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British GT, Rockingham
– Short Race 1 Report
Andrew Howard and Jonny Adam scored
a famous victory at Rockingham when they steered the #7 Beechdean Motorsports
Aston Martin DBRS9 through the spray to the flag with an advantage of 41 seconds
over the #22 Preci-Spark Mercedes The race began in a highly dramatic
and confusing fashion. First the pole-sitting #23 United Autosports Audi R8
Beechdean and Preci-Spark had chosen
wisely in the very tricky conditions – Howard calling for wets after seeing how
slippery the track was on his way round to the grid – and it was the Mercedes
that led into Turn 1 as Michael Lyons and David Ashburn fell back. The Aston was
through into the lead before the leaders reached the infield for the first time
and thereafter Howard began to pull away from the The two Ginetta G55s of Ian
Stinton (#25 Stark Racing) and Jody Firth (#28 Century Motorsports) as well as
the #50 GT4 Scuderia Vittoria Ginetta G50 also started on wets and the sight of
these cars circulating in third, fourth and fifth places must have put a smile
on the face of a watching Ginetta boss Lawrence Tomlinson. Firth took full
advantage of the conditions to secure third place in the #28 up to the
pitstops. That the slicks weren’t working
on the slippery track was bad enough for those cars that had chosen them, but
when the rain began to fall heavily again after just a few minutes, those same
cars had no choice but to pit again to change for wets. David Ashburn was the
first to stop for new rubber, and in doing so minimised the damage. Those cars
that delayed their stops just continued to make life harder for
themselves. Howard’s lead was more than
seven seconds after six laps, by which point he had already lapped the
unfortunate Guasch, and had extended beyond ten seconds after ten laps. What
wasn’t obvious was that the Aston’s windscreen wipers had failed and it was only
the Aston’s pace that was clearing the water from the
screen. John Dhillon had the #13 GT3B
Ferrari 430 up to sixth from the back of the grid after just a few laps and was
able to hand the older car over to Aaron Scott in seventh once the pit window
was open. The opening laps had turned the
positions completely upside down, so that by the time the driver-changes had
taken place the likes of Allan Simonsen, Matt Griffin and Alex Mortimer were
well outside the top ten and at least a lap
down. Andrew Howard pitted from the
lead after 28 minutes to hand over to Jonny Adam after a flawless stint, leaving
David Jones to lead by 33 seconds from Jody Firth. When the Mercedes pitted five
minutes later, the Beechdean car regained the lead with an advantage of 11
seconds; and, like his teammate earlier, Jonny Adam immediately began to pull
away. As the race continued, so did
the conditions continue to change. Phil Keen quickly got a handle on the
situation and had soon passed the Stark Racing Ginetta and the #5 Ferrari to
move up to fourth. He then began to draw the #28 Ginetta – now with Stefan
Hodgetts at the wheel – ever closer. The #1 Porsche caught the G55 on Lap 29 and
Keen dived down the inside at Deene. Hodgetts closed the door and contact was
made, leaving the Porsche ahead and the Ginetta spinning; but fortunately both
cars were undamaged and able to continue. Allan Simonsen had taken over
the #3 Rosso Verde Ferrari Scuderia from Hector Lester in 15th
position, but spent his stint moving up the field; taking sixth from Charles
Bateman on the final lap. Despite reduced visibility in
the final few minutes, Jonny Adam crossed the line at the end of 36 laps to take
the win as his team cheered from the
pitwall. "Lucky it was wet for the
warm-up because that was the first time I had ever driven the car in the wet all
the time I’ve had it. First time I have raced it in the wet," said Andrew
Howard. "Thank god it did rain for the warm up otherwise we wouldn’t have had a
clue. We got a good set up and the car felt really balanced. We went out on
slicks on out lap and changed on the grid. There was that much
difference. "Big day, really cool; and it’s
Jonny’s birthday." The "I didn’t think there was a
choice when it came to the tyres," said David Jones. "This place is slippery
enough in the dry! I thought those who started on slicks were bonkers, all of
them." "We lost about three quarters
of a lap because we started on slicks and had to change, otherwise we could have
maybe had a win," said Phil Keen, after his first race in the Porsche. "The
wipers stopped working half way through my stint, so I couldn’t really see where
I was going." An excellent, and fully
deserved, fourth was the Century Motorsport G55, giving a huge fillip to the
team and marque; "I knew we had good pace in the wet but it took so long to get
temp into the tyres," said Jody Firth. "It was a very bitty sort of few opening
laps but once the tyres came in it was OK. Then the car totally steamed up and I
couldn’t see a thing. I just had to do my best and was pleased to bring it in
third." Aaron Scott was another to be
celebrating an unexpected result as he battled his way to an excellent fifth
overall in the GT3B MTECH 430 – the top-placed Ferrari in the race.
GT4 went to the Scuderia
Vittoria Ginetta G50 of Dan Denis and David McDonald after a dominant run from
both drivers. "We made the right choice on
tyres by sticking to the wets because it started raining pretty much as soon as
the race got going," said Dan Denis. "It was great because both the Lotuses were
on slicks and had to pit; we were about a lap ahead when I came in and David did
a good job to get it home." "I struggled a bit because the
windscreen wipers stopped working so I was struggling to see where I was going,"
added David McDonald. "Thankfully I had enough of a lead and I did not have to
worry too much." The two Lotuses came home
second and third in class, with the #49 Evora of Freddy Nordstrom and Leyton
Clarke heading home the #48 of Ollie Jackson and Phil
Glew. The race saw only one
retirement – the #6 Speedworks Corvette Z06R of Ron and Piers Jones, which
suffered diff failure on the first lap. MH |