“We were a bit lucky, but a win’s a win however it comes,” conceded Jack Bartholomew after his Aston Martin Vantage had inherited its first victory in the Beechdean AMR GT4 squad’s 2016 defence of its championship. He and team mate Jordan Albert had run a strong race despite problems for the 2015 title winning machine, hanging on to net the best possible result from a British GT4 race again tainted by yellow flag controversy.
Pole sitters and Brands Hatch winners Graham Johnson and Mike Robinson had comfortably dominated qualifying, but at the rolling start Johnson’s PMW World Expo Racing / Optimum Motorsport Ginetta didn’t make the best of its advantage.
Slow on the power, the #50 car was down to third into the long left hand Turn 1 as Matthew George’s Generation AMR Racing Aston Martin made a rocket start from fourth on the grid to spear through the middle of the all Ginetta front row, Sean Byrne’s second placed #40 Century Motorsport G55 also slow in its getaway. Followed through by William Phillips in the #45 RCIB Insurance Racing Ginetta, who was quickly into second from sixth, Johnson’s delay had held up the #59 Ecurie Ecosse McLaren and the Beechdean Aston Martin lined up behind.
Of the gains and losses in this fairly explosive GT4 start, Sean Byrne probably came off worst. But although the #40 car was down to sixth by the end of lap one, the experienced Century Motorsport team knew they had consistent pace and reliability, and that two hour endurance races were never won on the first lap. This certainly wasn’t the mindset of Graham Johnson though, who had soon hooked up the speed in the PMW Optimum Ginetta and forced it back into the GT4 lead before many had even noticed.
The pace of the GT4 leaders soon found them hanging on the back of the GT3 field, the top seven cars bunching as the field compressed into the chicane at Brook on lap two. Matthew George was in a tight space for second, defending well in the #44 Generation Aston Martin against the improving Ecurie Ecosse McLaren of Sandy Mitchell and the promising looking William Phillips driven #45 RCIB Ginetta. Jack Bartholomew had also closed in on this contest from fourth, the Beechdean Aston Martin taking a look up the inside of Phillips at the tight exit of Deene a lap later.
These distractions enabled the leading Ginetta to start to pull an early gap. Now in clear air, Johnson was stringing together laps in the 1:25’s, a 1:25.427 his best on lap 8, and established an advantage of just under four seconds to the three cars now tied together for second.
Further back, Anna Walewska was trying hard to haul her #73 Century Motorsport Ginetta up from its last place grid slot, the outcome of fuel feed issues that halted the car’s qualifying run. On the pace all weekend though the Ginetta had fought through the tail-enders and was starting to assert itself.
Improving too was the #51 Lanan Racing Ginetta in the hands of Joey Foster, also showing steady progress from a lowly grid position. Jack Mitchell’s #42 Generation AMR MacMillan Racing Aston Martin Vantage however was slipping back. Following a pressured rebuild and engine change after its involvement in the Brands Hatch uber-accident, the white and red Vantage GT4 had bedded in gently through Free Practice and qualifying. Despite a promising start the car had dropped to tenth, clearly still not entirely together.
Sandy Mitchell’s McLaren eventually got the better of the second placed Aston Martin through the twists of the infield section. The stealthy looking 570S had shown steady development all weekend after a promising debut at Brands, its young crew patiently unlocking the car’s potential. The McLaren started to erode Graham Johnson’s lead and was one to watch considering the #50 Ginetta’s twenty seconds penalty owed from its first round victory. As the leader became baulked by the slower tail end PFL GT3 Aston Martin, Mitchell had the gap down to two seconds.
Gaps fluctuated as the leading GT3 machinery came through to lap the GT4 field. This enabled Will Phillips to close in on George’s #44 Aston, the distinctively coloured pink and green Ginetta taking third place as the pair exited Brook.
Interesting progress was also being made a little further back as Marcus Hoggarth wrestled his Ebor GT Maserati MC GT4 up through the field to sixth, now just behind Bartholomew’s Beechdean Aston. Looking (and sounding) more like a GT3 entry the car was something of a head-turner and had sufficient straight line speed to gain steadily, using the fast Sector 1 from the exit of Brooke through to the left hander at Deene to its advantage as the laps reeled off. Pressuring the #407 car into a mistake and a spin at Deene under braking Hoggarth made it fifth on lap 34. It later transpired the Aston Martin’s brakes were not at their best.
As the pit window opened Johnson’s lead was now up to seven seconds, could enough be done to reduce the disadvantage of the time penalty? The #50 car would have to stay out, and the championship leader got his head down, consistently posting low 1:25’s.
The #44 Generation Aston Martin became the first pit caller ahead of the #40 Century Ginetta and a cluster of back markers looking to hand over early to their quicker drivers. Two laps later the #73 Century Ginetta was in too from ninth, Nathan Freke taking over from Anna Walewska. Rejoining twelfth after fifteen seconds additional pit time courtesy of its second place at Brands, the Ginetta was immediately on a charge with Freke installed. “That was tough going from the back row,” explained Walewska afterwards, “But I overtook six cars and handed a good car over to Nathan, which was the most important thing.” The Beechdean team meanwhile elected to keep its driver out longer to make up lost time; a move that would pay out later in the race.
The rest of the field, bar one, cycled through its stops, the #66 Nick Jones entered Ginetta taking a Stop/Go in the process for ‘running something over in the pit lane’(!). Keeping a low profile, the #51 Lanan Racing Ginetta was becoming something of a dark horse though; now in the hands of Alex Reed the car was running well and would gain time on the road from making the last-but-one pit call.
So the only car at this point that had not stopped was the leader. And having built a less than ideal but still workable margin the #50 car was nearing the limit of the pit window when disaster struck. Under pressure from a pack of GT3 cars, the Ginetta had made contact with the #5 PFL Aston Martin, which was just out of the pits with Jody Fannin aboard.
The PMW Expo car’s distinctive day-glo orange livery was seen hard against the left hand Armco half way down the School Straight with terminal frontal damage. Graham Johnson:”I have to accept that one. I had them all over me at the Tarzan hairpin, but kept my line as I was pushing on myself. I recall seeing the black and green BMW and an Aston Martin in my mirrors as I moved over. The problem was I moved into the path of another Aston. It was an unfortunate error on my part, but the car was in my blind spot.”
Despite the damage and the car’s immediate exit from the race, the steward’s decision post-race was to disqualify Johnson’s Ginetta and issue four penalty points to the driver, the incident forcing the GT3 Aston’s retirement.
The recovery of the wrecked Ginetta brought out the Safety Car, used here at Rockingham in deference to the awkward Code 80 speed restriction scenario that had troubled the preceding round at Brands Hatch.
This meant the Black Bull Ecurie Ecosse McLaren 570S now had the lead.
In second place was the Ebor GT Maserati, in the hands now of Abbie Eaton. To the uninformed this looked a great achievement; however Eaton was less than impressed with the car’s performance, explaining to DSC after the race that the car was an absolute handful to drive despite its ‘mega’ straight line speed. More testing beckons.
The order under the Safety Car was:
- #59 Ecurie Ecosse McLaren – Haggerty
- #60 Ebor GT Maserati – Eaton
- #44 Generation Aston Martin – Chadwick
- #45 RCIB Ginetta – Stilp
- #51 Lanan Racing Ginetta – Reed
- #40 Century Motorsport Ginetta – Schjerpen
- #407 Beechdean AMR Aston Martin – Albert
- #73 Century Ginetta – Freke
- #42 Generation MacMillan Aston Martin – Graham
- #75 RCIB Ginetta – Barrable
- #47 JWB Aston Martin – Giddings
- #66 Nick Jones Aston Martin – Malvern
At the green flag Haggerty got on the McLaren’s throttle early to extend a 4.7 second lead over Eaton, who was now under pressure from 2015 GT4 Champion Jamie Chadwick. As the power of the Maserati took control in a straight line so the Aston Martin closed in where cornering mattered. Inevitably Chadwick made a move stick under braking into Deene, but was soon promoted to race leader as Ciaran Haggerty was called in for a 5.8 seconds Stop/Go for not taking the mandatory minimum pit stop time.
The race was now really coming alive. Nathan Freke had been on a mission: as the #45 RCIB Ginetta took to the pits with a steering problem the #73 Century car was now up to third having picked off the stream of Albert, Schjerpen and Alex Reed in front after the restart. Passing Abbie Eaton’s Maserati into Tarzan the Ginetta took second, Eaton dropping back further as the Beechdean Aston Martin of Jordan Albert found his way past a lap later at the same hairpin, the young Beechdean driver also finding the groove around Rockingham.
Speed alone for the Ebor GT Maserati wasn’t enough to hold off Aleksander Schjerpen either. The seasoned Ginetta GT4 campaigner had played a steady game, the nimble #40 G55 GT4 making the move into the Brook chicane. Eaton had a call from her pit soon afterwards, a pit lane speeding infringement having brought yet another Stop/Go penalty for this race – through both classes it seemed like Rockingham’s penalty box had rarely seen so much activity, but at least this was dealing with situations as they occurred.
Freke now really had the bit between his teeth as the Ginetta closed inexorably on Jamie Chadwick’s lead. His move on the #44 car began going across the line to start lap 59; from a second back the deed was done by the time the pair reached the infield. The Century Motorsport car didn’t look back, quickly extending its lead to 3.8 seconds.
Albert’s Beechdean Aston sat eleven seconds back from Chadwick in third. Schjerpen, Haggerty (making up places after his penalty) and Reed’s #51 Lanan Ginetta were now strung out fourth to sixth. The fastest of these was Haggerty’s recovering McLaren, but this wasn’t to last. The McLaren stopped mid track in the middle of Turn 1, an electrical glitch stranding the car in a dangerous position. Localised yellow flags turned, quite rightly, into a Safety Car situation. Unfortunately the Full Course Yellow was given on Lap 72 just as the McLaren recycled its software and restarted. Half the overall field was bunched and neutralised.
The Safety Car quickly withdrawn, the field was released; Reed’s Ginetta now up to fifth, the McLaren’s loss only actually one place on the road. Jordan Albert seized his moment into Brook, passing Chadwick’s Aston Martin for second place. The Generation AMR car looked to be in trouble though, running slowly before pitting on lap 71. “I lost my brakes,” explained the rather exhausted looking reigning champion afterwards. “The problem started a lap before I managed to pit. It was so bad I was trying to slew the car sideways to scrub off some speed so I could make the pit entrance. The trouble was I had a load of GT3’s piling in on me, so I had to ease it round for another lap.”
This elevated Schjerpen’s Ginetta to third, Freke’s lead now up to 25 seconds with under ten minutes to run. Reed’s #51 Ginetta soundly placed in fourth, the race looked settled; Eaton and Haggerty making up the top six.
Jubilation in the #73 Century Motorsport garage seemed entirely justified: this had been an impressive team performance to take a win from the back of the grid. However, it was adjudged post race that the Ginetta would be excluded from the result for passing under yellow flags ‘earlier in the race.’ Whether this relates to an early incident involving the leading GT3 cars, the Optimum Ginetta accident, or something else entirely is not confirmed at the time of writing. But given that other similar infringements were dealt with more immediately, enabling the race itself to deliver its subsequent outcome, this was a thoroughly disappointing state of affairs.
Thus the amended result, issued long after spectators had gone home, handed the win to the Beechdean crew of Bartholomew and Albert, theirs nevertheless a deserving performance that takes them into the championship lead. Sean Byrne and Aleksander Schjerpen’s unflustered drive gained more points for the Century Motorsport pairing, though this will be of little recompense to their team. Lanan Racing’s decision to stick with Ginetta rather than waiting for Stuttgart is more than justified; a net podium fair reward for the team and the long time series supporter’s combined efforts.
Jack Bartholomew: “GT racing is all about being there at the end. We had a few problems with the brakes throughout the race, which didn’t help towards the end of my stint, but it was still very consistent. Then, handing the car over to Jordan, the safety car helped out a bit and we did an amazing job to just bring it home.”
Sean Byrne: “This was a good result for the team after Brands Hatch, which was a bit of a disaster with me off the pace and Aleks crashing out, but we’ve made up for it this time. I was much more comfortable this weekend and drove more consistently. To get a one-three [at the time of interview] is a great result for the team and proof that it’s an experienced set-up and knows how to run these cars.”
Next round : Oulton Park, 28-30 May.
