British GT Championship – Croft – Race 1 Report
A Croft Special
© Mark Howson

Croft is the kind of circuit that encourages close racing, and the first of the two races at the 2007 meeting was destined to be remembered as a classic, the excitement beginning as soon as the lights changed and continuing until the flag fell.

As the 22 car field filed through the Complex to begin the race, pole man David Jones showed great control as he approached the lights and reacted the instant they changed. Guy Harrington was another to get it right and the #3 Aston followed the Eurotech Ascari through Clervaux, at the expense of Michael Greenhalgh in the #31 Berlanga Ascari.

But Jones’ lead didn’t last long. Somewhere between Tower Bend and the Complex, the Ascari had a moment and Jones fell to fifth. Harrington now led, but had Greenhalgh’s very close attention.

At the front, there was a continuous line of big, impatient GT3s, and the order across the line at the end of lap one was 3, 31, 7, 6, 22, 1, 9, 18, 5, 23, 40, 12, 2, 14, 13, 50, 54, 4, 8, 99, 32, 88. The second Berlanga Ascari of Paul Gibson (#32) was already pit-bound.

Alistair MacKinnon was hustling the Lotus Sport Exige in fine style and was all over David Ashburn’s Porsche through the Complex. He went past on lap two, but Ashburn retook the place on lap three. Sadly, on lap four, the two clashed at Tower Bend. The Porsche’s rear left wheel arch parted company with the car, and smoke poured from the front right of the Lotus as it charged down to Barcroft. There was little doubt where the blame lay, and to his credit, MacKinnon made no effort to shift it elsewhere, “I’m slightly teed off about that!” was his later comment on his error that would lead to an extra stop, or words to that effect. Fortunately, the damage was only superficial and the car was soon back out.

Nigel Redwood had made a strong start and was challenging Greenhalgh for second in the early stages. Gradually, the #7 RPM Viper began to fall back from the Ascari as his attention was focussed more and more on the cars trying to get past him for third; Alex Mortimer’s #6 RPM and David Jones’ recovering Ascari.

Each time through the Complex, cars would scrabble for grip and power-slide on the exit in an effort to gain those couple of yards that would allow them to defend or attack at the Hairpin. It was very entertaining for the spectators, but it was clear that there was no margin for error.

David Jones made it past the #6 Viper on lap six and set off after the #7. Further back, Neil Cunningham and Barrie Whight had made it past Hector Lester’s Ferrari and were closing in on Steve Clark in the #5 Viper. Cunningham’s Team Trimite Viper took that place two laps later, but Whight’s momentum was lost when he ran wide at Tower Bend on lap 11 and lost a couple of places.

In GTC, Keith Ahlers was controlling things nicely from the front, managing to put three GT3 cars (4, 8, and the delayed 32) between the Morgan and Graeme Mundy’s RSS Porsche. So far it seemed that the fast-but-slow strategy was working. Alas for Beechdean Motorsport, things weren’t going so well, as Andrew Howard was forced to pit early on: “The alternator and the hydraulic gear change failed between qualifying and the race. We changed the gear pump and the alternator, but the new alternator failed after three laps.” The car resumed, many laps down, and would even set the fastest GTC time of the race “with 8v showing on the dash” in Aaron Scott’s hands, but would ultimately be a non-classified finisher after further enforced stops.

The race was barely a quarter of the way through, but it was utterly enthralling. At the front Guy Harrington was driving with speed and composure and resisting the challenge from Greenhalgh, later claiming to have been on the receiving end of a number of nudges and taps from the Ascari. These two cars had now pulled out a sizeable gap to the battle for third.

Nigel Redwood lost that battle on lap ten, and then graciously allowed the title-chasing Alex Mortimer to go past soon afterwards. That, however, was the extent of his generosity, and the #7 Viper stayed resolutely in fifth from thereon in.

Phil Burton and Hector Lester were having a private battle for Ferrari supremacy in midfield, with the red 430 managing to keep the white car in his mirrors, although Burton was alongside on more than one occasion. Further up the road from this fight, Neil Cunningham was applying similar pressure to Matt Harris’ Tech 9 Porsche, sliding wildly through the Complex in his efforts to get past.

Not only was Harris able to resist, he was also focussing his own efforts at getting past Paul Drayson in the #1 Barwell DBRS9. A small error on the exit of Tower Bend was enough to send the Aston through the dirt, and Harris and Cunningham were ahead.

The gap from first to second was static in both classes, but by now the pit window was open and several cars did not hesitate - Paul Drayson being the first to stop, followed down the pit lane by Hector Lester and Phil Burton.

All three cars resumed in the same order, and Adam Wilcox immediately mounted a challenge to Allan Simonsen’s track position. The two Ferraris were side-by-side round the Hairpin and side-swiped each other as they scrabbled for ground (Wilcox; “He turned in on me.” Simonsen; “He must have magnets in his car.”). The VRS Ferrari veered wildly and almost spun, but Wilcox held it superbly and straightened it up; but the CiM car was ahead.

By now the race had reached its mid-point and many cars were heading for the pits, among them the third and fourth placed cars. Godfrey Jones was now in the Preci Spark Ascari and Bradley Ellis was in the #6 RPM Viper.

Guy Harrington completed an excellent stint, handing over to Ben de Zille Butler from the lead. Greenhalgh followed him in and gave his car to Eric Zwart. Shortly afterwards, the two leading GTC cars pitted together, and the battle would now be in the hands of Steve Hyde and Jamie Smyth. By this point, we had lost the Richmond Racing Ginetta.

Nigel Redwood pitted from the lead after sterling work in the #7 Viper, and Nick Foster was well-placed when he resumed; the leading positions now being 3, 22, 6, 23, 31, 9, 1, 12, 5.

The first three cars were quite some distance apart, but it was fantastic stuff from fourth to ninth.

With twenty minutes to go, Simonsen (who had begun his stint in twelfth place) had now caught Bradley Ellis and was challenging for third. The Viper driver resisted for two more laps, but the nimbler Ferrari eventually squeezed past at the Hairpin. Behind this battle, a four-way battle for fifth was in progress, with Tom Ferrier going well in the Tech 9 997.

At one point, the Porsche almost got past Nick Foster’s Viper to take the place, but couldn’t quite land the move. Shortly afterwards, he tried again but ran wide at the exit of the Hairpin and this was enough to allow both Jonny Cocker and Adam Wilcox by.

With fifteen minutes remaining, it was clear that Godfrey Jones had the smell of blood in his nostrils and was visibly closing on Butler’s leading Aston. The Barwell driver still had a good lead and it was not clear cut that the Ascari could catch it.

But that question became academic moments later when Jones pushed just that little bit too hard through Tower Bend and spun. The car was undamaged and Jones quickly recovered, but crucially both Simonsen and Ellis had gone ahead; any chance of an Ascari win was now gone.

Nick Foster and Jonny Cocker were engaged in a hugely entertaining fight for fifth. Time after time the bio-fuel Aston was alongside the Viper on the exit of the Complex, but each time the RPM car would emerge from the Hairpin still ahead. This was great defensive driving by Foster, but Cocker’s resilience enabled him to keep up the pressure and the Barwell car took the place eight minutes from the end.

Behind this battle, Paul O’Neill was showing in impressive style that he was quickly getting to grips with the #5 Viper on his GT debut. Before the race was over, the Liverpudlian would demote his team mate and claim sixth for himself and Steve Clark.

As enthralling as these battles were, they were overshadowed by the fight for the lead.

Having earlier inherited second as a result of Jones’ spin, Allan Simonsen made the most of the clear track ahead and put his foot down. For the first couple of laps the Dane didn’t appear to be gaining much ground, but it wasn’t long before Ben Butler’s lead began to crumble.

With each lap the two cars were visibly closer, until, with eight minutes remaining, Butler entered the Complex with the Ferrari right behind him. Simonsen kept the pressure on and was through into the lead at Clervaux. “The tyres started to go off and I backed off,” explained Butler, “but when Allan got closer I had to push. That made the tyres worse and I had to back off again.

“When he caught me, I asked the team how long till the end. When they said nine laps, I decide to let him through. I might have managed nine corners with a bit of luck, but no way could I have kept him behind me for nine laps.”

Further back in the field, the end of Adam Wilcox’s challenge was heralded by wisps of smoke from the back of the VRS Ferrari. The car slowed along the back straight and pitted just a few minutes from the end with wheel bearing failure.

As Simonsen consolidated his lead by placing lapped cars between himself and Butler, the fighting continued. Bradley Ellis had his hands full keeping Godfrey Jones behind him, but the knowledge that every point was precious to his title challenge focussed his resolve. Further back, Ronayne O’Mahony was fighting to keep Matt Griffin behind him, but the more experienced Porsche driver moved the #8 RPM car ahead of the #14 Trackspeed just before the close to take 13th.

But as the hour was up, Allan Simonsen took the flag to take a famous victory; his first of the year and Hector Lester’s third (promoting him, in that appalling American expression, to being the ‘winningest’ driver of the season so far). “The car was great and the tyres held up much better than at Thruxton,” said the Australia-based driver. “It was quite enjoyable and I was just pushing as hard as I could.”

Ben de Zille Butler hung on to finish second and moved to within a point of the championship lead. Both he and Guy Harrington had driven faultlessly, and it was their misfortune that they came up against Simonsen.

Bradley Ellis held off Godfrey Jones for third, but would later be awarded a ten-second time penalty following a protest from Barwell Motorsport that alleged that Guy Harrington was blocked when Bradley Ellis rejoined after the stop. This dropped the #6 Viper behind the Joneses, but RPM decided not to appeal.

In GTC, Keith Ahlers and Steve Hyde followed up double pole with another first for Team Aero; “That was our first lights to flag victory,” beamed Ahlers. “It was very disappointing not to race at Brands and Thruxton, but it all came together today.”

“I started off hard as I always do,” continued Steve Hyde, “then checked a couple of times to see where Jamie (Smyth) was. When the team said that he was a long way back, I just kept pushing at a steady pace to the end. I love driving this car.”

Jamie Smyth had found himself unable to challenge for the lead after “the gearbox fell to pieces. I was almost passing out from the fumes of gearbox oil and we were lucky to finish; every gear was difficult to select.”

The GT3 championship now has three teams separated by a point with three races remaining. The grid for Sunday’s encounter had a very different composition to Saturday’s. The hope here is that it will lay the foundations for another Croft special.