bamford, who’d nosed his #60 white Ferrari 430 through to fourth, narrowly ahead of the recovering Tomlin. As this leading group hammered off down Bentley Straight for the first time, Ruhan had already pulled clear of Eastwood, and by the end of the lap enjoyed a buffer of almost two seconds over the black Ferrari. A similar gap extended back to Andrew, but from then on, it was tight as a drum and thrumming nicely.

Price limped into the pitlane, clear evidence of damage to the Ferrari ensuring he’d take no further part in Race 1. “There was a bit of a scramble at the start, with some argy bargy going on, and I moved wide to avoid it, and got caught on the marbles. I then got a couple of taps, and next second I was off. I guess that’s racing!” He was followed into the pits by Michael Symons; fluid leaking from the front of the #31 BMW with similar consequences. “I’d been having intermittent power steering problems right from the start, and then went off at Williams,” he said.

So, the order at the end of the first lap had Ruhan well clear of Eastwood, with Andrew third, closely followed by Bamford and Tomlin, before a gap to Peter Morris in the #90 Porsche. Seventh across the line was Adam Hayes, with Mark Radcliffe eighth, Rupert Martin ninth and Sean Winder tenth. Barclay Dougall’s white BMW was spitting grass in eleventh having regained the track just ahead of Francis Galashan twelfth. This all left Andy Yool apparently struggling to get back on terms with the pack after his disrupted start. “I took a while to get going because of the tyres,” he explained. “It’s such a light car, and it just takes an age to get any heat into the tyres. And I couldn’t push until the grip improved. On top of that, I reckon I’d picked up some debris on the first lap, from the spinners into Riches. I had to run wide to drive round a spinning Ferrari, and just touched the barriers at the front. There wasn’t a lot of damage to the car, but it cost me time.”

Ruhan and Eastwood extended their lead over the course of lap two, pulling clear of Andrew, Bamford and Tomlin. “By the time we’d all got back onto the track, I’d fallen behind Peter Bamford,” observed David Tomlin. “I soon caught up with the white 430, but he was driving a very different style to me, and he was braking very early, especially into the hairpin. He caught me out completely the first time, on lap two, and we bumped.” The front of Tomlin’s car took a fairly deep gash, while Bamford’s Ferrari sustained slightly more damage to the rear bumper, but both were able to press on.

In fact, Tomlin was fastest of anyone on the next lap, and caught Bamford on the hop. “Next time we came through Agostini, I wasn’t going to be caught out again, and when he braked early, I just went round the outside! I must have caught him completely by surprise, because next I saw, he was heading off the track. There was no contact, although I think he ripped the rear bumper off the back of his car, which may have been fortunate for him, since I think it was probably rubbing on the wheel after our earlier contact. Without losing it, he’d probably not have kept going.” Tomlin not only passed Bamford, but he swept through ahead of Tom Andrew in the Morgan at the same time.

Once by the Morgan, Tomlin set off in hot pursuit of Eastwood, and began closing down on the #8 Ferrari fairly rapidly. On the other side, Ruhan had added another second to his advantage and was looking very cosy in first place. Group 2 leader Tom Andrew was also running well and easing away from Peter Morris in the #90. With Bamford off the track (but regaining it in fairly short order, ninth) Adam Hays had the Group 3 lead from sixth, leading from Mark Radcliffe with Rupert Martin’s #49 Ferrari sandwiched in between.

Andy Ruhan continued to increase his lead, lap-by lap, so the main focus moved to the battle for second. Tomlin had caught right up on Eastwood’s Ferrari, and the two were dicing nose-to-tail, with Tomlin seemingly the fitter through the twisty bits. Andrew’s Morgan was rumbling on in fourth, four seconds clear of Morris for the Group 2 lead, while Hays was looking fairly comfortable in sixth, leading Group3, but being caught on track by the recovering Bamford.

On lap five, Eastwood managed to ease out a short breather between himself and Tomlin, and Ruhan’s pace had also eased back a little, allowing the gap to Eastwood to shorten. “I backed off a little, I admit,” he said. “With the tight hairpins, the track tends to wear the front left tyre fairly heavily, so I wanted to rest the tyres for a little. I felt I had things fairly well under control”

With the race nearing half distance Andy Yool was finally back into the hunt, and had worked his way through the tail end, nimbly steering the Chevron GR8 between the larger, heavier cars, and was closing on Hayes, who had dropped to 12th after a spin at Riches – looking for fourth gear, he found second, and the BMW reacted accordingly. That left Mark Radcliffe leading Group 3.

Up to this moment, Tomlin’s third lap held the point for race quickest, and he’d maintained that pace well enough not only to have closed on Gary Eastwood, but to have pushed the Ferrari driver into closing on the leader too. Ruhan responded on lap 7 with a new fastest lap of the race; 1:59.158. “I needed that for the extra point,” he grinned. “I’d had that in the bag last time out at Brands, until the last lap, so I wanted to make sure this time.” His lead duly extended again to 3.4 seconds, but the gap between Eastwood and Tomlin has shrunk to less than half a second as they crossed the line behind him.

With Ruhan already clear of Riches, that battle for second headed down Senna Straight and into the tight right-hander. Eastwood never made it. “I’d started to reel him in over the previous couple of laps, and caught right up with him into Riches,” said the chasing Tomlin “He was still several yards ahead of me, and for no obvious reason, he just went straight on and into the barley field!” Disappearing amongst a spreading tide of stalks and ears, that’s where he’d stay.

“We were caught between a rock and a hard pace,” suggested Gary Eastwood after the race.

“I’d had new tyres for qualifying, and got second for Race 2 and pole for Race 1. This morning, as the team was cleaning up the tyres, they discovered a hole in the casing on the left-front. There was no time to replace the tyre itself, so I had to go out on another set. These were tyres we’d used at Brands, so were well worn. I was also carrying the extra 40 kilos of ballast. Put simply, the tyres just went off very quickly. After a few laps I was getting terrible understeer, and the car was almost undriveable. I tried to drive round the problem, but Dave was catching me rapidly. I was really pushing the boundaries with those old tyres, and I just went off at a rate of knots. It’s just one of those things that happen.”

Eastwood’s departure and a couple of quick laps soon reinstated much of Ruhan’s earlier lead, but Tomlin wasn’t giving up. The gap from first to second was back up to 5.6 seconds, leaving Andrew leading Group 2 from third overall, two seconds clear of Morris in fourth.  Mark Radcliffe had inherited the Group 3 lead after Hayes’ excursion, but had just half a second over Barclay Dougall, with Yool now moving through to third in Group, 12th overall and ahead of Hayes. Next time around, Dougall took Radcliffe for the Group lead and seventh overall.

With the race nearing its conclusion Ruhan evidently felt there was enough life left in his tyres and had resumed his relentless two-minute pace, pulling away to 6.8 seconds. The rest of the leading pack had also stretched further apart; Tomlin extending his advantage over Andrew to eight seconds, although Morris was a mere two seconds behind the Morgan. Bamford held fifth, with Martin’s yellow Ferrari sixth, but being caught by Dougall and Radcliffe.

Into the tenth lap and Morris suddenly closed down onto the tail of Andrew’s Morgan as they headed towards Riches. They were tight again through the Montreal Hairpin, but Andrew was making the Aero 8 as wide as good racecraft would allow, fending off the increasing pressure from Morris and wishing, perhaps, that he could apply some of it to the fuel in his tank. The Morgan had a problem, and the V8 was complaining. Nose-to-tail for another lap, the Group 2 leaders looked inseparable, until Andrew had a “moment” coming out of Murrays, and the #90 Porsche was through to third overall.

Similar moves were afoot in Group 3, where Yool took second from Radcliffe and eighth overall.

That meant Ruhan fronting Group 1, leading the race overall; Peter Morris with the edge in Group 2 (third overall) and Dougall coming under pressure from Yool for the Group 3 honours. Somewhere in the midst was Peter Bamford, closing on Morris (just 7 seconds between the two), but about twenty seconds ahead of Rupert Martin.

With matters looking fairly settled at the sharp end, the closest duel on track was the one between Yool’s Chevron and Barclay Dougall’s BMW for the Group 3 lead. The gap had closed to less than two seconds, with Mark Radcliffe’s orange BMW an equally close third. There was another fierce contest for third in Group 2, with Francis Galashan fighting to get around Sean Winder for third.

As the race entered its twelfth lap, Andrew began to slow visibly, and the Morgan’s hard-earned grasp on second began to look under threat. Dougall must have felt the same, as Yool closed to 0.8 seconds of the Group 3 leader, and the Winder-Galashan gap shrunk to similar dimensions. Sure enough, Bamford eased past Andrew for fourth overall, although made no change to the Group status

Ruhan was easing back again now. The chequered flag was almost within sight, and four or five seconds was a manageable lead. It shrank to four over the course of the final lap, but Andy Ruhan scored his fourth win of the season in convincing fashion, having led unchallenged from start to finish.

Tomlin crossed the line in second, with Morris finishing third to take the Group 2 win by just 0.7 seconds from Bamford in the Ferrari, #60, third in Group 1.

In the dying moments, Tom Andrew lost track position to Rupert Martin, but still retained a richly deserved second in Group 2. But what of Yool? On the performance of the previous two or three laps, watchers were quite expecting to see the little Chevron take the Group 3 lead, but instead, it was nowhere to be seen. Andy Yool had pulled off, somewhere near the Bombhole, with a blown fuse to the fuel pump, leaving Dougall unchallenged across the line to take the win from Radcliffe, with Hayes third.

“I like a boring race!” declared a beaming Andy Ruhan. “I was stuck out at the front with no action, but I knew we had the pace in the car. After Gary Eastwood went off behind me at Riches I had a bit of a breather, and the rest of the race was fairly easy. The next one should be fairly interesting, though. I’ll be starting from third, but carrying all that extra ballast after winning this one.”

Pete Morris said it was “nice to be back in the 996. That was a great race, but I didn’t expect to be up on the podium. This is my first race in the Cup since 2008, and my first run in the 996 for two and a half years.”

Peter has done some Britcar events and also competed in Porsche Club races in a 928. Unaware of Andrew’s fuel issues, he added: “The Morgan had a lot of power in the straights, but I could catch him through the twisty bits. I think he must have missed a gearchange, because he suddenly slowed, and there was a light tap, but then I got past.” Pete Morris certainly seemed to enjoying his weekend in Snetterton, and prospects for more races look promising.

“I’m really happy to see those points for the championship,” said Barclay Dougall, winner in Group 3. “The tyres and brakes were going off towards the end, and I was struggling to keep ahead of Andy Yool, but I enjoyed that. There was always somebody nearby, right behind me, all the way through the race.”

David Tomlin was satisfied with second. “I thoroughly enjoyed that,” he admitted. “I made a bit of a mistake at the start, and without that would have stuck much closer to Andy, but I got back into it again. There was a point when I seemed to be catching him, but then he put in a quick lap, and pulled away again. I thought, am I actually going to catch him? Probably not, so I decided to hold station. When I started to close again towards the end I did wonder if he had a problem, but I think he was just easing back.”

Tom Andrew was disappointed to have been edged out of fifth overall at the end. “I had some fuel pressure problems,” he explained. “I had no drive from the car at all for the final few laps. I was just able to keep going. I’m pretty confident we’ll have that sorted for the next race. Maybe a full tank for a bit of extra ballast will help!” Second in the group will earn him 30 kilos.

Peter Bamford was making his first appearance in the GT Cup, and was delighted with third. “I went onto the grass at the hairpin,” he admitted, “but I was never going to catch these two.”

The real loser in all this had been Gary Eastwood - from front-row to DNF in six laps. “I’ll have a fresh set of tyres for the next race, so no excuses this afternoon!” he said.

Marcus Potts