With so many new drivers taking the first corner plunge, a clean start was a welcome sight as the 2015 British GT field launched into Race 1 of the season at Oulton Park.
Pole sitter Liam Griffin in the #6 Oman Racing Aston Martin Vantage held off the FF Corse Ferrari 458 of Gary Eastwood to lead the GT3 field into the right hander at Old Hall, hounded closely by Andrew Howard’s Beechdean Aston Martin, these three pushing each other hard until an incident involving the #12 VonRyan Racing McLaren 650S and the #11 22 GT Aston Martin brought out an early safety car.
Griffin got a good re-start to gain time at the front, but it was the battle behind that drew attention between Eastwood, Howard and Andrew Watson in the rapidly improving #10 VonRyan McLaren before it found the tyre wall all on its own. It’s sister car #12 continued what was to become a controversial debut as it forced Andrew Howard to take avoiding action into Hislops, the Beechdean Aston Martin pitched into the barriers and sustaining terminal damage, bringing out the safety car just as the pit window opened.
The GT3 field was reduced further as the #30 RAM Racing Mercedes AMG tried a move up the inside of the TF Sport Aston Martin of Derek Johnston, both cars spinning from the contact at the exit of Old Hall, Johnston catching serious rear end damage as his car bounced off the tyre wall. To add to this, the #63 Barwell BMW Z4 of Jon Minshaw braked in avoidance, his stable mate Marco Attard hitting him hard in the rear, both cars a casualty.
Adam Carroll got the jump on Rory Butcher to resume the lead for the Ferrari after the stops, his lead extended until the flag. The stars of the race though were arguably Lee Mowle and Joe Osborne, who had hauled their #888 BMW Z4 from a lowly thirteenth on the grid to take the final podium position, Osborne even takingRory Butcher for second with a string of fastest laps before traffic got in the way, allowing the Scot to retake the place shortly before the end.
STOP PRESS – Following a successful appeal by Oman Racing Team, Liam Griffin and Rory Butcher have been promoted to winners of today’s opening Avon Tyres British GT Championship race at Oulton Park.
The FF Corse Ferrari 458 Italia finished first on the road but, in the hands of Adam Carroll, was subsequently adjudged to have blocked the Oman Racing Team Aston Martin Vantage GT3 of Butcher when exiting the pits following their mandatory stop.
Carroll and co-driver Gary Eastwood thus drop to second overall. The rest of the results remain unchanged.
Somehow the entire GT4 field managed to wend its way through the carnage to record a 100% finishing record (although the Invitation class Toyota GT86 was a retiree); and while the race to the flag was ultimately a close one, there were several cars that were left feeling mightily aggrieved after apparently losing out during the second caution period.
Oz Yusuf’s lead in the #77 ISSY Racing Lotus Evora lasted just two corners as James Birch gained the upper hand in the #43 Century Ginetta when the pole sitter took evasive action to avoid the first lap melee at Cascades. After the Safety Car came in at the end of the ensuing caution, Yusuf chased his opponent down and retook the lead with a bold move round the outside of Old Hall on Lap 6. Thereafter he pulled away and entered the pitlane as the pit window opened with an advantage of around 10 seconds. Alas, the second caution left Gavan Kershaw behind the Safety Car as he rejoined in the Evora, and in the absence of a wave-by found himself a lap down when the race went green again.
This left Aleksander Schjerpen in the lead in #43, but he was soon serving a stop/go for a short pit stop.
Optimum’s Mike Robinson thus assumed the lead in the #50 G55 and he resisted the often-close attentions of the #71 Quantamatic and #407 Beechdean Aston Martin Vantages to take the win by a comfortable margin. The fight for second was resolved on the penultimate lap as Ross Gunn finally overcame Mike Hart’s resistance at Old Hall. The AmDtuning.com Porsche of Shaun Hollamby came home fourth.
Full report to follow.
ML/MH
Images ©Jakob Ebrey
