It’s amazing that going into the first round of the 2014 Blancpain Endurance Series at Monza, 25-year-old British GT devotee Joe Osborne had only competed in a single round of SRO’s premier European GT series. But despite his talent behind the wheel – he had. As a result he wasn’t afraid to express his excitement ahead of his season with MP Motorsport.
The Bedford native is no stranger to the European GT scene, having competed in the FIA GT3 European Championship and GT4 Euro Cup (winning the Championship in 2009) – though he still finds himself having to learn the majority of the tracks on the Blancpain calendar, and so far in a car which the team have struggled to get to grips with:
“Mark Poole bought the [Aston Martin V12] Vantage last year before the Dubai 24,” explains Osborne. “Though Stefan Mücke had a massive shunt in the original car (at the Barcelona 24 Hours), so this is a brand new chassis, the car rebuilt from the ground up.
“There are only a few differences here and there from other Vantages I have driven, but the car feels completely different. It’s not a problem going forward in the season, we just haven’t done enough mileage in it since it was rebuilt.”
This made the first round of the season at Monza quite a challenge, not only were the team new to the track, but almost new to the series using a car which wasn’t up to speed. As a result they qualified 26th on the grid, and finished 26th too, after some progress early in the race was negated by a spin.
“From a result point of view, we had to do some firefighting this weekend. But, [Max] Buhk came in, won the championship last season and only did three rounds without scoring points in the first two [of the season]” said Osborne with optimistic expression. “So it shows if you get a good amount of points at Spa and Nürburgring, you can do it because the point system is so heavy for those two races that it can wipe out duff results from the early part of the year.”
But despite obtaining a less that desirable result at the ‘Italian Temple Of Speed’, Osborne is keen to share his thoughts of the pre-season balance-of-performance [BoP] set by the series organisers – which he believes disadvantages the teams using Vantages in the series:
“We have been a bit unlucky at the start of the year, but it could have been a whole lot worse for us.” Osborne admits. “The saving grace, as stupid as it sounds is that the BoP is not with us so far this year. I think the Aston is probably at the bottom of BoP; look at the Ferraris the Audis and the Porsches which are quicker in a straight line.
“If we could have hoped for a bad round before the year started, Monza was the round to have it because we wouldn’t be at the sharp end anyway [because we are new to the circuit], so we just came to maximise our points really.”
Next up on the series calendar is the round on home soil for Osborne and the team, at Silverstone. Not only a track that usually favours the Vantage, but also a course which he and the team believe a good result is not just possible, but almost certain.
“We are confident going into Silverstone. All drivers admit they have tracks that they always go better at, and Silverstone is one of those tracks that comes more naturally to me compared to the rest. We want a good result from there. It was our one-off round last year as MP Motorsport and we finished second in Pro Am even with a penalty. So it’s a circuit we all know the car is good at, our drivers are good at, definitely a nice one to go to from here.”
But despite the justifiable confidence on display from Osborne, scoring a good result will be no easy task for the team. The Pro Am class is smaller than last year – like the series’ entry as a whole – but is still full of tough teams and drivers. And it is part of Osborne’s honest nature to be the first to admit that underestimating the competition isn’t wise.
“In general I think the Pro Am class is always going to be relatively consistent for this series. The numbers are down, I think there were 26 last year in Pro Am, now we are down to 20 at the start of the weekend, but only 18 started the race,” explains the 25-year-old.
“But I think the thing with these international championships, you are going to get the top drivers who are always at the same level, and the bottom are the same. It is the middle bit really that gets cut out – ultimately every guy is quick, even with less competition in the mid pack.
“When you look at some of the teams that rock up in this series, there are some seriously good drivers. And even Gentlemen can give you a run for your money as well; there is a guy in the TDS BMW who was doing 1:49.8s; thats mere tenths off what I did in [at Monza] quali!”
Osborne is understandably surprised by this. But after speaking to Joe for even a short period of time it was obvious that he feels excited by the prospect of having a large selection of quality rival teams going forward:
“It shows you that Pro Am is the ‘proper’ championship really. The Pro class has a mix of out-and-out pros and some half pros which is not really a fair fight, whereas Pro Am is all about your amateur. The amateur makes or breaks your race, that’s why it is the biggest category – that’s where the racing’s at!”
Later in the year, is the most prestigious round of the Blancpain Endurance Series – the Spa 24 Hours. It’s the round that every team and every driver in the series wants to win.
Not only does it present a chance to have your name go down in history as a winner of one of the toughest challenges in motorsport, but it also is crucial to the points standings because each six hours, points are awarded. It can truly make or break a season
So it comes as no shock that Joe Osborne and the MP Motorsport team will be going into the Spa 24 well equipped and prepared for the gruelling task in the Ardennes forest. Osborne already has experience racing around the clock, winning the 2012 24 Hours of Dubai in the SP3-GT4A class in a Ginetta G50, so he has a right to remain unfazed by the event.
“We are super lucky we have Aston Martin Racing running the car. Dave Wilcock our engineer has been to Le Mans more times than I have had hotdinners. He is a super talented engineer, and even though as a team we haven’t been to Spa before, most of the guys have done the Le Mans 24 Hours bar us as drivers so they know the protocols,” said Osborne.
But he and his team mates are yet to race at the Spa 24, making the already enormous task even tougher. Osborne however, refuses to let it get to him, well, at least he doesn’t show it. As with almost everything, he takes an optimistic and somewhat calm stance:
“We know we are one of the quickest in the pits with tyre changes, the only thing is the in-experience driver wise. Team wise we have every confidence going into the event.”
Osborne’s aim is without a doubt, to win the Pro Am class. He and his teammates not only think they have a shot, they know they do. With the aforementioned support from the Aston Martin factory and a formidable trio of drivers – MP Motorsport should be considered a contender, even with the disappointing round at Monza on their résumé.
“That was our aim now, and before the start of the season [to win Pro Am]. We are in a very competitive car – the Aston Martin – which is being run by Aston Martin Racing. We couldn’t ask for anything more really, Rich [Abra] and Mark [Poole] have shown how quick they can be, so it was good coming into a team that’s already set up that I could come in with my input from a few more years racing.
“I think if we don’t challenge for the championship [this year] we will never challenge for the championship, because we couldn’t hope for anything better,” confesses Osborne.
“Obviously we are having to learn the tracks but we are testing at them all before, so I don’t see any reason for us not to be in the running. We need to get our head round this new car, and once we have done that, we will be up there.”
Stephen Kilbey
