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Bute Motorsport GT
Cup, Anglesey – Full Report All images © Mick Herring “I love this circuit; we did about two weeks testing here at the start of the year and I know it like the back of my hand!” The above sentence goes a long way to explaining why Jordan Witt and his Group 1 Chevron GR8 dominated the GT Cup meeting at Anglesey; but there is much more to winning than just knowing the way round, and the yellow car was made to fight for its two victories on the island. Qualifying The first evidence of the approach of what remained of Hurricane Katia was plain to see at the circuit, with waves crashing dramatically on the rocks below and awnings and hospitality units doing their best to fly away; and the wind-turbine in the paddock was doing a passable impression of an aircraft propeller.
It was in these conditions that the 15 GT Cup runners took to the track for qualifying on Sunday morning (Saturday having been the preserve of practice). There was no sign of rain at this stage of the day, but forecasts had the wet stuff arriving at around the time of the first race. Pole for both races went to Jordan Witt – the grid for the second race being determined by the second-fastest lap times – with his margin over the second-placed TVR Sagaris of Danny Winstanley being 1.7 and 2.2 seconds respectively; and all with seven laps. “I knew that nobody was going to be able to get very close to me, so I decided to come in as there’s no point in cooking the tyres,” he said. The #85 GR8 was almost a brand new car following its major post-Donington rebuild, but the only upgrades since its last outing were stronger door latches.
Tom Andrew qualified third for both races in the Group 2-leading Morgan Aero 8 GT, but had his team cured the fuel-pressure problem that caused so much trouble in previous races? “Yes, we think so,” said the 2010 Group 3 Champion. “We’ve bypassed the swirl pot and hopefully that’s sorted it. We did two half-hour runs here last week and that’s the longest it’s gone without problems. “I wasn’t very happy after the second race at Donington, when we lost the clutch – we’ve probably missed out on four wins this season because of problems.” The second (Group 2) Chevron GR8 of David Witt also had a short session, but this was due mainly to the car’s bonnet becoming detached midway through qualifying and departing rapidly into the air in the stiff breeze. The session was red-flagged briefly while the bodywork was moved to a place of safety.
Group 3 pole went to Barclay Dougall’s BMW E46, which enjoyed a healthy advantage over Adam Hayes’ E46 M3; but which was running without its success ballast during qualifying (as is permitted in the regulations). Race 1 The wind was still howling across the circuit as the GT Cup field formed up on the grid ahead of the first race, but spots of rain were detectable in the air as the pace lap began. All ponderings on how this may affect the race were put to one side as the opening lap began in dramatic style. Danny Winstanley made a good start in the #78 TVR Sagaris and was alongside the pole-sitting #85 as the cars rounded Turn 1. Crucially, though, the Chevron had the inside line and stayed ahead. Andy Ruhan had also made a good start and was up to third at the expense of Tom Andrew’s Morgan at the first corner, but as the field rounded the first of the circuit’s two hairpins, the #6 Porsche ran wide and started to climb the grass banking. He looked to have got away with it, but unfortunately had just enough momentum to hit the tyres. The blow wasn’t a major one, but the championship leader immediately climbed out of his car – it later became apparent that a sticking throttle had been the cause of the Porsche’s demise. One lap later, Don Grice looped his Group 1 BMW M3 GTR V8 on the exit of Turn 1 and dropped from eighth place to the rear of the field. Fortunately the other cars went by without any contact being made and the yellow Beemer was able to resume, albeit 15 seconds adrift of the nearest car.
Winstanley kept close to the leader for the opening laps, with Witt only able to pull out the slenderest of leads. On Lap 5, however, the green TVR suddenly slowed along the Tom Pryce Straight and headed for the pits - cruelly, the gear lever had come away in Winstanley’s hand and needed to be refixed.
The Sagaris did return to the track and completed the race, but was three laps down by the end. Jordan Witt, meanwhile, now found himself with a large lead; and one that would only get bigger over the remaining laps. The TVR’s disappearance promoted Paul Hogarth to second in the #50 Porsche 997, and he headed a queue of cars comprising the Morgan, the #66 Ferrari 430 of David Tomlin, the #57 Porsche 996 GT3 of Francis Galashan and the #15 996 of Colin Broster.
Barclay Dougall led Group 3, but he was locked in battle with David Witt. The #37 BMW E46 allowed the #84 GR8 past, rather than risk an off while defending, but the Scot’s eyes were fixed on the orange battle between the three BMWs of Adam Hayes, Mark Radcliffe, and Michael Symons; two of which were Group 3 competitors.
Hayes, in the #9 E46 M3, soon pulled away from Radcliffe in the #19 M3, while Symons was forced into the pitlane in the Group 1 GTR E46 for a lengthy stop a third of the way through.
The second placed Group 3 car was unable to close on the leader, however, but did maintain the gap at around two seconds. By Lap 8, Jordan Witt’s lead was such that he was exiting Church before Hogarth arrived at Turn 1. As the four-way fight for second overall remained static, it was down to Colin Broster and Francis Galashan to provide the race of the race. The gap between the #57 and #15 996 GT3s had looked as static as those ahead, but the ABG-prepared car suddenly began to close from Lap 8 and on Lap 12, Broster made his first attempt at passing with on the climb up to Rocket.
Galashan rebuffed him, but was unable to shake him off and on Lap 14 Broster went down the inside at the Turn 2 hairpin and was through. Galashan wasn’t giving up, however, and the yellow cars swapped place again at Corkscrew just a lap later; but the series veteran reacted immediately and resolved the issue once and for all across the line at the end of that lap.
Tom Andrew held his Group 2 lead all the way to line in third overall, despite having to cope with a rather unpleasant problem; “It was quite slippy out there, even though there wasn’t much rain, and I had a problem with the diff,” he explained. “It got quite hot and oil was leaking – I got quite sickly from the smell of it; like rotten eggs – so I backed off a bit to cool it down.” He still had enough in hand to restrict the #66 Ferrari 430 of David Tomlin to fourth place. Paul Hogarth, meanwhile, celebrated his return to the series with a second place overall and in Group 1 in the #50 Porsche. But Jordan Witt was in a league of his own in the #85 Chevron and took the win by almost 36 seconds after 17 flawless laps.
Barclay Dougall completed the Group 3 win after a carefully managed run – “It backfired a little, as I didn’t get the fastest lap!” he smiled – while Adam Hayes lost his gearbox three laps from the end and handed Mark Radcliffe second place in the Group.
Race 2 The rain started to fall in earnest soon after the first race was completed, and lunch was taken in the Bute Motorsport hospitality unit against a backdrop of howling wind and madly flapping marquee walls. Somehow the structure stayed in one piece and eventually the sated drivers and team members were able to enjoy the sight of the sun coming out. It really was quite a dramatic change in scenery as the cloud cover quickly dispersed, leaving the south-east corner of the island bathed in sunshine. The wind was blowing as strong as ever, though, and the hardy spectators were to be seen leaning 30 degrees into the wind in their attempts to stay upright; the windspeed must have been in excess of 40 mph, although fortunately it remained quite mild. The second race was the conclusion to the day’s activities on the 2.1 mile track, but the BMWs of Adam Hayes and Don Grice would be absent after gearbox failures in the first race; but the remainder of the runners were in fine fettle at the start. Jordan Witt made another good start and rounded the first corner just ahead of Danny Winstanley’s TVR, while Andy Ruhan had a happier opening to his race and stayed in third as the field charged uphill for the first time.
The top two cars soon began to break away, as had happened in Race 1, and we had two other battles emerging – one for third and one for sixth. The first of these comprised Ruhan, Tom Andrew and Paul Hogarth and would remain unaltered to the flag. But the fight for sixth, which would involve five cars, was the highlight of the day.
Colin Broster and Francis Galashan were again at the heart of the battle, but this time they were joined by the Group 1 BMW of Michael Symons – running much more healthily than in Race 1 – the #66 Ferrari 430 of David Tomlin, and the #84 Chevron of David Witt. The Group 2 Chevron had been pushed quite hard by the Group 3 Marcos Mantis of Darrelle Wilson in the opening stages and this brought the youngster to within a second of Barclay Dougall’s BMW. Unfortunately for Wilson, his car hit trouble on the fourth lap before he was able to make a bid for further progress and he was forced to pit. The problem was quickly sorted and he was able to resume, but being two laps down it was now just a run to the finish.
The battle for sixth was led by Broster after six laps, but the intensity of the fight meant that the four cars behind him were within three seconds of the #15 Porsche. Tomlin had just regained eighth from Symons and was applying pressure to the #57 996 of Galashan.
But a slightly-wide exit to The Hairpin (Turn 7) was all it took to quickly lose two places as Symons and Witt both accepted the opportunity presented. The constant jostling for positions continued unabated over the next few laps and by Lap 15 four cars were still in the hunt for sixth – Tomlin haven dropped back five seconds at this point. The final sort out came at the tricky Rocket/Peel section of the track, when this quartet made the turn almost side-by-side. Galashan went round the outside and Broster was momentarily pushed to the inside. Symons saw a gap in the centre and went for it, but contact was made somewhere in the melee and the #15 Porsche was left slowing with a left-rear puncture. Broster headed for retirement just two laps from the end.
This was an unfortunate end to a strong run for Broster and the entertaining fight for sixth, but there was no suggestion of any foul play in the manoeuvre. David Witt, meanwhile, had made it past Galashan at the same time and went on to claim second in Group 2 and his best finish in the championship. All the while, Jordan Witt had been pulling out a gap over Danny Winstanley in the Group 1 Chevron, but had been unable to relax for a moment as the TVR pushed him all the way.
The yellow car stayed strong and Witt Jr claimed his second win of the day, but this time his margin was a much-reduced 9.438s. Not that this dimmed the celebrations one iota as, for the first time, father and son received a trophy apiece.
Andy Ruhan was third in Group 1, 15 seconds ahead of Group 2 winner Tom Andrew.
Barclay Dougall and Mark Radcliffe enjoyed a race-long duel for Group 3 honours, but it was the blue and white BMW that triumphed over the orange car by three seconds.
The Marcos Mantis of Darrelle Wilson finished a distant, but respectable, third. Just two more rounds of the
Bute Motorsport GT Cup remain. The next takes place on the mighty
Spa-Francorchamps circuit at the start of next month, while the season finalé
sees a return to Snetterton on October
15/16. |
