Confounding expectations, the Easter Monday bank holiday brought sunshine, warm temperatures and a large crowd to the environs of Oulton Park, with lengthy queues of traffic trying to get in. Rain was still forecast for lunchtime, but that was difficult to believe as the 32 surviving British GT cars took to the track for the ten minute Warm-Up session.
Phil Keen topped the times in the #33 Trackspeed Porsche, ahead of the M-Sport Bentley of Steven Kane and the Rosso Verde Ferrari of Benny Simonsen – all three cars in the 1:36s – while GT4 saw the Twisted Team Parker Ginetta of Bradley Ellis head the Beechdean Aston and the ABG BMW.
More important than the times was that the fact that all cars came through unscathed, including the substitute #12 Trackspeed Porsche of Jody Firth and Warren Hughes.
“The car felt okay, for a replacement,” said Firth, who was still clearly aggrieved at the circumstances surrounding the FP2 crash that led to his regular car being written-off. “We’re starting from the back of the grid for both races, which might not be such a bad thing round here – a first-lap crash and a safety car, for instance, could see us get back into it quite quickly.”
Over at AF Corse, Richard Lyons was looking forward to his first race at Oulton Park since his Formula Palmer Audi days in 1999; “I live in Lisburn, Northern Ireland, so the travelling is going to be a bit mad this year, but the AF Corse set-up is fabulous and when Amato offered me the British GT drive I went for it. The biggest issue for us is that Pasin [Lathouras] has shown good pace, but hasn’t raced in the series before and it’s a bit unfair that he’ll have to carry 75kg. We’ll just take it steady today and hopefully stay out of trouble, and then take it from there.”
Richard Abra was hoping for better things for the MP Sport AMR Aston after a Blancpain race at Monza where everything that could go wrong did; “We have two cars, but have done all the testing in the British GT car. The Blancpain car was brand new but felt completely different and it wasn’t a good weekend.
“I think Oulton has outgrown the GT3s, but Mark [Poole] is driving well and hopefully we’ll be okay.”
Devon Modell was making his GT4 debut in the #49 TF Sport Aston, in the midst of a busy weekend; “It’s all a learning curve and a bit mad – adapting to the car, while on double duty this weekend with my Clio Cup commitments. I had to rush off after Saturday’s session here to do Clio qualifying.
“I am finding my feet with the car and we didn’t really get the best out of the tyres. Fourth is OK, but I would like to have done better, as you always do. It’s a challenge getting used to traffic around here, the GT3 closing speed is very different to our pace. We are supposed to hold position while the quicker cars pass, but for me that whole aspect takes some getting used to. It’s difficult to remember that when you’re on your own flying lap, especially given the time constraints for setting a time.”
2010 GT4 champion Jamie Stanley, meanwhile, was glad to be back for a full season challenge in the #48 Fox Motorsport Ginetta; “Compared to the G50 I had in 2010 the GT55 feels a lot better. I am three seconds faster than my 2010 qualifying time, which was the last time I ran a Ginetta here. The G50 was pre-wing, pre two-way damper, etc. and frankly it was a relief to get out of sometimes. This is a heavier car but it just feels so much easier to push.
“We’ve got a good car for the race which is the result of a lot of work put in over the winter. Paul [McNeilly] is one of the quicker Am drivers in GT4 and we have the benefit of one of the RAM Racing engineers with us for these races as well as great support from Ginetta, so we’re feeling pretty good right now.”
Quick Race 1 Report
The opening round of the 2014 season proved to be a bruising affair, with several cars incurring significant damage along the way.
GT3
Ahmad Al Harthy held on to the lead from pole and managed to stay there in the #4 Oman Racing Aston Martin Vantage GT3 despite huge pressure from the defending champion Andrew Howard in the #1 Beechdean AMR version.
Marco Attard held third for the first 15 minutes in the #79 Ecurie Ecosse BMW, but contact from behind resulted in an early retirement; the Z4 leaving behind it a long oil slick as it made its way down the pitlane to its garage.
The #12 Trackspeed Porsche of Jody Firth, who had gone from 32nd to 16th in the first six laps, and the #22 Preci-Spark McLaren of David Jones both exited the scene on Lap 10; the Porsche making it back with front-end damage, but the MP4-12C abandoning on track. Rembert Berg, meanwhile, was climbing steadily up the field in the #17 M-Sport Bentley after falling to the rear of the field with a Lap 1 puncture. The #2 Generation Bentley Continental also hit trouble, with Steve Tandy having to make two unscheduled stops during his stint after apparent contact with a GT4.
The pit window opened as usual at the 25-minute mark – Howard timing his entry to the second to get in first – but Al Harthy was obliged to stay out for another lap on account of his nine-second lead; and the Safety Car was scrambled as he crossed the line, with an as-yet unidentified car needing recovery.
This threw the race into confusion as it wasn’t immediately apparent who the race leader was, and it was the #80 GT Academy RJN Nissan of Alex Buncombe that was picked up by the Safety Car. Buncombe had taken over from Chris Hoy, who had impressed in his first race, but the caution had put him a lap down on the leader, Michael Caine, who was quite a way back in the queue. Unfortunately, there was no wave-by before the SC came back in and the top eight cars found themselves in a race of their own. The Nissan was ninth.
Good work from Derek Johnston (#888 BMW) and Pasin Lathouras (#29 AF Ferrari) in the first half of the race left Luke Hines in second and Richard Lyons third. Hines took the fight to the lead Aston and the gap came down to half a second at one point. But the Z4 was under investigation for overtaking under yellows during the caution and with six minutes to go a stop/go was issued that dropped the car to eighth. This took the pressure off Caine and he brought the #4 Aston home to the cheers of the team.
Lyons and Lathouras took a fine second, with Jonny Adam holding off Matt Bell’s Audi to take third in the Beechdean Aston.
John Gaw and Richard Abra fought all the way to the line in the #6 and #38 Astons, but it was the bonnet-less PGF-Kinfaun Vantage that claimed fifth.
The fight for eighth place was more spectacular, with Stephen Kane fighting his was past six cars in the #17 Bentley to pip Buncombe on the last lap.
GT4
In perfect conditions Ross Wylie headed the GT4 field into Old Hall and, despite having never shared a car before nor having run in an endurance race, established a firm position at the front in the #407 Beechdean Aston, despite pressure from Rick Parfitt Jnr.’s Century Motorsport Ginetta G55 in the early laps; these two closely followed by Andrew Jarman’s Aston Martin Vantage, Oli Basey-Fisher’s Ginetta G55 and Oz Yusuf’s Lotus Evora.
Peter Belshaw’s ABG-entered BMW M3 dropped to the bottom of the order early on having started sixth, as Wylie and Parfitt Jnr. pulled a gap to the rest of the field. Belshaw was able to reel in the lost positions, overhauling Barrie Baxter’s Porsche and Paul McNeilly’s Ginetta as he re-established his pace.
Wylie started to create some space between his Aston Martin and Parfitt Jnr.’s Century Ginetta, but then last year’s champion disappeared from the order 11 laps in. Meanwhile, the #46 Twisted Team Parker Ginetta missed the pit entry having arrived over the crest at Deer Leap, smoking badly at the rear with contact damage having collided with the Generation Bentley GT3 on lap 9.
As the safety car was deployed the pit lane opened, with all runners arriving to the pits in quick succession. At the restart, the #407 Beechdean Aston Martin had been handed a one lap advantage, which Jake Giddings was able to control comfortably to the finish.
The top five was Giddings’ Aston Martin, followed by Devon Modell’s #49 Aston Martin, Matt Draper’s #41 Optimum Ginetta, Gavan Kershaw’s improving #77 Lotus Evora (now under investigation for overtaking under yellows) and Aleksander Schjerpen in the #43 remaining Century Ginetta.
Declan Jones pushed hard, raising the #45 ABG BMW to fifth at the flag having overhauled Cammish and Schjerpen and getting within five seconds of Draper’s Ginetta, which had dropped to fourth. Gavan Kershaw’s late pace in the #77 Lotus Evora had brought the car to a podium position by the time the chequered flag was given.
The final order was :
#407 Beechdean AMR – Giddings / Wylie
#77 Lotus Evora – Yusuf / Kershaw
#49 TF Sport Aston Martin – Jarman / Modell
#41 Optimum Ginetta – Mann / Draper
#45 AMG BMW – Belshaw / Jones
#43 Century Ginetta – Dons / Schjerpen
#55 Academy Motorsport Ginetta – Basey-Fisher / Nicoll- Jones
#44 Parker Racing Porsche – Baxter / Cammish.
MH & ML
