British GT, Silverstone – Race Report
Geddie & Ashburn Triumph In A Silverstone Classic

For a few anxious minutes not far into the second hour of this race, it seemed as though we weren’t going to get the promised entertainment, owing to the gaps between the cars being so large and the relative positions of the major players being so diverse. However, instead of drifting off into dullness and predictability, the various elements of this fascinating encounter coalesced and seemed to form a critical mass, with the result that the outcome was in doubt right down to the flag; and on a warm and sunny Silverstone afternoon, one of the finest British GT races for many a moon was played out.

The signs were all there, of course, with a fine grid of cars being crewed by an equally fine cast of driving talent. We had the 2009 and (one of the) 2007 BGT Champions, the reigning FIA GT2 champion, a two-time 2010 podium finisher in major international 24-hour races (Le Mans and the Ring), a two-time Le Mans GT1 winner, a two time LMS GT2 champion, and a 2010 BTCC race winner; and these being just the most prominent of the 50 drivers taking part. Sadly, the reigning GT4 European Cup champion would not be taking part in the race, and so 25 cars would start.   

While the grid had been determined by the efforts of the faster drivers, very few of the cars would be started by that driver - in GT3 we had Stuart Hall, Tom Ferrier and Martin Short starting, and in G4 we had Rory Butcher and Christian Dick; other than that, the ‘gentleman’ driver (for want of a better expression) would start.

Thus it was that Philip Walker found himself staring at tarmac filled only by a pace car as he prepared to start his first-ever race in a Porsche; this being the #6 Trackspeed GT3 R that Richard Westbrook had put on pole the previous afternoon. Alongside him was Hector Lester’s Rosso Verde Ferrari, and Walker steeled himself for the task ahead.

The driver of the green and white car held his nerve as the field approached the lights and he stuck to his line as he arrived at Copse for the first time, holding onto the lead as the Becketts complex approached.

Behind him it was a seeming free-for-all, as the jockeying for position began in earnest. Happily, there was no contact at the first corner, although Hall’s charge up the middle of the pack in the distinctive blue and yellow Vantage Racing Aston was blocked in determined fashion by Paul Whight in the Barwell-Cadena version. Iain Dockerill, meanwhile, made a great start and was soon up to second at the expense of Lester in the #15 Chad Ferrari, but just a few corners later he had a coming together with the equally fast-starting Porsche of David Ashburn and dropped back to 14th.

In G4, Rory Butcher wasn’t phased by the sight of Freddie Hetherington’s #57 Ginetta in his mirrors – Vibe Smed having dropped several places (from second) on the opening lap in the #47 century G50 – and the ABG X-Bow soon started to pull away.

Walker enjoyed crossing the line at the end of lap one still in the lead, but there was a long way to go and several drivers were already impatiently breathing down his neck. Most prominent amongst these was Tom Ferrier, and he took the #10 Chad Ferrari into the lead at Club on the second lap.

It was all change again on that second lap, with not one of the top eight ending the lap in the same position as when they started it. Ferrier was followed by Hall, with Lester now also ahead of walker in third. Whight was fifth, while Martin Short was making progress in the much healthier Mosler in sixth, having passed both Phil Burton’s #12 and Duncan Cameron’s #2 Ferraris on the lap.

The Cadena Aston driver was not destined to enjoy his stint; the car being pushed onto the dirty part of the track as the pro drivers came through, resulting in pick-up which hampered the car’s pace, and then being clunked by the Preci-Spark Ascari after 15 minutes. On top of this, Whight began to feel ill in the hot and humid cockpit and his condition progressively worsened.

Short continued his charge and was up to third by the end of lap three, some five seconds adrift of Hall, who was himself trying to hang on to Ferrier.

The Aston was just a third of a second behind the Ferrari on that third lap, but thereafter the Chad driver began to inch away. In the interim, Hector Lester made his and Allan Simonsen’s life a lot harder by dropping to 15th with a spin at Stowe, but Burton was making progress in the CCTV Predator Scuderia – up to fourth after passing Walker.

The most entertaining contest at this stage of the race was coming courtesy of Paul Marsh and Chris Bialan; the Stark Racing Ginetta and Piranha Lotus drivers swapping places on a number of occasions as they harassed each other for lap after lap in the fight for fifth in G4. Rory Butcher, meanwhile, was asserting himself as top dog in ABG as he passed the more powerful Invitation class X-Bow of Colin Mowle to become the leading non-GT3.

With the first quarter hour of the race now having elapsed, there was no let up in the action as several fights broke out through the field. Fourth to 15th place was still covered by just 14 seconds, with the non-pros all lapping at similar pace, and that meant that opportunities to progress – and to lose ground – were still in abundance. Ashburn was up into sixth at this point and was closing on Cameron, while Godfrey Jones was starting to bring the Ascari into contention by passing Walker for seventh on lap nine. Further back, Andrew Howard was starting to make progress in the Beechdean-Barwell DBRS9 after a quiet opening – his tyres refusing to offer any grip for the first three laps – and he lead a three car train that also consisted of Peter Bamford’s RPM Ford and Hector Lester’s Ferrari past the suffering Paul Whight and caught up with Chris Hyman. This was followed almost immediately by the #21 Chad Ferrari and the world’s fastest ice cream advert going past the Viper of Craig Wilkins. Further back, Matt Bell in the #53 United Autosports Ginetta was all over Hetherington as he attempted to wrest second place in G4 from the Century car.

And we’d only had ten laps…..

Up to this point, the Vantage Aston was still very much in touch with the lead Ferrari – just four seconds adrift and nine ahead of the Mosler – but as Ferrier completed lap 11 there was a big gap back to…..Martin Short. The Aston followed through in third a couple of seconds later, but something had obviously happened on that lap. The car seemed to be back up to speed however and stayed in third.

At the front, Ferrier was clearly in control and the #10 Chad car was able to pull out a good second per lap on the BoPed Mosler. Wilkins, in the GT3 Racing Viper, having just lost a place to Chris Hyman, immediately retook the place and spent the next few laps defending from the STP-liveried Ferrari. On lap 17, however, both cars were not in their expected positions when the field swept across the line – the Chad Ferrari emerging several seconds and positions later, and the Viper eventually crawling into the pits. Contact was immediately assumed by onlookers, but it turned out that both cars had independently suffered misfortune on that lap; “It was the diff I think,” said Wilkins, the #5's race now over. It had been a tough encounter; “That was the most aggressive driving I’ve ever seen in this Championship. From the start it was a bit frustrating, Philip Walker had a huge chain of cars behind him, he was slower than all of us but he was keeping to his line, being entirely correct but it stopped me from making any progress.” 

“I got settled in and then got by Wilkins, Andrew Howard, then Philip Walker and another of the Astons but then got a gearbox problem that meant the car didn’t like going from third down to second," said Hyman. “That meant that Vale was a real problem for about ten laps and I became an easy target to some extent and I overheated my tyres a bit trying to find a way around the problem."

On lap 12, contact between the Ascari and MTECH Ferrari had resulted in Duncan Cameron falling back and had allowed David Ashburn to split the two cars. Jones soon passed Phil Burton for fourth, but the driver of the black Ferrari decided that he wasn’t going to make it easy for the #7 Porsche and, on tyres that were rapidly fading, kept the championship leader behind him.

As the 45-minute mark arrived, the decidedly unwell Paul Whight pitted immediately and Michael Bentwood took over. Not only had Whight’s illness had a serious affect on the #18 Aston’s track position, it would not have enough fuel to make it to the end and would need a second stop. At the same time, Stuart Hall dropped a long way back after suffering a spin at the complex and he also pitted on the next lap, although the driver stayed in as the car was checked over; “We had trouble with the engine cutting out and, rather more worryingly, with the throttle sticking open!" said Hall later. “That’s what put me off at Stowe and it’s also what made me spin at Brooklands. We think we’ve found the problem with the cut-out now but it’s meant changing the car to a manual shift for the rest of the race.”   

But not all of the pitters were doing so as a result of problems, as some cars were able to take on enough fuel to reach the end and were thus making scheduled stops. The first to do so were the #6 Trackspeed Porsche of Philip Walker and the RPM Ford of Peter Bamford; both drivers having had eventful first stints; “I had a rotten start but got a few back before the end of my stint, said Bamford. “We’re a bit worried though as when we changed the tyres we saw that I had a damaged wheel – I don’t remember hitting anything, so there’s some concern that something else might be damaged too.” 

Richard Westbrook took the helm of the Trackspeed car and we got ready for fireworks. But the pitstop seemed to take an age – and seemed a lot longer than the 1:51 mandatory minimum – and it would be some time before Westbrook’s real position in the race became apparent.

Vibe Smed – having just lost a place to the Chad X-Bow of Athanasios Ladas – was another early stopper and she handed the #47 Ginetta over to Nathan Freke. It wouldn’t be long however before the car returned to the pits with a smokey engine and, after a quick inspection, became the third official retirement.

The second retirement had occurred out on track just as Smed was pitting, after the #48 Speedworks Ginetta of Christian Dick was hit by the lapping #12 Ferrari, much to its drivers chagrin; “I was off line and keeping out of the way and got hit by Phil Burton,” he began. “It wasn’t an overtaking manoeuvre, as he was way too far back.  He either anticipated that I was going to move even further out of the way or he outbraked himself.

“There was no real bodywork damage, but the impact popped a driveshaft out so it was game over for us.”

This was a blow to their title hopes, although they would now shed more of the accumulated success ballast for the Snetterton races.”

As the hour-mark approached and more cars came within their own fuel windows, more and more cars began to make their stops. Ashburn and Burton pitted on lap 27, one lap after Lester had handed over to Simonsen. Ferrier came in on lap 30 and handed a 23-seconds lead to Paul Warren, after a flawless stint in the #10 Chad Ferrari; “I knew that we would go well in the race and, as it turned out, even without Stuart’s problems, I had the legs on both the Aston and the Mosler," he said. “It wasn’t easy but I could hold them and then pull away.” 

Martin Short also stopped on lap 30, to hand the MT900R over to Adrian Beer for his BGT debut, as did Andrew Howard, who gave the Beechdean Aston to Darren Turner for his first race in the series; “That was very hot!" said Howard, who, lest we forget, was taking part in his first race for quite some time. “It was a real scramble at the front. There always seemed to be at least three cars in my way in the first part of the race and I was feeling a little out of practice having not raced for a year. The last thing I wanted to do was to nerf someone involved in the Championship, so I bided my time and when I got some clear air in front I could push quite well."

Godfrey Jones was the last significant runner to stop – on lap 32, with 64 minutes of the race having elapsed – and we would still have at least five minutes to wait before the picture became clear again. When it did, the order was:

10, 8, 1, 12, 7, 4, 9, 3, 6, 18, 21, 2, 15, 44, 57, 98, 53, 14, 42, 50, 55 and 91

It was at this point that the aforementioned doubts about the remainder of the race began to creep in. Warren led by 28 seconds from Beer, with David Jones a further 17 seconds back in third. Turner was 75 seconds from the lead, while Westbrook was harrying Simonsen for eighth 15 seconds behind the Aston. In G4, meanwhile, Benjamin Harvey had a chunky lead on Benji Hetherington, while Rob Bell in third had had to sit in his pit for an additional 45 seconds at the stop on account of being a Platinum driver. It was all looking a bit pants, to use a colloquialism.

However, over the course of the next few laps, trends and patterns started to form in amongst the constantly updating data of the timing screens and it soon became evident that things were about to change.

While Beer began to make small inroads on Warren’s lead and Jones began to close on Beer, further back the pace was hotting up more directly. Glynn Geddie was soon on the tail of Adam Wilcox’s Ferrari in the #7 Trackspeed Porsche and was through into fourth by lap 38. At the same time, Dan Brown in the #21 Chad Ferrari was doing exactly the same to Bentwood’s Aston, while Matt Griffin did his best to make progress in the clearly-off-the-pace #2 Scuderia behind.

Further ahead, Alex Mortimer had lost sixth to Turner not long after the Aston works driver took control of the #9 DBRS9 and the Ford was now coming under threat from the battling Westbrook and Simonsen; and when the British Porsche ace found a way past the Dane on lap 38, the gap to Mortimer closed at two seconds per lap.

With 40 minutes of the race remaining, things were starting to close up quite nicely. First to ninth was now covered by 63 seconds and Warren was maintaining the gap above 20 seconds; but while Beer had been closing on the Ferrari, from lap 44 his progress was much more pronounced; “For the first 20 minutes or so of my stint I could lap in the 1:58s but then I started to get a problem with the steering, initially through Maggots but it got worse," said the Chad driver. “I thought at first that it might be a slow puncture but I was soon getting a problem where I’d apply some lock and the steering would jolt back so it might be a problem with the rack."

The effect was dramatic, and by lap 45 – the 90-minute mark – 63 seconds covered the top 12 cars. Warren’s lead was down to 13 seconds and Geddie was on Jones’ tail; the two cars separated by just half a second. Nine seconds behind the Scot, Wilcox was leading a train of five cars that were covered by just 11 seconds. Steven Kane was also making his presence felt in the #15 Chad Ferrari, having risen to tenth by this point.

Things were getting more interesting in G4 also, as Hetherington (B) tore huge chunks out of Harvey’s lead. But things went pear-shaped for both cars when they were both awarded stop/go penalties for pitstop infringements. The Ginetta stopped on lap 43, having just taken the lead, while the X-Bow stopped on lap 44 – never to reemerge. This left the surviving Century G50 with a significant lead over the Rob Bell-pedaled United Autosports car, with Ian Stinton now third in the Stark Ginetta. Kevin Veltman was fourth in G4 in the Chad X-Bow, ahead of the Lotus of Simon Mason; the latter having lost two laps in the pits having repairs done to a damaged rear floor; “I was hit from behind by the green KTM,” said Chris Bialan. “That broke the rear diffuser and we lost a lot of time in the pit stop while the guys removed it.

“It was pretty irritating - the tyres were rooted and he was coming by to lap me. I thought I gave him plenty of room but he hit me anyway!”

The Invitation class X-Bow, meanwhile, now had Sam Mowle aboard and was leading both the class and the surviving G4 cars. The second Invitation class car, the bewinged Reflex racing of Peter and Matt Smith, was pushing on, albeit several laps further down.

As the race entered its final half hour, the pace intensified and Warren’s lead continued to shrink, but the threat was now coming from the #7 Porsche; Geddie’s annexing of second from Jones on lap 46 being followed a lap later by a spin for the unfortunate Beer at Brooklands that dropped the Mosler to seventh.

This left him under threat from Steven Kane, who was making rapid progress and had recently passed both Griffin and Brown in the #15 Ferrari.

On lap 47, Westbrook passed Wilcox for fifth and a lap later took Turner for fourth. The Chad Ferrari, having led for nearly all the race, finally surrendered its lead on lap 50; Warren shutting the door on Geddie at Stowe, but being unable to defend further at Club in the ill-handling car. Just 13 seconds separated first from seventh.

It had earlier looked as though the Preci-Spark Ascari was heading for a podium, but as Westbrook took third from the car at Copse at the start of the next lap it was obvious that it was destined to lose further places pretty soon.

But an interview with Philip Walker by pit-reporter Ian Titchmarsh revealed that the #6’s stop had looked lengthy for a reason; “The team mistimed the stop,” said Westbrook’s co-driver. “They held the car for an extra 30 seconds.” The pitstop times confirmed this – 2:04 for the #7 Porsche, 2:06 for the #3 Ferrari, 2:34 for #6. As Westbrook was now five seconds off the lead, the implications of this error were manifest.

But we still had more than a quarter of an hour to go and the pace of the #6 suggested that taking back the lead would be little more than a formality, as a Trackspeed one-two came into existence as lap 51 ended.

Turner took third from Jones on lap 52 and the Ascari came under attack from Simonsen; the Rosso Verde car now ten seconds off the lead. Jones held him back for two laps, but the Dane was soon snapping at the heels of the Beechdean Aston.

But Westbrook’s progress suddenly stopped and, having closed right up on the leader, now held station a half second back. Was this team orders?

Whatever the reason, a one-two still looked inevitable as the flag got ever closer. But on lap 56 the #6 Porsche appeared to challenge for the lead at Club, but was repelled. This suggested that the second-placed car may have a problem. Two laps later, the car had dropped back three seconds from the leader and was now about to receive the attention of the now-third Simonsen.

As lap 59 ended, the Ferrari was just a second behind the Porsche and it was clear from the timing screens that this would be the final lap. Just a short while later the change for second came, confirming that the #6 did indeed have a problem. At the same moment a message on the screen said that Westbrook’s car had been given a ten-second post-race penalty for using the old circuit at Club four times in five laps.

But time ran out for Simonsen and he arrived at Woodcote for the 60th time to see Geddie taking the chequered flag first for the third time in a row.

“That was alright – I made up a few places and came in from fourth," said David Ashburn (not really wanting to be interviewed). "Then we gave the kiddie a sweet and put him in the car after promising him he could have another if he won the race!”

“When he smells blood he really goes!” said Hector Lester of his teammate.

“That was actually great fun and a very interesting race," said Simonsen. “It was great to see so many top quality drivers in the race, it made for some very good battles out on track."

(On the two hour format)

Hector Lester: “I liked it, I enjoyed the race and it suits us as a driving squad – It was good to see the ‘Scud’ lasting well over two hours too!”

Allan Simonsen: “One thing I would say – the racing is good but just one or two longer races in a season does mean that a very small team like ours has to call on extra help for the weekend to make sure we can do fuelling and tyre changes quickly and safely. That can bring in extra expense and, because you don’t work together as often, the potential for more mistakes.”

But the drama wasn’t over – the #6 Porsche slowed visibly as it approached the line and Turner was close enough to take third just feet from the line. The Beechdean Aston would have been the final podium finisher anyway, on account of the Porsche’s penalty, but it is always better to sort these things on track.

“That was my first GT3 race, my first race in a DBRS9 and my first on Avons and it was the Avons that were the toughest part of the package to adapt to," said Turner.

“We were right up the order but then Simonsen’s Ferrari and Westbrook’s Porsche caught me just as my tyres went off and I had to let them go. This dropped me to fourth but then Westbrook conked out just before the line and we bagged a surprise podium finish at the end, so it ticked plenty of boxes.”

“We can’t understand why the #6 got into fuel trouble,” said David Ashburn. “The engineers think there might have been an air bubble in the system but the car should have had plenty of fuel to the finish!”

It’s worth pointing out that, even with the fuel problem and the time penalty, the mistimed-stop had almost certainly cost Westbrook and Walker a win.

Alex Mortimer managed to fight his way back to fifth in the RPM Ford, but not quite close enough to benefit from the #6’s time penalty, while Steven Kane ended a storming stint by taking sixth from David Jones on the final lap. Just 24 seconds covered the top six after two hours of hard racing.

Adam Wilcox came home eighth in the gripless #12 Ferrari, while Dan Brown managed to keep Matt Griffin behind him; a non-scoring finish being potentially disastrous for the Irish driver’s championship and Sunoco Challenge hopes; “That was a bit of a nightmare,” said Griffin. “Duncan got turned around early on after the Ascari lunged up the inside at Becketts but he fought on very well. 

"Then we had a wheel nut problem at the stop which really cost us any real chance of a good result.

“Later on in the race, from about half way through my stint, I was getting a problem where the gearbox was locking up the rears so my tyres were rooted too. 

“The main problem though is that both of us are convinced that there’s been something fundamentally wrong with the car today, possibly a damper problem.

“The Championship is very difficult now.”

Paul Warren finished eleventh, just ahead of the luckless Adrian Beer. Michael Bentwood did well to finish on the same lap as the winner, given that the Barwell-Cadena Aston had to stop for a splash ‘n dash ten minutes before the end and then incurred a one-minute time-penalty for not serving the minimum time for a refueling stop. Tom Black’s race in the Vantage Racing Aston was not a happy one, with the extra stop and the ongoing throttle problems eventually leaving the car four laps adrift.

But things were relatively straight forward in GT3 compared to G4, where, in a confusing end to the race, the #57 Century Motorsports Ginetta was given a further stop/go for not serving the full time at the earlier stop – thus allowing Rob Bell to take the lead in the United Autosports Audi on the final lap – and was then excluded from the results for passing a red light at the end of the pitlane. All this promoted the stark Racing Ginetta to third and the Chad X-Bow to third.  

“That was really hard work, just as we knew it would be," said Rob Bell. “The car was quick and better still it was consistent – we knew we had the 45 second penalty to deal with and we just got on with things despite it.

“We didn’t expect to take the win, and certainly not like that, but the team noticed that the lead car hadn’t taken the full ten seconds stop go and that made the difference.

“Winning with Matt is quite special and dad has had a great weekend too (racing earlier in the Ginetta Challenge). He had a race with another guy doing similar lap times and got by a few others too – I think it’s great to be reminded that you can have fun racing rather than just winning.”

Both Invitation class runners finished – the ABG X-Bow of Colin and Sam Mowle finishing 14th overall and four laps ahead of the Ginetta of Peter and Matt Smith.

And so ended an epic encounter that delivered on expectations in abundance and perhaps exceeded them - might it tempt more cars to join in for the final rounds? As it is, David Ashburn is in real danger of becoming the 2010 champion, despite his self-deprecating announcements, and the two races at Snetterton may prove crucial in that respect.

MH/GG