Bute Motorsport GT Trophy - Full Report
A Clean Sweep For Barff & Price

On the day that the England cricket team completed a 4-0 demolition of India, Rob Barff and Leon Price completed a clean sweep of the 2011 GT Trophy when they finished a lap clear of the field after three fascinating hours of racing. On this occasion, though, the FF Corse duo had a much tougher time of things than of late.

The format for the fourth and final round of the 2011 Bute Motorsport GT Trophy was a three-hour race round the Grand Prix circuit at Brands Hatch, with no 'intermission'. The two-hour race at Donington had produced a fabulous contest which went down to the wire, and it was hoped that this longer event would have similar results. The main difference between the Donington and Brands races, of course, was that Leon Price and Rob Barff had traded in the Ferrari 430 GTC for a 458 Italia GT3; a car that had utterly dominated the Snetterton and Oulton Park rounds. But with a longer race comes the introduction of more variables, as the endurance factor potentially exceeds pure pace.

One such variable concerned the refuelling regs for this race, with all teams agreeing on a 75-litre maximum refill at all stops. In addition, it was agreed that any refuelling stops would be of two-minute minimum duration, while stops for other purposes (tyres, driver-change, etc.) would be subject only to the Minimum Pit Lane Time of 16.9 seconds. In other words, there was a trade-off to be made between pace and fuel-consumption, which could potentially favour slower, but less-thirsty, cars. There would be only one mandatory stop during the race, which could include a pro-driver penalty (10 seconds per hour), refuelling, driver changes and any other work, but not the serving of any judicial penalty.

Several cars had changed Groups since qualifying the previous day – both FF Corse Ferrari 430s (#45 & #49) had elected to run a standard map and carry 20kg of ballast to drop them into Group 3, while the #35 CTR Alfatune Porsche and the #38 Atkins Motorsport Ginetta G50 had both been moved to Group 4. The more heavily upgraded Ginetta of Lee Mowle and George Murrells remained in Group 3 and was beautifully presented in its new yellow livery. Clearly, Optimum Motorsport had not been idle since taking the win at Oulton in the then just-acquired G50.

Phil Keen had come closest to matching Barff’s qualifying time, but his lap time had been more than three seconds slower in the fabulous sounding #93 BMW V8 GTR. All he could realistically do then, was stay in touch as much as possible during the opening stages.

The Ferrari driver, however, was wise to the possible threat from the very rapid Keen and made sure he got the 458 to Paddock Hill Bend first; after which he began to disappear off into the distance. 

The race had a dramatic start when Chris Bentley’s #35 Porsche 996 GT3 collided with Fiona James’ #27 Lamborghini Gallardo at Paddock Hill Bend on the opening lap. The Porsche driver had seen the Gallardo coming past and had gone onto the grass to try and avoid a collision. Unfortunately, contact was made and the Lambo spun, whereupon it was collected by the Porsche. Both cars went through the gravel before rejoining the track, but it was clear that immediate attention would be required – the Lamborghini pitting with a deranged rear-wing and damaged bodywork and the Porsche with a holed radiator.

Both cars would eventual rejoin, but many laps down.

As Barff pulled away, the race for fourth was the highlight of the first hour, with Alex Martin (#49 Ferrari 430 GT), Michael Broadhurst (#9 Ferrari 430), Charlie Hollings (#45 Ferrari 430) and George Murrells (#95 Ginetta G50) nose to tail for quite some time. Eventually Martin began to drop away, leaving the two 430s to fight it out for a lengthy period. Broadhurst took advantage of the passing 458 to eventually put some distance between him and his opponent, but Hollings still held a healthy lead in Group 3.

The fight for the Group 4 lead was another highlight, with Sam Allpass (#38 Ginetta G50) and Dave Cox (#77 BMW M3 CSL) trading places, with rarely more than a few car lengths between them. As the scheduled stops approached towards the end of the first hour, the Ginetta started to lose ground significantly and was more than 20s adrift when Allpass pitted. Unfortunately, a gearbox failure was diagnosed at the stop and the car took no further part in the race; the first confirmed retirement.

Phil Keen’s race had only lasted 14 laps before an ominous engine noise presaged an unscheduled pitstop. The BMW’s oil pressure had disappeared, but the team initially believed that it could be rectified. However, it was discovered that the engine had been pumping oil and water into the exhaust and was at risk of imminent failure. Moore Racing had no option then but to retire the car. This left Mike Donovan in a distant second in the #97 In2Racing Porsche.

Another car in trouble was the fabulous Simpson Motorsport Ferrari F40. Jacopo Sebastiani was a frequent visitor to the pits with a misfire, with the problem traced to a faulty ECU. This car too was retired, leaving the leader as the sole surviving Group 1 representative.

The first round of stops was an extended affair, with Rob Barff staying out until 65 minutes had elapsed before pitting with a lead of two laps. As Leon Price climbed aboard, Mike Donovan continued to push on in and managed to assume a small lead before the FF Corse 458 rejoined. Also still to stop were the Murrells Ginetta, the Cox BMW and the Nick Barrow BMW E87; the small silver #18 lapping quietly, but consistently to stay in touch with the Group 4 battle.

It was at this point of the race that things started to deviate from the script for FF Corse, as liquid could be seen leaking from the rear of the car. A watching Aaron Scott – without a drive after his car was crashed in qualifying, and thus acting as pit runner for the media – immediately identified the issue as a fuel-spill, as it was only visible at left-handers. As the leak continued, the Ferrari was shown the black and orange flag and Price was obliged to pit to have the issue sorted. It turned out to be a depressed fuel-valve, which was quickly rectified, and Price went back out. He was now leading, as Donovan had just made his scheduled stop. In2Racing boss Nick Dudfield now took over the Porsche.

We also now had the safety car out on track as the #9 MTECH Ferrari of David Back ground to a halt along Stirlings with no drive and needed to be moved to a place of safety. The caution period prompted the final three cars to make their stops.

The Ferrari was recovered back to the pits and would actually return to the track before the end with Michael Broadhurst at the wheel, but by this point any hopes of a classified finish were long gone.

The race went green again after 85 minutes, with Leon Price having completed 52 laps and leading by almost a lap from Dudfield in the #97 Porsche.

As the halfway point approached, the order was 88, 97, 95, 45, 59, 49, 11, 51, 77, 18, 27 and 35.

Lee Mowle was awarded a drive-through for disregarding a red light at the end of the pitlane, which he took immediately. He retained the Group 3 lead, but Mark McAllister was lapping a couple of seconds quicker in the #45 Ferrari.

Jeff Wyatt was closing on Rupert Martin for sixth in his first race in the Venturi, but had a rapid Adriano Medeiros – many laps down, but going well in the #35 Porsche – in the between him and the #49 Porsche, while Mike Youles was closing on McAllister in the Group 2 #59 Spot Racing Porsche.

As the gap came down to below ten seconds, MTECH got ready to put Charlie Hollings back in the #45 Ferrari 430, but Youles took the place with 75 minutes to go before the driver change took place. The veteran GT driver’s next target was Lee Mowle in the Optimum Motorsport Ginetta, with the gap from third to fourth just 15 seconds and closing quickly.

Nick Dudfield was lapping more than a second quicker than leader Leon Price and thus stayed on the lead lap. On pure pace the Ferrari was looking strong, with Rob Barff soon to get back in; the one hope for the Porsche was that the Ferrari would need two more stops and the Porsche just one.

Suddenly, however, the lead Ferrari was heading for the pits with a front-right puncture. Price reached the pitlane safely and the FF Corse crew quickly removed the affected wheel. A visual inspection indicated that no other damage had been suffered and the #88 rejoined; but not before Nick Dudfield had retaken the lead. This one wasn’t over yet.

After 70 laps, Dudfield led by 47s from Price, while a lap further back Mike Youles was almost with Lee Mowle. The Ginetta driver, meanwhile, was being shown the black & white flag for exceeding track limits at Turn 3. The place changed on Lap 71, but immediately changed back when Youles pitted to hand the car back to Will Goff. "I haven't raced anything like this for five years," said Youles after he climbed out, "and yesterday was my first time in the car. It was good of Will to give me so much seat time. The tyres are a bit past their sell-by date - a bit like me, really - but Will's been improving all the time over the weekend, driving really well, and he's in for the run to the flag now."

Price’s first clear lap after rejoining was only a 1:43 and the gap went up to 50s. With an hour to go, the gap between the two leaders was a minute. Price’s laptimes were coming down as his confidence in the car returned, but he was still losing time to the Porsche with each lap.

Goff rejoined in the #59 Porsche, but was now only half a dozen seconds ahead of Jeff Wyatt in the venerable Venturi. Lee Mowle now led Group 3 comfortably in the surviving Ginetta, as the #45 Ferrari dropped down the order with gearbox problems.

With 50 minutes remaining, Leon Price – who had by now managed to lap faster than the leader and had reduced the gap to under a minute once more – stopped to hand over to Rob Barff. Even with an extra time to serve on account of Barff’s ‘Pro’ status, his pace was such that this was going to be close at the end.

Barff rejoined in third, 20 seconds behind the Ginetta of Lee Mowle, but a 1:31 outlap showed that he meant business. Two laps later a new fastest race lap - 1:28.658 – took the #88 back up to second and within two laps of the leader.

With just under 40 minutes to go, Jeff Wyatt brought the Venturi in from fifth to hand over to Paul Cope, but remarkably the 400 GTR needed only new rubber but no fuel before its owner rejoined.

Alex Martin – who was back in the car after his father Rupert had successfully completed his longest ever racing stint – went back ahead as a result of Wyatt’s stop, while Jason Cox continued to hold a two-lap lead in Group 4 in the #77 BMW.

He and Tom Barrow in the #18 BMW had yet to stop a second time, as did the race leader; and there was no sign of Nick Dudfield heading for the pitlane any time soon.

Lee Mowle pitted the #95 Ginetta with half an hour to go and, like the Venturi, no fuel went in. George Murrells took over and kept hold of third place. A minute later Nick Dudfield finally brought the lead Porsche in for its second stop and Mike Donovan climbed back in.

It was at this point that the true position was finally revealed – Rob Barff’s pace had been such that he easily retook the lead during the Porsche stop and crossed the line 31 seconds before Donovan re-emerged. Barring further incident, this race had finally been decided.         

The remaining portion of the race saw few incidents of note. One was the demise of the Backdraft Gallardo, when Steve Quick dropped the white car comprehensively into the Paddock Hill gravel trap.

This allowed the much delayed #45 Ferrari to haul itself back into the top ten by the time the flag fell.

Paul Cope’s Venturi suffered a spin at Druids with ten minutes to go and refused to restart. Eventually the driver persuaded a couple of marshals to give him a push and was able to bump-start the French machine as it coasted down the hill, thus allowing the Le Mans car to take the finish.

Kevin Clarke was an unexpected visitor in the #51 BMW with five to go as his car ran dry. Wayne Gibson had started the M3, before handing over to a guesting Mark Radcliffe, and the car had maintained a place in the top-ten for much of the race. The driver called for fuel and even jumped out to perform the refill himself before strapping himself back in and rejoining. The stop cost the car seventh place overall, but it retained third in Group 3.  

But no further dramas were to affect the #88 Ferrari 458 – the car even managing to once again put a lap on the second-placed Porsche by the end – Leon Price was on the pitwall with the FF Corse team to cheer Rob Barff home to their fourth win from four races.

"Fabulous!” said Leon Price from the podium. “Rob set it all up in the first hour; it was fabulous what he did. I absolutely loved my stint."

"I didn't love it - far too much drama for my liking!” joked Rob Barff. “The car was excellent once again, and even though In2Racing brought the race to us, we were able to come out on top."

Mike Donovan took a well-earned second place – and the Group 2 win – in the #97 In2Racing Porsche after a great performance by team and both drivers, while Group 3 honours went to Lee Mowle and George Murrells, despite a late fuel scare. Group 4 went to the father and son partnership of Dave and Jason Cox in the #77 MMC Motorsport BMW.

Nick Dudfield: "Mike did a fantastic first stint. We had a good test on Friday and absolutely nailed the car today."

Mike Donovan: "We couldn't have made it to the flag with just one stop. We had a very long first stint - we knew we didn't have the pace of the 458, but tried to make it as interesting as possible."

Lee Mowle: "We're delighted; it's our second time out and it's the second time we've crossed the line first. Fantastic!"

George Murrells: "I was glad of the break between stints - I was starting to feel tired towards the end."

Dave Cox: "I'm very happy, the car was perfect. Thank you very much to everyone."

Jason Cox: "That was hard work. We had a problem with the gearbox, but I nursed it home and we got the win."

Thus concluded the 2011 GT Trophy. Marc Haynes and his dedicated team will now reflect on what worked and what didn’t from the various formats tried this year, before coming back in 2012 with a series that will offer the best of all worlds to competitors and spectators alike.

MH