“We kept our heads and did the right thing,” concluded Jake Giddings in summing up a well managed weekend for the Beechdean Motorsport GT4 garage. Taking the 2014 Drivers Championship may have been a foregone conclusion for the young Cambridgeshire driver and his Scottish team mate Ross Wylie as their inaugural British GT season reached its finale, but the hand of motor sport can be cruel and any expectation was low key. With 29.5 points advantage coming into the last round at Donington Park only a disaster combined with a win for their rival Aston Martin TF Sport title challengers would keep them away from the crown. And despite a typically spirited effort by their adversaries ultimately it was a controlled, cautionary run to the flag that brought home the championship.
Much cooler, overcast weather conditions contrasted with those of warmer previous weekend sessions, but despite heavier skies looming it was trusted that rain would not be threatening the Leicestershire countryside for the British GT4 grid’s final outing and championship decider.
After dominating the weekend’s practice and qualifying sessions, it was pole sitter Oz Yusuf’s Lotus that led into Redgate, quickly establishing a gap and visibly harrying the back of the GT3 field, from Wylie and Andrew Jarman’s Aston Martins, Rick Parfitt’s Ginetta and James May’s Porsche, which was finding some form after wrestling with its weight adjustments. Then, after a 2.3 second gap, followed Ade Barwick and Aleksander Schjerpen’s Ginettas, James Fletcher’s ‘Invitation’ class Toyota, with Paul McNeilly and Barrie Baxter tailing the GT4 train for Ginetta and Porsche respectively.
Wylie got down to business early in second, pulling a slight gap to title challenger Jarman, but trouble came early for Yusuf as the leading Lotus didn’t come through at the end of its third lap following a spin. Jarman had no time to be sitting comfortably and had pulled a good overtaking manoeuvre around the outside at Coppice, quickly establishing a 0.8s lead over the Beechdean car, the Lotus coming unstuck. “We had to go out on the attack – I was pleased that move came off,” said the TF Sport driver. Parfitt meanwhile had all this in his sights just a second back, these three circulating in the 1:39’s nearly three seconds clear of May’s APO Porsche in fourth.
Yusuf resumed and made very short work of overhauling Baxter’s Team Parker Porsche, the charging Lotus at the back end of the GT4 chain but only 23 seconds off the lead at this early point of the race.
There were big improvements for Schjerpen’s #43 Century Motorsport Ginetta, finding pace that had been rather elusive in qualifying to move the car to fourth ahead of Fletcher’s steady-looking Toyota. May had dropped his Porsche to sixth with a spin, but the green APO car quickly grabbed a place back from the GPRM GT86.
The recovering #77 Lotus was in the wars again and had slowed right down on the pit straight, Yusuf parking at the run off at Redgate. But despite how it looked, his game wasn’t over; a faulty electrical connection being diagnosed on his return to his pit and the car rejoining out of contention.
Further down the order Barwick’s Twisted Team Parker Ginetta’s times seemed unrepresentative of its usual form, circulating in the 1:42’s and holding a lonely station toward the back of the midfield. Perhaps heroics were off the menu; staying in touch and handing the car over the preferred option? Meanwhile Fletcher had brought the GPRM Toyota GT86 into the pits, losing laps after a promising start… another place gained for those hanging on in there around the fast 2.5 mile Donington circuit.
At the head of the field Jarman and Wylie were trading lap times, their battle joined at just 0.6s apart. Parfitt’s Ginetta was still very much in touch though, gapping the same for third. These three had extended their race nearly ten seconds away from a fairly lonely Schjerpen in fourth. There was then a 13-second gap to May’s Porsche in fifth; seven seconds to McNeilly’s Fox Ginetta; Barwick nearly five seconds away in seventh; while Baxter trailed at the back 25 seconds adrift of a fairly strung out GT4 field as the GT3 cars sliced their way through.
Parfitt had closed in on the leading Aston Martins and made his first move stick on Wylie for second place. With the TF Sport Aston Martin needing the win and the #42 Ginetta hungry for a good result to end a disappointing year, the lead battle was shaping up as one to watch. The fastest GT4 car at this point was the recovering #77 ISSY Racing Lotus, Ossy Yusuf pushing the car hard into the low 1:39’s, albeit now eight laps off the class lead.
Rick Parfitt Jnr. overhauled the TF Aston into the Melbourne hairpin just as the pit window opened. All three leading cars dived straight into the pits, the #407 Beechdean car now arriving second in the queue…
Schjerpen stayed out in the #43 Century Ginetta to assume the lead, chased by May’s Porsche, the ‘occasional’ APO entry struggling with the #69 car’s handling, which he had earlier commented on: “With 70 kgs to bring us up to minimum weight, plus the 30 kilos for our Silver/ Silver pairing, we’re the heaviest car on the grid. If you look at the floor of the car the ballast is right up to the seat level..
“It’s a real handful and you can’t really out-brake anything – and it’s incredibly hard on the tyres.”
Adrian Barwick came in to be hauled out of the Ginetta by Bradley Ellis, as next door the #44 Team Parker Porsche followed. The remainder of the GT4s pitted a lap later.
As things resumed it was Morten Dons’ #43 Century Ginetta that benefitted from the time penalties for the two Aston Martins, Beechdean taking 20s and TF Sport 15s due to their respective first and second places at Brands Hatch. The new leader had pulled off an unexpected coup, leading by six seconds to Devon Modell who had taken over the #49 TF Sport car and was resuming its charge for a must-have victory. However, this was at the expense of its team mate. The #42 Century Motorsport car’s season of ill fate seemed to be continuing to the last: Tom Oliphant had taken over the car with a 16-second lead in hand while the two Astons served their penalties, but the pit-lane limiter stuck on, jamming the car in second gear and dropping it to third until the problem was cleared. Instead of leading, he was 0.8s adrift of Devon Modell and 6.3s off the GT4 lead.
Alex Osborne managed just a lap for the APO Porsche before going straight back into the pits to join the #86 Toyota which had been stationary now for several laps and was looking spent. The Lotus however was back out and circulating well with Gav Kershaw now at the helm, posting fastest lap of the race with a 1:39.155 albeit last on the road and still several laps adrift.
The running order with 50 minutes left was:-
1. 43 Ginetta, Dons
2. 49 Aston Martin, Modell
3. 407 Aston Martin, Giddings
4. 42 Ginetta, Oliphant
5. 46 Ginetta, Ellis
6. 48 Ginetta, Stanley
7. 44 Porsche, Cammish
8. 69 Porsche, Osborne – PIT
9. 77 Lotus, Kershaw
10. 86 Toyota, Fletcher – PIT
Though Devon Modell had pushed on hard to reduce the gap to the leader to just over four seconds, Jake Giddings -now in the Beechdean Aston – had the TF Sport car pegged, less than a second back and starting to look comfortable for that championship win. Only 6.8 seconds covered the top four at this point – most of this being Dons’ lead over Modell’s Aston Martin. Oliphant’s Ginetta was looking less patient, however.
The Lotus’ woes continued as Kershaw was handed a 35 second Stop/Go penalty for not taking its minimum stop time.
Oliphant was now up to third, the Ginetta rapidly closing down on Modell for second, while Giddings was still circulating comfortably in the low 1:39s and looking unflustered with just over 30 minutes to run. Giddings then fought back against Oliphant for third, dispelling any rumours of easing off and even gained time on Modell as the #49 TF Aston lost a little time while being lapped by the GT3 leaders – Dons extended his lead to over seven seconds as a benefit. Giddings closed in further, to less than half a second off the tail of Modell’s second place. Less than a second covered second to fourth positions – with a big gap of 38 seconds to the #46 Twisted Team Parker Ginetta in fifth.
As spits of rain started to raise concern it was the #43 Century Motorsport Ginetta G55 that still held the lead with 20 minutes to go. Dons’ advantage been reduced to 3.5 seconds, though, as the chasing championship battle clawed back ground. After shadowing the Aston Martins, Oliphant saw his opportunity at last and seized third from Giddings at Coppice in a bold move, his momentum drawing him to just 0.25s off the second placed TF Sport Aston Martin. This battle was now starting to really catch fire as Modell pulled right up to the back of Dons into Redgate to take the lead, Oliphant and Giddings also chasing through.
Bradley Ellis, meanwhile – the Twisted Team Parker driver in clear air and charging hard – had set a new fastest race lap; a 1:39.100.
The race took a further unexpected turn, though, as Dons arrived in the pits. The bonnet came off and there was a wave across the throat of the chief mechanic; the universal signal that the previous leader’s party was very abruptly over. For the second race in succession a front wishbone had failed on the Ginetta.
As if this was not drama enough, in the shock moment of the race Giddings then brought the Beechdean car into the pits for what was to turn out to be a precautionary refuelling stop; “I could feel the fuel sloshing around as I was going up into McLeans and Coppice and it was surging a little bit. It might have been an overreaction, but we had positions in hand.” With well calculated time just about on their side, Jake Giddings stood impassively out of the car as the Beechdean team delivered a safe margin of fuel with less than ten minutes remaining.
Throughout this distraction and excitement, GT4 was now led by Modell’s Aston Martin, being chased hard by the #42 Century Ginetta, less than a second behind. Ellis had assumed the last podium position with just over five minutes to go.
The order: 49 / 42 / 46 / 48 / 407/ 44.
The #407 car had resumed in fifth place, half a minute away from the #48 Fox Motorsport Ginetta of Jamie Stanley and it certainly looked like the Beechdean crew had the championship covered. To underline this, Devon Modell then spun out of the lead on the exit of Coppice; rear tyres going away and struggling with a brake problem, handing the position to Tom Oliphant with just two more laps to go. Bradley Ellis’s Ginetta looked to have a podium finish in the pocket to compensate for a challenging two hours.
At the chequered flag then it was Tom Oliphant and Rick Parfitt Jr. who finally took the win they had been looking for all year with the #42 Century Motorsport Ginetta.
A cautious fifth place therefore went to Ross Wylie and Jake Giddings. “Our worst position of the season!” joked the Scot, but this was a sufficiently strategic result to take the 2014 GT4 Championship by 17.5 points. Beechdean didn’t quite manage the Team’s title though, this being the reward for Century Motorsport’s two car campaign.
Rick Parfitt Jr: “The really nice thing is the reaction in this pit lane. Absolutely nobody begrudged us a win. We’ve been knocking on the door for so long but I think everyone would agree our luck this year has been absolutely dire. So we actually covered our car in lucky charms; lots of little stickers – lucky sevens, four leafed clovers… and they paid off today, despite the car still trying to kill us. The speed limiter stuck on as Tom changed to second as he came out of the pits, which cost us our sixteen second lead and put us into the bun-fight. We had to stop, re-boot it all and then it worked. Then it really was a four-car race to the end, an out and out sprint. Tom did an amazing manoeuvre holding it on the outside of Coppice, which is pretty brave, and we both drove really well today. To get Mobil 1 Master Of The Weekend is an added bonus. It proves we are a really strong driver pairing.”
Andrew Jarman: “Our car was good, suited the circuit and we knew what we had to do. It was a horrible feeling at Brands being sat behind the two GT3 Astons in the Safety Car queue and watching him wave through the Beechdean car… I couldn’t believe what I was seeing; it was like ‘well, there goes the championship…’ So we were due some luck after last weekend – to win would have been a good statement, but it wasn’t to be. Ours was a late deal putting this all together and to be fighting for the championship into the last round is maybe something we wouldn’t have expected. We gave it our best shot for sure.”
Bradley Ellis: “It’s job done for us as we got the podium we knew we needed. We still keep third in the Drivers’ Championship, so we did what we needed and I tried my best to get the fastest lap. The top two were a way ahead of us, but I was happy to half the gap towards the end. It was a good race and Adrian drove an epic stint, keeping up with the pack. It’s his first year, learning, and we’ll hopefully build on this for the future.”
Ross Wylie: “The late fuel stop was a nervous moment. We’d actually got the maths right but it was a safety precaution. I was quite surprised to see the car coming in and for a second I thought ‘Oh no, it’s all over’. I almost couldn’t breathe. But they did a great job getting us out. The Ginetta did a good job to win.
“We’ve learned a lot about not pushing too hard and having to go for the win every time. A lot of that’s down to Jonny and Andrew. Jake and I have gelled really well and we knew from the start we’d be in it for the long game.”
Jake Giddings: “I don’t think it has really sunk in yet. The team has done a really good job all year – a long battle, but it has been fantastic. Fair play to Andrew and Jonny, who have believed in us and taught us a lot. I was getting a bit worried towards the end with the fuel; that wasn’t in our strategy.
But we kept our heads and did the right thing.”
Andrew Howard (Beechdean AMR owner): “This is a great achievement for Beechdean AMR and vindicates our decision to run a car in GT4 again. The whole idea was to give younger drivers an opportunity to show what they can do with the help of an established team, and Jake and Ross have certainly taken their chance by driving brilliantly all year long. They are deserving champions. We have a great squad here at Beechdean AMR, and to win another title with Aston Martin Racing is testament to the strength of our partnership. We won’t be resting on our laurels though, we are very ambitious and want to expand again for 2015 and aim for more success in both GT3 and GT4.”
And so ends the 2014 British GT4 Championship. The season seems to have flown by, which must be a reflection on the excitement and intrigue we’ve been treated to yet again from this thoroughly entertaining category. Without losing any of its passion and character, 2014 was the year when the series truly came of age and stood alongside its bigger GT3 brother on its own terms. There may still be differences of opinion about the way in which it should continue, but thanks to the conviction of these most enthusiastic teams of hardcore racers British GT4 has done us proud.
Bring on 2015!
Martin Little
