British GT, Donington – Further Notes & Qualifying Report
Simonsen Slithers To Pole

Michael Bentwood has been enjoying his season in the 22GTRacing Aston Martin DBRS9 and was very pleased with how his latest meeting was going; “I always enjoy racing at Donington and we should be in the 1:08s later,” said the Manchester driver.

“It’s been a good season, but it’s also been a real shame that Tom’s had such a disrupted year; he’s had pneumonia, business commitments and a bereavement to contend with. Andy (Jenkinson) and Adrian (Willmot) have done well in his absence, but it’s meant that I’ve not had a team mate to compare data against and I‘ve had to lead the team. Mind you, that’s been really good, because it means that if I want to make changes, they get done straight away.

“The team’s been keeping the pressure on Prodrive through the year, too, which has kept us competitive. We’ve led at Thruxton and Silverstone and I reckon we can get pole again here; and then we’ll be looking for a win in the race.”

The ever-patient Derek Palmer Snr was busy dismantling yet another gearbox after further problems for the Promotorsport Nissan. “We’ve got another one on the way from near Heathrow, but I’ve told the driver not to rush as there’s no way we’ll make qualifying.”

Phil Keen, meanwhile, was enjoying his return to the series and his Viper debut; “I’m quite impressed with it,” he said. “It’s surprisingly nimble, considering the big old block in the front. We’ve done all our running so far on old rubber and we’re in good shape.”

Keen is sharing with Henry Fletcher this weekend, but has also been racing in Belgian GT alongside Dave Shelton in his Chad-run BMW; and the car’s owner had a thank you present for him last week. “I raced his 1994 Ex- Michael Schumacher Benetton F1 car in the Euroboss Series at Zolder last weekend,” said Keen. “We won by about 30 seconds and when we looked at the data, it tuned out I’d been doing 297kph in the rain.”

Phil Hindley was looking more relaxed than he has been of late; “We had a really rough patch mid-season, with all the engine problems,” said the Tech 9 boss, “but this weekend’s looking a lot more promising.”

Richard Hollebon was a busy man in the Richmond Racing pits; “The Invitation Class car’s pace has been protested by the other runners,” he explained, “so we’re having to convert it to GT4-spec before qualifying.”

As the half hour qualifying session began at 14:10, the air was damp, but it wasn’t quite raining. The very fine drizzle was, however, enough to make the track slippery and this suppressed the times in the first third of the session.

Both drivers in each car would need to complete a minimum of three laps during the session to qualify, but there would be no other restrictions.

Tom Ferrier was atop the times at the end of the first flying lap, kicking things off with a 1:13.220. The next seven minutes, however, would see this position won and lost by several cars; namely Jamie Sutton’s #14 CR Scuderia Ferrari, Aaron Scott’s #20 ABG Viper, Nick Foster’s #2 RPM Viper and Allan Simonsen’s #23 CiM 430.

At the half-way point, Nick Foster held provisional pole with 1:09.420, with Simonsen second on 1:09.853 and Sutton third on 1:09.974.

Guy Harrington, no doubt buoyed by his crushing win in the Gadget Show race, took the Team Modena Gallardo past Sutton a couple of minutes later, by posting a 1:09.909.

GT4 was led by the #50 RPM G50 early in the session, but Stewart Linn assumed his usual position at the top of the class at the midpoint in the #88 IMS car. Rob Austin had lost a dispute with a Ferrari early in the session and was trailing bodywork for several minutes before pitting to have it repaired. Further back, Alex Mortimer and Bradley Ellis didn’t seem to be trying too hard in the #52 RPM Ginetta, while the newly-converted Swedish car didn’t seem to be having a very good time of it at all; the #101 G50 slowest of all.

Godfrey Jones brought the Preci Spark Ascari into contention as the session entered its final third; 1:10.157 promoting the KZ1R to fifth, just before Michael Bentwood dipped below 1:10 to claim fourth.

The #16 CRS Ferrari had been pretty anonymous for most of the session, but suddenly began to be on the move. Luke Hines moved from eleventh to ninth on successive laps and then leapt to second on his next – 1:09.842 soon becoming 1:09.788. Michael Cullen was similarly improving in the #15 Ferrari, but could rise no higher than eighth.

But Allan Simonsen had been back in the car for ten minutes and had one final push for glory as the session entered its final minute, stopping the clock - and seizing pole - on 1:09.165, with 38 seconds left.

“That was a good session,” the Dane told Graham Tyler. “The changeable weather made it difficult at times, and there was a yellow shown for a lot of the race, but it was good.

“The track was very slippery and unpredictable and you just had to drive within your limits.”

Guy Harrington improved his time at the death, but remained three thousandths short of third; while the IMS Ginetta remained on pole. The Ellis/Mortimer car improved towards the end, but got no higher than fourth.

Rain was a possibility for race day and this would make for a very unpredictable two hours.

MH