A really rather pleasant Autumn day was the setting for the penultimate day of the British GT season at Donington Park, and the hardy few spectators who had turned out were able to enjoy the day without the threat of rain, even if a coat was needed to keep off the chill from the stiff breeze that blew across the Leicestershire/Derbyshire border.
All 32 cars on the entry list were present and correct, with just one change to the driver line-up; Zoe Wenham returning to the series after missing Zandvoort, this time in the #45 Blendini Triple R Ginetta G50 alongside Rory Bryant.
Overnight rain had left the track with a damp surface, but the supporting Mazda MX5s got the worst of that and things were pretty much completely dry by the time the GTs came out to play at 09:35 for the first of their two hour-long Free Practice sessions.
Things were largely uneventful during practice, with only the Fortec Mercedes AMG SLS GT3 of Jason Minshaw ending the morning in sickbay; heavy damage to the front left of the car and lighter damage to the right-rear meaning the mechanics would be working through lunch; “It’s largely bodywork and few struts,” said Team Manager Trevor Foster. “Unfortunately, there’s a lot of bodywork on the front corner.” The team’s hard work paid off and the car would make qualifying later in the day.
Rob Barff topped the times in the #18 FF Corse Ferrari 458 Italia GT3 he shared with Gary Eastwood, with team and drivers clearly carrying the momentum of a very successful trip to Zandvoort over to this meeting. His 1:29.763 would be the car’s time of the morning and ended up the seventh quickest time in the combined results.
AF Corse’s Aaron Scott also had a good morning in the #13 Ferrari he shared with John Dhillon, setting the third quickest time in the first session; “The car feels great on used rubber,” he began. “I started the first session on really old rubber and it was mega, but it didn’t feel as good – and wasn’t as quick – when we put the new tyres on for the second session. We didn’t get chance to test here last week, but John’s driving well and we’re hoping for a good end to the season.”
Joe Osborne increased the pace to 1:29.175 in FP2 in the #8 888Optimum BMW Z4 GT3, with the three Trackspeed Porsches and the #25 United Autosports Audi R8 LMS ultra of Matt Bell and Mark Patterson filling the next four spots. The Ginetta G55 GT3 was also clearly enjoying the Donington layout, with Mike Simpson setting the sixth-fastest time of the morning in the #16 Team LNT car.
In terms of the championship battle, the combined results saw the GT3 contenders in the following positions:
3rd – #31 Trackspeed Porsche (Nick Tandy), 1:29.573
4th – #25 United Autosports Audi (Matt Bell/Mark Patterson) 1:29.603
10th – #007 Beechdean Aston (Andrew Howard) 1:29.865
13th – #79 Ecurie Ecosse BMW (Olly Bryant/Marco Attard) 1:30.094
15th – #888 888Optimum BMW (Dan Brown/Steve Tandy) 1:30.172
18th – #1 Motorbase Porsche (Michael Cain/Ahmad Al Harthy) 1:30.434
Clearly, this was just practice and not a lot could be read into the results so far – we would have to wait until qualifying for a clearer picture – but it was already obvious that a small difference in lap time could mean a large difference in grid spot.
“All we can do is drive flat out,” said Trackspeed Team Manager Keith Cheetham. “It’s very close and the BoP looks to be right, so we need to go fast and stay out of trouble.”
The times were not yet as quick as the corresponding session from 2012; why was this? “It’s that kind of track – you’ve got the airport next door and planes dropping fluid on the surface, and the prevailing weather affects the surface – one month it’s quick, the next it’s slow.”
In GT4, Harry Whale and Richie Stanaway got their BGT debuts off to a good start with the fastest time in FP1 and the combined times – 1:38.111 – in the #54 Silverstone Auctions/AMR Vantage, while the #46 Twisted Team Parker Ginetta G50 of Adrian Barwick and former BGT champion Bradley Ellis celebrated its debut with a 1:38.292 in FP2.
Neither of these teams were eligible to score points, however, so wouldn’t be interfering in the title chase. The class contenders in that particular contest ended the morning thusly:
3rd – #44 Optimum Motorsport Ginetta (Ryan Ratcliffe/Rick Parfitt Jr) 1:39.025
4th – #43 Century Motorsport Ginetta (Declan Jones) 1:39.336
5th – #50 Redgate Lifetime Ginetta (Matt Smith/Dan Eagling) 1:40.153
7th – #45 Blendini Ginetta (Zoe Wenham) 1:40.371
8th – #69 APO Sport Ginetta (James May/Alex Osborne) 1:40.877
Ryan Ratcliffe was reasonably happy with the way things were going after practice, which hadn’t been trouble-free; “We’ve had quite a bit of trouble with the tracking this morning and have had to focus on dialling that out, but we think we’re there and we’re happy with the pace.” The Century Ginetta is the same car that was wrecked at Zandvoort, but required a new chassis, a new frame and a complete set of bodywork during the rebuild. So what was the plan for the race? “We want the win of course,” continued the 20 year old Welshman, “but the priority is to finish ahead of Declan and take the title.”
Harry Whale was enjoying himself in the Silverstone Auctions Aston, with the weekend being almost a busman’s holiday for him; “I’m an accounts manager at Prodrive in the aftersales/spares section and we’ve had such a busy year that I’ve had very little time to race, so it’s great to be able to come here with the Aston. We’re just about to produce the 100th Aston Martin GT4 – it’s very much our bread and butter product – and the intention is to encourage people to race them in series like this one. We’ll be working over the winter to see what we can do to further improve the car’s competitiveness.”
Qualifying
The single 30-minute qualifying session began in overcast, breezy conditions – but with mild temperatures and a dry track – just a couple of minutes behind schedule at 15:48. As is the norm with the longer races, the format would require all drivers to complete three timed laps, with the fastest lap for the car being the qualifying time. The expectation was thus that the quicker guys would go first to put in a banker lap; then the slower drivers would do their three; and then there would be a final opportunity to improve.
The 32 cars made an impressive sight as they lined up diagonally along the pitlane, but as soon as the pitlane opened there was a mad scramble for the exit; Joe Osborne being the first away in determined style, but being brought to a grinding halt in alarming fashion by the departing Century Ginetta further down the pitlane – Century and Trackspeed each subsequently being fined for unsafe releases.
Richard Abra opened things up with a 1:30.251 in the #80 Barwell Aston, before Joe Osborne and then Michael Caine went top; the Motorbase driver lowering the time to 1:29.920.
But Rob Barff was a man on a mission and set the fastest time of the weekend so far – 1:29.132 – on his first lap. Joe Osborne was second quickest on 1:29.413, with Mike Simpson third on 1:29.434. Caine’s time was good enough only for tenth after two laps.
Before further improvement could be made, however, Piers Johnson got things wrong in the #78 Barwell BMW Z4 out of the final turn and hit the pit-entry wall hard; the car becoming stranded and blocking the pitlane. This caused the session to be red-flagged, with the recovery of the badly damaged car taking several minutes.
The order at the red flag was 18, 8, 16, 25, 80, 007, 13, 888, 14, 1, 42, 33, 6, 26, 2, 79, 32, 9, 31, 40, 61, 54, 78, 43, 44, 11, 53, 45, 69, 46 and 50 (championship contenders highlighted).
The session restarted at 16:05 with 22 minutes remaining and the majority of teams used the opportunity to install their second drivers in order to complete their three mandatory laps. The #22 Preci-Spark Mercedes, meanwhile, was making its first appearance in the session.
Duncan Tappy was now behind the wheel of the #9 Von Ryan McLaren and moving up the field, from 18th to 15th on his opening lap, but things weren’t going so well for Luke Hines in the #42 MTECH Ginetta, which pitted with heavy contact-damage on the front left after colliding with the spinning #26 Ferrari 458 of Jacques Duyver. The Ferrari was able to continue, but the Ginetta was done for the day.
Nathan Freke moved into provisional GT4 pole in the #43 Century Ginetta G50, beating the #54 Aston’s best by just 0.066s, while Dan Eagling had moved the #50 Lifetime Redgate G50 up to fourth. The #46 Twisted Team Parker Ginetta was bottom of the class at this point, but Bradley Ellis was climbing aboard and so a rapid improvement could be expected. Indeed, his first lap was good enough to take provisional pole – 1:37.426.
With just over ten minutes remaining, the quicker drivers began to get back in their cars. Jonny Adam was soon on a quick one in the Beechdean Aston and moved to second with a 1:29.186, while John Gaw went third in the #6 PGF-Kinfaun Vantage with a 1:29.391.
Suddenly purple dots were appearing all over the timing screens as the pace quickened. Nick Tandy went to provisional pole on 1:28.944, but was soon usurped by championship rival Olly Bryant, who took the #79 Ecurie Ecosse BMW to the top with a 1:28.766. Phil Keen, meanwhile, went third in the #33 Trackspeed Porsche.
Rob Barff took over from Gary Eastwood in the #18 FF Corse Ferrari for the final seven minutes, but as he was on his outlap Joe Osborne was setting one, two, three purple sectors to grab hold of provisional pole by almost half a second after an excellent lap of 1:28.289.
Matt Bell was also getting quicker in the #25 United Autosports Audi, going fifth with a 1:29.060, while Barff had also improved his time to go third on 1:28.862. Jonny Adam then took fifth from Bell with a 1:28.962 in the #007 Aston.
Richard Westbrook left it late to make his return to the session, but his impact was immediate; the #32 Porsche leaping from 22nd to third with three minutes remaining, and taking second just before the end.
Charlie Hollings ended his first BGT GT3 qualifying session with an 11th-quickest 1:29.381 in the #26 AF Corse Ferrari, while teammate Aaron Scott was two places ahead on 1:29.103.
“We’ve put a lot of hard work in this year and done a lot of miles testing getting it sorted, and it looks like we’re finally seeing the results,” said a delighted Joe Osborne on his pole position. “The BMW is full of potential, but unlocking it has taken time; but the car has been brilliant all day and I was o lucky with traffic – every car I came up to moved out of the way.
“Lee’s also been rapid today – he did a 1:31.2 earlier, which I think made him the quickest gentleman driver – and he deserves to be starting from pole.”
United’s Matt Bell was a lot less happy after his qualifying; “When you add my sector times together I had the pace to go P2, but I was unlucky with the traffic – it’s the same for everyone so I can’t complain. But we’re not happy with the car as it just doesn’t feel right and we don’t know why. We tested here last week and it went well, but we’re three tenths slower today when we should be three tenths quicker. I’m disappointed not being able to give Mark a higher starting place than seventh for a race we have to win.”
Gregor Fisken was sporting a smile after qualifying, at the end of a trying season for him; “Yes, I was very unhappy after Zandvoort – we’ve been hit so many times this year and I don’t think there’s been consistency in the handing out of penalties – but it’s great to be here and great to have Richard back in the car. He timed his run to perfection and did two fabulous laps, but that was as quick as we could go – there’s nothing more to be wrung out of the Porsche at this track and it looks like the BMW is stronger. But we’re starting from the front row and not further back where all the chaos is. And while I say we’ve been hit too many times – and we have – we shouldn’t have put ourselves in that position by making mistakes in qualifying, so if we can end the season on the podium I’ll be chuffed to bits!”
Bradley Ellis was untouchable at the head of GT4, while things ended badly for the #43 century Ginetta; Declan Jones pulling off at Starkeys with what looked like engine failure. He ended the session fourth in class, but if an engine-change was required there would be a five-place grid penalty.
As expected, qualifying had been dramatic, exiting and very, very close. 1.042s covered the top 10 cars in GT3 and 1.805 covered the top 20. Things weren’t so close in GT4 – especially as Ellis had improved his time to 1:37.103 – but the next six cars in class were within a second and a half of each other.
And that was Saturday. Sunday would see a ten-minute Warm-Up session in the morning and then the decider, beginning at 13:15.
MH
