|
British GT,
Knockhill – Race Two Report Originally scheduled to begin at 16:00 on Sunday afternoon, the second of the day’s GT races finally got underway at 16:36; following a change to the running order that made this the final event of the day, and also following several delays. Amongst other things, this meant that Stéphane Daoudi would have something like an hour from his stint ending in the Rosso Verde Scuderia to his plane taking off from Edinburgh Airport. A cool breeze diminished considerably the thermal properties of the sunny weather that had once again settled over this part of Scotland, but Simon Mason was happy just to be starting the race; a thumbs-up indicating that the Piranha mechanics had managed to effect a solution to the gear-cable problem on the Lotus 2-Eleven after four hours of very hard work. The KTM X-Bow was fit and healthy again, meaning a full turn-out for the G4 runners, but there just wasn’t enough time to sort out the gearbox on the #21 Chad Ferrari and Chris Hyman and Dan Brown had to accept that they would have to wait until Spa to race the car again. The 14 car field thus formed up on the grid and made ready to take the start. The Ford Focus RS safety car moved off and the GTs followed suit a couple of seconds later, led by the black Predator CCTV Ferrari Scuderia; Adam Wilcox at the wheel. As the lights on the gantry went out, the charge for the first corner began, and it was Wilcox who got there first ahead of the Preci-Spark Ascari of Godfrey Jones.
It looked for a moment as though the start had been a clean one, but the Cup class running Jamie Hunter Racing Porsche was suddenly going across the gravel at Scotsman. It avoided getting bogged down and rejoined the track, but its hugely diminished pace indicated that it was in severe difficulty. Having made it back to the pits, Derek Pierce reported that the Chad Ferrari of José Balbiani had hit the Porsche and broken a wheel; ending its day there and then. Aaron Scott had the best start in the field as he found his way past the Scuderias of both Daoudi and Matt Griffin to move up to fifth in the GT3 Racing Viper. Ahead of him Glynn Geddie, in the Trackspeed Porsche, was lining up a move on Tom Ferrier’s #10 Chad Ferrari and took third at the Real Radio Hairpin; a part of the circuit destined to play a large part in how the race would unfold. Scott now found himself having to fend off the two cars he had so recently demoted and the three were nose to tail. On lap four both Scuderias went by at SEAT, having found the better line out of the hairpin at the beginning of the start/finish straight; but the Viper had one place back by the time this lap had finished, as Daoudi suddenly slowed along Hislop’s. The #3 Ferrari crawled up the hairpin, but ground to a halt on the exit, its race run. Several brave and persistent marshals finally got the car to a place of safety after several interrupted attempts to push the car, and the incident was controlled with local yellows. The French driver’s race had lasted less than three minutes, but it would at least make it easier for him to catch his flight. Things were similarly fluid in G4, with the reinvigorated Lotus gaining two places by the end of lap three. Nathan Freke still led from Christian Dick, but things were much closer than had been the case at this stage in race one. So much so that Mason took the silver Ginetta on lap five to go second, leaving him two seconds behind the class leader. In GT3 Wilcox was leading, but obviously unable to pull away from Jones; his lead being less than half a second by the end of the tenth lap. Behind Jones, Geddie was eager to gain further places in the Porsche, and behind him Ferrier was determined to regain his own lost place. 1.5 seconds covered the top four at this point and this closed up further as the 12th lap progressed.
This brought Ferrier on to the tail of the green and white Porsche at the approach to the hairpin, with barely a chink of light visible between the two cars. The Ferrari was forced out to the outside of the hairpin by Geddie’s defence and this was all Griffin needed to dive through in the MTECH Ferrari at SEAT to split the cars and take fourth.
Griffin kept his momentum up and at the same point a lap later also found himself on the outside of the hairpin. The two cars were side by side along the straight, but it was the red car that entered SEAT first. Ferrier tried to follow through, but Geddie managed to close the door. This was fantastic racing. The leaders were now in amongst the G4 runners, prompting Butcher to pounce for third on lap 15 when Dick moved over to allow Griffin through. The Irish driver was clearly the fastest man on track and by lap 16 was with the Ascari as they arrived at SEAT. The Ferrari was alongside at Leslie’s (on the outside) but as the two cars arrived at Scotsman the MTECH car found itself going across the gravel and losing places. Griffin kept the car moving and rejoined the track, but was clearly damaged and he got out once he arrived back at the pits, his race run; “I was alongside but not really going for the move,” he explained later. “But then he just punted me off! It was blatant!” Team Manager Mike Edmunds lodged an immediate protest, but it was decided to review the video evidence post-race rather than impose an immediate sanction on the Ascari. Glynn Geddie found himself in second place immediately after Scotsman and was soon leaving the Ascari in his wake as he went after the lead Ferrari in his GT3 R.
By lap 21 the Porsche driver had reduced a three seconds gap to just a couple of tenths, but Wilcox was not giving up the lead without a fight and hung on grimly. Ferrier was also on Jones’ case and took the Ascari for third on lap 25, and within a lap the top three were nose to tail. On lap 27 Geddie made his move at Clark’s, but Wilcox was having none of it and the two cars touched; with the result that the Porsche slowed dramatically and was crawling along Hislop’s while Ferrier was now second. The Trackspeed car arrived in the pitlane just after the driver-change window opened and Geddie was replaced in the seat by David Ashburn. The clash with Wilcox would also lead to a protest being lodged (by Trackspeed) and this was added to the list of things to be reviewed post-race. The Ascari had also stopped at the earliest opportunity, D Jones replacing G Jones, and this promoted Scott’s Viper to third. His had been a relatively lonely race, with the gap to the battle ahead being several seconds, and he also had a similar gap to Balbiani’s #11 Ferrari 430. Ashburn soon had to return to the pits when his Porsche suffered a puncture just a couple of laps into his stint, while Ferrier was just a couple of tenths behind the leader by lap 30. Next time round, with 33 minutes still remaining, Wilcox pitted; much sooner than expected. It transpired that something had broken on the Ferrari – possibly during the clash with the Porsche – and an early stop looked to be the sensible option. Ferrier now led for Chad. David Jones was past the pit entrance before Phil Burton rejoined in the Predator Ferrari, and it would now be a case of seeing if Ferrier could hand his car over to Paul Warren with a big-enough advantage to retain the lead. In G4, Nathan Freke had built up a 17 second lead over the Lotus – which was running strongly – before he handed the #47 over to Vibe Smed. On lap 38, with 27 minutes remaining, Ferrier pitted from the lead, leaving Mason’s Lotus – which followed suit three minutes later – as the only car still to stop. The stop was an efficient one and Warren joined the track as Jones was beginning the climb up to the start/finish line; but the momentum was with the Ascari and the lead changed hands at Clark’s on the same lap. At about the same time, Ashburn was pitting the damaged Porsche for the third and final time. On lap 42, with all stops completed, the order was 1, 10, 12, 5, 11, 48, 47, 55, 44 and 49. The fight for the lead looked sorted, with the Ascari holding a five second lead over Warren’s Ferrari, but third was still very much up for grabs; and things were far from settled in G4. Phil Burton’s pace in the hobbled Ferrari quickly caused a three way fight to develop for the final podium step, with the Viper of Craig Wilkins and the 430 of Juan Garriz circulating impatiently behind the black Scuderia. The young Argentine – by now much happier on the track than he had been during two fraught practice sessions the previous day – found a gap at Scotsman on lap 46 and Wilkins was also through two laps later.
In G4, Vibe Smed had ceded the class lead to the Speedworks G50 of Jamie Stanley soon after the pitstops, but the driver of the silver car found himself being very closely pursued by Chris Bialan in the open-topped Lotus. The two cars were nose to tail by lap 46 and on the next lap swapped places at Leslie’s. This was a fantastic turn around in fortunes for the little car, which was at last fulfilling its potential on the tight circuit. Stanley didn’t let the 2-Eleven get away, however, and the fight for the lead was still very much alive.
This hadn’t been a good race for the #49 Team Osborne Racing Ginetta, with both its drivers having suffered spins during their stints. With 12 minutes to go, however, the car was to play a pivotal role in the final chapter of the race as Osman Yusuf dropped the car into the SEAT gravel and brought out the safety car as a result.
This suddenly threw up the possibility of a change in the order, where previously very little possibility existed. Jones had extended his lead to 13 seconds over Warren, while the two Chad Ferraris in second and third were separated by almost 30 seconds. Now, however, the lead was down to one second and, following the wave-by, Garriz was closing up to Warren. Not quickly enough for Benjamin Harvey in the X-Bow, seemingly, as he overtook the Ferrari in his haste to catch up with the pack. Or was this Garriz undoing an earlier indiscretion of his own? Item number three for the stewards to consider later. It looked for a while as though the race may finish under caution, but the recovery was completed in time for four more racing laps to be completed. Alas, chaos was about to put in a late-race appearance, beginning at SEAT on the restart. The two leaders made it through the first corner without incident, but that was not the case behind. Jamie Stanley got the drop on Chris Bialan to retake the G4 lead as the rest of the pack charged down to the first corner, but worse was to follow for the Lotus as Craig Wilkins arrived at the corner seemingly much too eagerly and punted the small car into the gravel. This was a disaster for Piranha and their race was run – the car suffering damage to the rear sub-frame, exhaust system and diffuser in the contact. To leave with nothing (save for the points for fourth) was unfair, to say the least; and it was of no consolation to the crew that the Viper was also to take no further part in the race. The race continued but hadn’t yet dealt its full hand of cards, and next up to receive a dollop of misfortune was Paul Warren; who arrived at the hairpin on the restart lap on completely the wrong line and suffered an agonising spin that dropped the #10 Ferrari to fourth behind the Predator car. The final two laps were completed without further drama, and David Jones took the chequered flag for a Preci-Spark double. Juan Garriz was a delighted second, while Phil Burton was similarly pleased to find himself on the podium after a difficult race.
In G4, Jamie Stanley completed a very good day for Speedworks, while Benjamin Harvey took second to keep the X-Bow in the title hunt; while Vibe Smed made it home third for Century Motorsport.
So an incredible race ended with just half of the cars still running and with four of the six cars on the podium potentially subject to post-race sanction. The stewards would not be hurried in their deliberations, so it was time for a quick slurp of champagne before the dash for the airports and the motorways began.
How the championship will look when the series reconvenes at Spa in June is, at this moment, anyone’s guess. MH |
