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British GT, Spa –
Race 2 Report Various crunches, crashes and bangs in the other 25H Fun Cup support races meant that the timetable was running 30 minutes late by the time the British GT runners regrouped on the Spa grid to prepare for the second of the day’s races. The field had been depleted to 21 cars, but the good news was that the #13 MTECH Ferrari 430 would race; although Aaron Scott would be forced to start behind the majority of the Dutch GT4 field after failing to qualify. The clouds were heavy over Spa as the Pace Car peeled off into the pitlane, but it was dry as the lights changed to green and 50 cars hit the loud pedal. Richard Westbrook reached La Source first in the #1 Trackspeed Porsche, while behind him came three red Ferraris. However, none of them was the #3 Rosso Verde Scuderia of Allan Simonsen, which had started from P2 - the Dane had made a dreadful start and was already down to seventh before Eau Rouge. It seems even the best get it wrong sometimes.
Those three cars immediately behind the Porsche were the two CRS and the MTECH 458s, with Glynn Geddie ahead of Alex Mortimer and Matt Griffin. Matt Bell was fifth in the #23 United Autosports Audi, with Johnny Adam sixth in the Beechdean Aston Martin. In GT4, David McDonald led in the #50 Scuderia Vittoria Ginetta G50, but this time he would not have the luxury of cars between him and his pursuers, and Phil Glew was right behind in the #48 Lotus Evora. Chris Holmes was third in the Barwell/Secure Racing Aston Martin Vantage, but still had two Dutch GT4 cars to negotiate before he could begin to get to grips with the Lotus. In a reversal of the Race 1 situation, Westbrook found himself able to move away from the Ferrari behind, as the chasing trio began to get embroiled in a full-on fight for position. A light shower at the far end of the circuit did nothing to interrupt this battle, nor did it slow Westbrook; who was five seconds clear after four laps. Mortimer managed to get the #11 458 into second place on that fourth lap, but was back down to fourth a lap later as an electrical problem began to affect his Ferrari.
He held on to the place for three more laps, but was forced to pit on Lap 9, after which the car was retired. This had left Geddie holding second under huge pressure from Griffin, but he was forced to yield on Lap 8 as the Irish driver went through. Westbrook started Lap 9 with a 9.400 second lead, but calamity struck further round the circuit when a small collision while lapping a backmarker caused a puncture. Westbrook slowed and began to fall down the timing screens. He got the Porsche home, but the damage was enough to ensure that its day was run. Griffin now led for MTECH and began to pull out a gap over Geddie. Further back, the second Trackspeed Porsche was faring better than in the first race, as Tim Bridgman made impressive progress through the field – up to fourth by Lap 10, having started 12th; “We made a small set-up change after the first race,” he explained, “and with the new tyres the difference in the car was like night and day to earlier.” Not far behind him was the Beachdean Aston, which was also going well in the hands of Johnny Adam. Overshadowed by the dramas ahead, but arguably even more exciting, was the fight for the GT4 lead, with McDonald, Glew and Holmes circulating literally nose-to-tail for lap after lap. Glew had taken the lead in the #48 Lotus on Lap 3, but McDonald soon caught back up and continued to harry the Evora. By the time the pit stops began at the end of Lap 12, just three seconds covered the top three after 84km of tough racing. Just a dozen seconds further back, Marcus Clutton had done wonders to keep the heavily-penalised ABG KTM X-Bow in contention in fourth. Andrew Kirkaldy was the first of the leading group to pit, bringing the Invitation McLaren MP4-12C in from fifth to hand over to Chris Goodwin.
As expected, the majority of the GT3 runners stayed out – Bridgman now just three tenths behind Bell in the fight for third – with only a couple of cars stopping. One of these was the GT3B Ferrari, Aaron Scott having carved his way from 41st on the grid to tenth by the time he handed over to John Dhillon. But he wasn’t happy; “It was ridiculous making us start behind all the Dutch cars,” he fumed. “All that did was put us at risk of a crash and ruin the tyres. Poor old John won’t have any grip at all out there!”
The Preci-Spark Mercedes SLS made its stop, but was back a lap later with the gullwing door open. There was clearly a major problem with the car and it joined the CCTV Predator Ferrari (which had lasted only seven laps) and Trackspeed Porsche on the list of retirees. Matt Bell resisted Bridgman’s pressure and held on to third before pitting on Lap 13, and at this stage it was looking good for the #23 Audi’s chances. Both cars ahead would have penalty time at their stops, as a result of finishing on the podium in Race 1, whereas the Audi wouldn’t. Unfortunately, a long stop meant that Mike Guasch would actually drop to fifth by the time the pit window closed. Griffin had built up a 9.542s lead by the time he and Geddie pitted at the end of Lap 14, and this was enough to ensure that Duncan Cameron got out still in the lead. Andrew Howard was the new second-place man, 3.856s behind in the Beechdean Aston, while Jim Geddie was third, a second and a half further back. But the #10 Ferrari’s mirrors were full of Porsche, as Gregor Fisken quickly closed in the #2 997 R; the two Scots changing places on Lap 16. The GT4 stops had had the effect of reversing the top three, so Peter Erceg now led in the Aston, from Ollie Jackson in the #48 Aston and Dan Denis a further eight seconds back in third. Jackson was soon into the lead, while Denis caught and passed Erceg in the #50 Ginetta a couple of laps later. The top three in GT3 began to break away from the rest of the pack, with Cameron able to briefly extend his lead to seven seconds as Howard tried to stay ahead of the very determined Fisken; but he was unable to hold out for long and the Porsche found a big-enough gap on Lap 19. Ten minutes remained and it would now all be about traffic. At the end of Lap 20, Fisken had reduced his deficit to 4.948. he trimmed just another two tenths on the next lap, but on Lap 22 Cameron’s lead suddenly shrank to little more than a second; “The traffic was mental – I think I managed to catch every crazy guy out there in the closing stages!” said the MTECH driver later.
But the Porsche driver wasn’t able to look fully ahead, as Howard had stayed right behind after being passed and the #7 Aston was alongside the Porsche along the Kemmel straight. Fisken prevailed and stayed ahead into Les Combes, but his laptime was almost identical to Cameron’s (just five thousandths quicker) as a result of the challenge.
Fisken had one last chance to try for the lead. Having failed to pass the Porsche, the Aston had hit traffic and dropped back two seconds, which allowed the Scot to refocus on the car ahead. As the two lead cars negotiated traffic for the final seven kilometres, Cameron’s lap time was reduced by more than a second; but so was Fisken’s and the Porsche crossed the line 0.888s behind an ecstatic Duncan Cameron. “It’s great to finally get the win,” said Cameron, as he enjoyed a well-earned beer. “I was suffering with understeer throughout my stint and the fronts had gone – it felt like a different car to the first race. Matt did a great job in giving me the car still in the lead and then I just got my head down. “I’m still learning how to race, but Matt’s been focusing on my fitness this year and I’ve been spending a lot of time in the gym; and I think it’s paid off today.” “It's brilliant to win at Spa," agreed Matt Griffin. "There have been some niggling, new-car problems and, although we’ve shown pace, we had no result until now. The whole weekend was great; we were consistently quick and it all ran faultlessly which really gives me confidence going to the Spa 24 Hours at the end of the month. Touch wood, the mechanical gremlins are now solved and we can press ahead. “I didn’t get a great start and was fourth. It took a little time for our car to get to where I wanted it to be grip-wise, but once it did I was able to get past Alex Mortimer and Glynn Geddie and started to catch Richard; he then must have had some sort of problem and I got the lead and was able to get my head down and build a lead. Duncan jumped in and did an incredible job under a lot of pressure. We got the win and we’re over the moon.”
“It was very, very close at the end – another lap and I’m sure I’d have had him,” said Gregor Fisken. “The Ferrari was clearly struggling with understeer, so was our car; but the Porsche has great traction and that allowed me to close up. “It was very close, but it was also clean, great racing and I wish we had another race here. We’re very privileged to be able to race these cars. You can get a bucket load of bad luck at times, but you can also get lots of good luck; the trick is in how you manage the down times.” “Gregor was mighty through the traffic and drove brilliantly,” said a happy Tim Bridgman. “That was my first ever rolling start, so I was happy to get round La Source unscathed. The team had worked on the car between races and it felt solid, which meant I could overtake with confidence. I handed the car over to Gregor in fourth and he did the rest.” Andrew Howard was similarly delighted with third in the Beechdean Aston; “Brilliant!” he beamed. “The team didn’t tell me that I was third until three laps from the end, which was a good thing, but I’m delighted with the result considering the age of the car – it was mega in the high speed bits, but, shall we say, ‘antiquated’ in the slower parts.
“I almost got the place back a couple of laps from the end, but then hit traffic in all the wrong places; but it’s great to be back on the podium.” Chris Goodwin finished fourth in the McLaren, but it was Mike Guasch who took the twelve points after passing Jim Geddie on the final lap. This kept he and Matt Bell at the top of the standings by two points from the Geddies as the series headed into its summer break. A delighted sixth in GT3, seventh overall, was the Speedworks Corvette of Ron and Piers Johnson. The aim for the team at the start of the weekend was two race finishes, which they achieved, but the ten points accumulated in the process and the Sunoco Fuels Driver of the Weekend award for Ron were thoroughly deserved. The Rosso Verde Ferrari of Hector Lester and Allan Simonsen finished eighth after a largely anonymous run, while the top ten was rounded out by two hobbled cars - the #5 Scuderia Vittoria Ferrari (failed damper) and the #24 United Autosports Audi (handling problem.) While the finish had been dramatic in GT3, there was no less drama in GT4, but in a very different way. At the end of Lap 20, Ollie Jackson’s lead over Dan Denis stood at five seconds, but the Ginetta was lapping quicker; and at the end of the next lap the Lotus’ lead was down to 3.4s. There was a solitary Dutch car between them and a close finish seemed to be on the cards – but on Lap 22 the Ginetta went missing and it was the KTM X-Bow of Peter Belshaw who came through in second, having recently passed the Secure racing Aston. Alas for Denis and his teammate, the gearbox had failed and for the second time in three races the G50 was forced to watch the closing moments from the sidelines. Amazingly, this was the only GT4 retirement in both races. This left Jackson with a clear run to home and he had the honour of bring the Evora home to its first win in the category.
“Phil handed the car over to me in the lead,” said Jackson, “and though it was tough out there with all the cars on track we made it through in the end for a great result for Lotus Sport UK.” “That was great fun,” added Glew. “We were battling with cars not in our class and all the time I was trying to put cars between me and the Ginetta. Ollie then did a great job in his stint and we both got the job done.” Marcus Clutton was delighted with second in the X-Bow; “We had a bit of luck out there. The car didn’t have the pace on the straights, so I was doing my best to block while managing to keep in touch with the leaders. Then Peter took over and he was able to catch the Aston, which was struggling, and then the Ginetta broke.” Second place was enough to keep Clutton in fourth in the Sunoco Daytona Challenge rankings, just behind new third-place man Matt Griffin. Third in GT4 was the Secure Racing Aston, making it two podiums in the race for Barwell-supported cars; “It was a fantastic result for the team,” said Peter Erceg. “To be on the podium, in an Aston Martin, at Spa and in only our second round of the British GT Championship, it doesn't get much better than that!”
The two rounds at Spa had the effect of shaking up the standings in both classes as follows: GT3 1 Michael
Guasch 90.5 GT4 1 Marcus
Clutton 128 The series now has a break of almost two months before reconvening at Rockingham in early September. MH |
