A Strategic Triumph For Ecurie Ecosse.
“Anybody who hadn’t stopped under the Safety Car was out of the race completely!”
These words from Barwell Motorsport’s Commercial Director Chris Needell illustrate just how key strategy was to success at Silverstone last Sunday, in a race that had pretty much everything you could think of – a huge grid; genuine and entertaining battles in both GT3 and GT4; spectacular and expensive crashes; safety car controversy; and more than a few moment of befuddlement.
Granted, that befuddlement arose mainly through the complexity of keeping track of events during the myriad pitstops (and Paul Truswell’s words – “Who taught you to lap-chart a race?” [Answer – I never learned] – were ringing in my ears throughout the afternoon), but it certainly led to an exciting and unpredictable conclusion.
It also has to be said that the opening hour of the three-hour event – and, no, we don’t know why it was called the Silverstone 500 either – was not the finest advertisement for the series, with a live TV audience getting a great view of the safety car for much of it.
Through it all, though, emerged the Barwell-run #79 Ecurie Ecosse BMW Z4 GT3, with Marco Attard and Olly Bryant taking the spoils after a perfect weekend; the two drivers capitalising on their pole-position by driving sensibly and quickly, and the team getting all the calls just right.
“This is fantastic!” beamed Attard. “It’s all down to Olly and the team really. I’ve learnt so much from them, especially this weekend, and they’ve all done a great job. The BMW goes really well at certain parts of the circuit – through Becketts it’s absolutely fantastic – then there are other sections where it’s a little hairy, but overall it was really good. I’m very happy!”
The Surrey-based wine merchant was certainly being a touch disingenuous there, having lost and then retaken the lead on the first lap and then later delivering a fine hour-long stint that set up his teammate’s run to victory.
“That’s a really, really good result,” said Bryant. “Marco did a great job today, and all weekend really. The team gave us a perfect set-up and there were no issues at all with the car during the race. It was avoiding other people’s mistakes that proved key. The strategy played out well in the end. Adam, our engineer, is a bit of a whizz with strategy, so he decided exactly what to do. He knew when we could pit, how far into a Safety Car period we should stop and how far we could stretch the fuel. He worked it out perfectly and got two of our stops out of the way pretty early on, while some of the cars in front of us still had to pit when I got in for the final time. It’s a really great result for us!”
With 46 cars on the grid, the chances of a safety car period arising were high; and with three mandatory driver-change pitstops of 130 seconds each (for GT3 cars – 190 seconds for the GT4s), those teams who had planned for such an eventuality were quick to capitalise on the situation by pitting under yellow. Almost immediately, then, we had a situation where the field was split – the race being led by the non-stoppers and those that had stopped being a lap or so further down the field. And when we had a second caution period later in the first hour, the situation was further complicated by some teams making their second (mandatory) stops. As the race progressed, however, it became ever clearer that those teams that hadn’t stopped under caution would likely have to stop under green conditions and were set to lose out significantly.
Multi-car accidents were the cause of both caution periods, with the first arising from a collision between the #16 Team LNT Ginetta G55 of Richard Sykes and the #24 United Autosports McLaren of Mark Blundell. The UA car suffered a broken upright which resulted in the car turning sharp-left into the Ginetta, which was itself then sandwiched between the McLaren and Derek Johnston’s MTECH Ferrari 458. The McLaren was stranded on the circuit, while what was left of the G55 limped round to retire. The Ferrari pitted but lost drive as it left the pitlane and was also out. An angry Blundell blamed Sykes and was vocal about what he sees as poor driver-standards in the series (“worse than touring cars,” he said to Motors TV’s Gary Champion – a tad harsh, surely?) For his part, Sykes opined that Blundell was not blameless in the incident.
The second caution was triggered by an unsighted Phil Keen coming across a suddenly-slowed Gregor Fisken (puncture) on a fast left-hander. Keen had been chasing the #18 FF Corse Ferrari of Rob Barff for position, but when the 458 jinked to the outside of the tartan #32 Porsche Keen found himself having to make a split-second decision – he opted for the inside, but the #33 GT3 R ran immediately out of room and the teammates collided with enough force to take both cars out of the proceedings. To add more injury to injury, David Ashburn headed for the pits as soon as the Safety Car emerged for the second time, but lost control of the #31 Porsche as he searched for the pit-limiter and struck the gate at the pitlane entrance. The impact tore the rear left wheel and suspension out of the car and the car came to an undignified rest – fortunately, with no injuries being incurred.
Three of the five GT3 Porsches were out of the race and poor old Nick Tandy walked to the back of the Trackspeed garage with a look of utter bemusement on his face.
It would be the second Safety Car that would cause the controversy mentioned earlier.
Benji Hetherington had just taken the lead for the second time in the #14 Fortec Mercedes, and on both occasions he was immediately greeted with an ‘SC’ board. This time, however, his wasn’t the car that was picked up by the Nissan Juke – instead it was the second-placed #007 Beechdean Aston of Jonny Adam that followed the white official car. Hetherington thus continued at unabated speed and handed the car over to Jason Minshaw with a full lap having been gained on the field; the new driver resuming still in P1. Ten minutes later Minshaw was back in the pits. At first it looked as though this might be for a second driver-change, but it turned out to be a minor issue rather than a strategic call – the car door was opened and closed and the car was back out, no longer in the lead.
But even though John Dhillon now led in the #13 AF Corse Ferrari 458, he was seventh or eighth in the queue behind the Safety Car and the cars stuck in limbo ahead of the leader included the other two AF 458s (who had already made their three mandatory stops), the #18 FF Corse Ferrari and the #1 Motorbase Porsche. The SC stayed out for a couple more laps, but no wave by came and the four GT3s at the head of the queue found themselves with a full lap to make up.
Despite having never before led a British GT race, Dhillon looked confident at the head of the field and led for eight laps after the restart before Matteo Bobbi caught and passed him. But the Ferrari had already made two of its mandatory stops, while the SLS had made just one, so the advantage was still with AF. Alas, the team had released the #13 a second too soon and the car was called in for a stop/go which dropped it down the order. Even with the penalty, though, the car went on to finish eighth; Aaron Scott having spent much of his final stint without a rear diffuser following contact earlier in the race.
Vita4One Italia’s strategy of starting former FIA GT champion Matteo Bobbi amidst the amateur drivers at the beginning of the race looked to have backfired in a big way when the Italian had contact with the #8 888Optimum BMW Z4 GT3 of Lee Mowle before Copse on the opening lap and spun, dropping to the rear of the pack. He then fought his way back up through the field before hitting Mowle’s car again on Lap 3 after the BMW had become involved in a disagreement with the #3 Rosso Verde Ferrari of Hector Lester (the BMW would retire as a result of this second contact with the #27 458). A stop apiece under both Safety Cars saw Bobbi back in the car and mid-pack when the race went green again, but a storming drive took him from 14th to first in the space of nine laps.
There then followed a fantastically entertaining scrap between Bobbi and Allen Simonsen in the #3 458 that saw the lead switch back and forth several times over the course of the next 17 laps. Simonsen pitted with 56 minutes to go, while Bobbi stayed out for a further three laps before handing over to Jay Palmer. But while Lester would have to pit again, the #27 could now run to the end and Palmer had a big lead – some 48 seconds, in fact – over the next car that had completed all its stops. This was the #79 Ecosse BMW, and it was now a chase to the line.
But Olly Bryant had to keep one eye on his mirrors while attempting to close the gap ahead, as Jonny Adam had taken the Beechdean Aston back from Andrew Howard and was under 20 seconds behind in third.
The gap to the leader came down by two to three seconds per lap and it looked highly likely that the gap would disappear before the end on pace alone (it should be noted that Palmer’s laptimes of 2:09/2:10 were competitive with the amateur drivers, but the Pros were generally two or three seconds quicker). The Vita4One driver did his best to stay ahead, but the pressure got to him on Lap 64 and the Ferrari had a spin that cost it 16 seconds. Worse was to follow, however, as a puncture cost it the lead and then a second puncture led to the car ending the race in the garage, albeit classified 27th.
Adam continued to push Bryant, but the Z4 looked fully suited to the GP circuit and the car had no real problem staying ahead; the gap at the close still 17 seconds.
“It’s fantastic to get P2,” said the Scottish half of the Beechdean driver squad. “All credit to Ecurie Ecosse, stunning result for them. I was pushing as hard as I could but they were so consistent. The last two laps I bailed out just to bring it home. The traffic was pretty frantic; we’ve got quite a few GT4 cars and they’re having their own battle. You have to give them some space, a bit of respect. I’m chuffed to bits for the team to get second place. We’re slowly but surely getting points for the championship, so this should kick-start that.”
“It was really cool,” confirmed Howard. “We had a good strategy, which gave us some flexibility, and the safety car played into our hands. We avoided contact, we stayed out of trouble and we had a very early stop which got Jonny out; that was brilliant, but then there was a lengthy safety car period which lost us time. I got back in and had a longer stint which is good practice for next week. I’m chuffed to bits, it was a proper race and it showed what we can do in a proper race scenario. We really needed this. We were very fortunate there were so many non-finishers.”
Just as delighted were the #888 BMW Z4 pairing of Steve Tandy and Dan Brown, who similarly used strategy, speed and consistency to bring their car home for 888Optimum’s first podium finish in third.
“Absolutely delighted, the first podium with 888,” said Tandy. “It was a tricky start, as ever, as we thought we would have in seventh place, with all the goings on at the first corner. We just had to stay out of trouble and we did that. Dan did a great job today and drove her to the finish. All we need to find is a little bit more pace and hopefully we can see something better later in the year.”
“Steve did well at the start of the race, kept out of trouble. There were a lot of safety cars and bit of bumping and barging. He did a good job to stay clean. The stop was fine, I had a good stint and Steve did very well in his second stint. I got in the car and we just thought ‘Well, what can we get?’. We pushed as hard as we could. Didn’t quite have enough today to get more but delighted with third. The traffic doesn’t bother me too much after a year in Blancpain last year because most of the traffic here is slower – I’m used to having to fight through other GT3 cars.”
The M-Sport Audi of Rembert Berg and Warren Hughes had another very strong run to come home fourth, while the #29 AF Corse 458 of Duncan Cameron and Matt Griffin was the first Ferrari home in fifth; but the Irish racer was far from happy: “We were screwed by the Safety Car,” he fumed. “It picked up the wrong car and didn’t wave us past, so we lost a full lap – I finished fifth, one minute 20 seconds behind the leader and lost two minutes six seconds because of the error. Nightmare!
“The AF strategy was incredible and we should have had a 1-2. The 2013 Ferrari on Avons is not really quick enough, so a 1-2 would have been impressive.”
All three AF Ferraris finished in the top eight, with the guest car of Steve Wyatt and Michele Rugolo finishing seventh.
Sandwiched between the two disgruntled Ferraris was the much happier Barwell Motorsport Aston Martin Vantage GT3 of Mark Poole and Richard Abra, which survived a refuelling fire along the way to sixth.
“It’s been an amazing weekend; we’ve had just about everything happen,” said Poole, whose efforts also earned him the Blancpain Gentleman Drivers Trophy.
“Fire in the car, two drive-through penalties, and a really poor qualifying; to come through sixth in the end was a fantastic result. With the fire, we had a connection with the fuel hose not quite straight so there was a little leak and the guys did amazingly. The drills and practice all work, the fire was out in seconds.”
The first of the penalties arose from a pitstop-timing error, while the second was due to a yellow flag infringement. These combined to leave Abra having to defend fiercely from Rugolo for the final half-dozen laps, with the gap between the two cars at the end being just 0.445s.
And while the seventh-placed AF Ferrari was attacking at the close, the eighth-placed one was having to defend from the #1 Motorbase Porsche; Scott hanging on to thwart Ahmad Al-Harthy – another to lose out behind the safety car and to incur a drive-through – by two-tenths. “In a three hour race, first of all you have to be happy to just finish,” said the Omani driver. “We did that, we scored points so we have to take that forward now and stay positive. I’m really looking forward to the next round of British GT, but before then I have Blancpain [Endurance Series] here at Silverstone next weekend; the racing this weekend will help me for that.”
Rounding out the top-ten was the ProSpeed Porsche of Charles Putman and Charles Espenlaub. The very distinctively-liveried GT3 R was there or thereabouts for much of the race and this was an impressive performance from the visiting American drivers; especially as Putman had to hold off a determined Allan Simonsen at the close.
The #3 Ferrari was one of a number of cars that had featured prominently in the early stages, but which dropped down the order later on as a result of pitting under green.
Both Fortec Mercedes suffered this fate, as did the PGF-Kinfaun Aston of Phil Dryburgh and John Gaw, which led at one point.
The CWS-IDL Ginetta G55 had a strong run in the hands of both Colin White and Tom Sharp, but they were unlucky to pit a lap too early ahead of the second caution period; ultimately finishing 15th.
McLaren’s weekend was one to forget, with the Preci-Spark MP4-12C disappearing in the opening moments of Free Practice, and then the #24 UA car crashing out in the early stages of the race. This left the #9 Von Ryan Racing and #23 United Autosport McLarens, which both ran strongly in the first part of the race. However, a loose wheel on the Grégoire Demoustier/Duncan Tappy car resulted in suspension damage and a lengthy repair to fix it, which left the car 15 laps off the lead in 32nd; “I honestly believe that without the mistake, and if we’d carried on, a win was on the cards,” said Tappy. “We were looking very, very strong and the pace of the car was fast. Apart from the mishap the team did a very good job and hopefully our luck will change soon.”
The Zak Brown/Alvaro Parente was similar unlucky, when a gear compressor failed midway through the race – with the car in the top six – and had to be replaced. The repair cost two laps and 19th was the car’s ultimate placing; “It’s turning out to be a challenging season for us,” said Brown. “Today, we had all sorts of car problems, which are really frustrating. We were competitive with our speed during the race. The team did a great job; we just need to get some reliability.”
Things weren’t much better for the team’s third car – the #25 Audi R8 LMS ultra of Mark Patterson and Matt Bell – with set-up issues in practice and qualifying being followed by a sticking wheel-nut during the race which cost them a lap and left them 17th at the close; a thoroughly frustrating for UA, all in all.
“It was a fun race for the most part,” said the ever-positive Patterson. “We had a drivable car, but I lost out at the start after a Ferrari spun ahead of me. Once the race settled down we were running well. Unfortunately, we had an issue with the air gun during the pit stop so that cost us a lot of time. Matt putt in some quick times but mathematically we could not get into the top ten. It’s a shame, but that’s racing.”
The Blendini Moto Audi of Dom Evans and Tom Roche made it to the end of the race in 20th place as the team continue to get to know their new car; the R8 finishing just ahead of the two non-GT3 FF Corse Ferraris – the #17 GTC 458 Challenge of Jacques Duyver and Charlie Hollings beating home the #20 GT3B 430 of Paul McNeilly and Jamie Stanley by 18 seconds.
If we’d only had GT3 cars in the race, it would have more than stood on its own two feet; so the fact that a 13-strong GT4 field served up an equally entertaining race was a real bonus.
The addition of the Avon GT4 Trophy guest cars added interest and variety to the field, with GT4 Camaros, BMWs and Porsches being seen in the BGT for the first time; and it was a duel between two of these cars that proved to be the highlight of the race, as the #408 Pro Sport Performance Porsche Cup of Jörg Viebahn and Adam Christodoulou (rather surprisingly making his series debut) and the #401 Ekris BMW M3 of Bernhard van Oranje and Ricardo van der Ende fought it out. At the end of the first hour, the two cars were separated by 0.969s in second and third; at the end of Hour 2 (still second and third) that had grown to 3.601s; and as the flag flew the gap was just 0.285s after an epic encounter.
“What a result,” said Christodoulou. “Pushing hard for the whole three hours, and for the last hour and a half we were side by side rubbing bumpers… The start was all about keeping out of trouble and we did. We didn’t pit in the first safety car but we took advantage of the second, and that put us close to the front. Then with about an hour and a half to go we had the BMWs literally on the bumper. I had to try and fend them off! With the Porsche, we seemed to struggle a little bit with the tyres but we had the straight line speed. We’re doing this in between trying to stay out of the way of the GT3 cars, who were flying past, overshooting corners and things; just staying out of trouble. I was just pacing up and down the pitlane in the last few laps while Jörg was in the car.
“Awesome job by the team – This is the third car they’ve had this week. The first got written off at the Nürburgring 24 Hours last weekend, then the second one the ECUs wouldn’t match up so then we managed to get this car Thursday night. They stripped it apart, put it back together, and made sure everything was sound with it. Travelled Friday night with it, arrived Saturday morning and missed half of the first session sorting things out. And now here we are on the top step of the podium!”
“I have to say that the balance of performance was great,” said Viebahn. “We had advantages out of the corners, but the BMW was great on the brakes; it made for great racing. It was really great fun, this is what racing is about. You don’t want to be fifteen seconds ahead, you want to fight for it and feel like you’ve achieved something. This was a really good race.”
In third place was the first of the BGT ‘regulars’ – the #44 Optimum Ginetta G50 of Rick Parfitt Jr and Ryan Ratcliffe – which bounced back from disappointment at Rockingham with a strategic triumph at Silverstone, following two early stops under caution.
“I didn’t think we had the pace on the European cars, so I’m pretty surprised to finish on the podium,” said Parfitt. “They’ve been so quick all weekend so we focused on trying to get a result and be the best British finisher. So to come home third overall and against such stiff competition, and effectively have a first win, we both drove awesomely, the team were great.”
“I’m very happy,” added Ratcliffe. “Third place and P1 in British, this is a great result. The European guys are amazing; we couldn’t keep up. To finish third is a top result for us. No one put a foot wrong out there and the driving was brilliant in GT4. It was unfortunate we got held up by the safety car, but I drove out of my skin and I think it was the hardest, but also the best race of my life.”
The class was led initially by the #406 V8 Racing Camaro SS of Luc Braams and Duncan Huisman, which took the lead from pole-sitter van der Ende on the opening lap. It was still in contention for the third podium slot in the final third of the race, but fell by the wayside with an unknown malady with just over twenty minutes to go.
This promoted the Cor Euser Racing Lotus Evora of Euser and Rob Severs – the car having been repaired after a torrid Nürburgring 24 the weekend before – to fourth, with the #409 having led at the end of the first hour.
A great battle between the #69 APO Ginetta G50 of James May and Alex Osborne, and the #53 Complete Racing Aston Martin of Tom Wilson and Steve Chaplin, was ultimately resolved in the Ginetta’s favour, with the margin between fifth and sixth being 39 seconds at the flag.
The Redgate Lifetime G50 of Matt Smith and Dan Eagling also featured in the early stages, before falling back to seventh at the close. The Century Ginetta of Zoe Wenham/Declan Jones had a troubled race with gearbox issues and was a distant tenth.
The final word goes to Benjamin Franassovici, British GT Championship Manager; “Today was a fantastic event. Full of the excitement, tension and great racing that we know British GT can produce. Having the live TV element brings a buzz to the paddock, and combined with the weather, the end product looked fantastic on television and we hope, despite it being the Monaco GP weekend, that we reached people new to the series too. Obviously we lost some cars early on with silly incidents and we’re actively looking at ways to eliminate this kind of driving from our series. We’re very happy though, we had a strong turn out from fans and the merging of the Avon Tyres GT4 Trophy and British GT4 was a success, and it certainly gave us a great race!”
Next up for the British GT Championship is the Snetterton 300 circuit on June 15th/16th, with the format reverting to two 60-minute races.
MH
