The scale of Derek Johnston and Jonny Adam’s victory at Rockingham in the Pirelli British GT Championship passed many by at the weekend, but it was the first time since August 2010 that we have had successive wins by a competitor in the GT3 class.
Throughout the Rockingham weekend, TF Sport’s Johnston and Adam were buoyant. Their pace across each of Saturday’s sessions justified this view, and on Sunday, they delivered. From the off, Johnston was not in a mood for messing about. As the field began the two-hour encounter at Rockingham, Alasdair McCaig’s McLaren nipped ahead, seemingly getting on the power quicker than the pole man. However, the Geordie, looking for his third win on the bounce (if you count the final round of 2015 with Matt Bell), went low into the banking and came out the leader.
Similar to past years, the Deene Hairpin, the second corner of the track was the flashpoint for contact. Few escaped without a nudge and a kiss, but for the second race in succession, Ian Stinton came out of the second corner of a circuit with a beaten up Tolman Ginetta. And once again, the former GT4 race winner was the victim, the rear damage was significant and the car didn’t return until the latter part of the race.
The instigator was reportedly the Optimum Motorsport Audi of Will Moore, himself looking for a positive weekend after a difficult opener.
Moore again had contact on lap four, this time with Rick Parfitt Jnr’s Team Parker Racing Bentley at the Brook chicane. The Bentley affectionately known as ‘Geoff’ went spinning backwards, dropping ‘Parff’ down into the GT4 order; six laps later Moore was penalised with a 10s stop-go penalty, which he duly took. To his credit, Moore had a sensible race thereafter, climbing to sixth in the R8 LMS GT3 before handing over to Ryan Ratcliffe.
Back with a new chassis for Rockingham following the spectacular triple lutz at Brands Hatch was Phil Dryburgh. The Scottish racer wasn’t shy with his new V12 Vantage, getting the elbows out with fellow Aston racer Mark Farmer on lap six. Farmer pitted with damage on lap seven but did resume shortly after.
Up front it was plain sailing for Johnston, who looks more and more accomplished behind the wheel of the Aston Martin with each race. By lap 11 the likeable Geordie was 7s ahead of Liam Griffin, who had earlier eeked past McCaig’s McLaren with a deft move. Parfitt Jnr was staging a forceful come back and posted the then fastest lap of the race a 1:18.945 in the rebuilt Bentley – an amazing feat by the Team Parker crew and duly fitting winners of the ‘Team of the Weekend’ award.
By the midpoint of the AM driver stints, Griffin’s Barwell Lamborghini had reeled in race leader Johnston and the gap was now sub 6s; a result of GT4 traffic, the race pace of the Lamborghini and to a lesser extent the Aston’s two-stage life on Pirellis, which often sees a resurrection occur right when it’s needed before the pit stops. Parfitt Jnr had hustled his way up to fifth and past reigning champion, Andrew Howard – having a quiet but productive weekend behind the wheel of the Beechdean-AMR Aston Martin. Next on the Bentley driver’s hit list was the second Barwell Lamborghini of Jon Minshaw, with McCaig a slither further ahead.
Minshaw made an audacious but clean move on McCaig’s Ecurie Ecosse McLaren at the Deene hairpin on lap 20, as he began to feel the heat of Parfitt Jnr’s challenge. Music maestro Parfitt Jnr also got past the McLaren laps later, but there was then contact between the Bentley and Minshaw’s Lamborghini at Deene on lap 25.This dropped the pair back behind McCaig again, but only for a few laps as the Ecurie Ecosse McLaren pulled up as it crossed the start/finish line with what would later be explained as electronic gremlins; essentially the gearbox was not playing ball for the Scottish gent. This continued several times and McCaig dropped to seventh at the pit stops.
There were cars in the pits prior to the mandatory pit stop window, with David Pattison in with his Tolman Ginetta from the tail end of the order with a rear puncture that caused a spin for him at the Brooke hairpin, while Lee Mowle in the AMDtuning.com BMW pitted for a puncture on lap 24 after a lap 5 spin on the exit of Tarzan, a result of “enthusiastically getting on the power too early and lighting up the rears,” according to the man himself.
Johnston handed over to Adam with a healthy 9s lead, with Griffin 23s ahead of his team-mate Minshaw. The lead TF Sport Aston had an additional 20s of stationary time added to their mandatory time, but the odds of them re-joining in the lead were increased because only the Minshaw and Phil Keen Lamborghini from the top four runners would not suffer some additional ‘success’ delay too. Parfitt Jnr and Seb Morris had further woes before their stop, having to take a stop/go penalty for contact of the Nick Jones Ginetta GT4 earlier in the race.
With the stops complete, it was indeed Adam who rejoined in the lead of the race, with Adam Carroll (in for Liam Griffin) and Phil Keen (in for Jon Minshaw) in hot pursuit. Adam had a 1.8s lead over Carroll at this point, but Keen was driving well and fast, posting a 1:18.341 to go fastest of anyone around Corby’s concrete jungle.
No sooner had part two of the race begun, it was halted to remove the GT4 class leader who had come to blows with the PFL Motorsport Aston Martin of Jody Fannin. The South African youngster who has delivered good pace while his team-mate, the disabled competitor, Peter Littler, has slowly begun getting used to British GT., was a victim, and the GT4 driver, Graham Johnson admirably confessed his sin post-race, apologising to Fannin for the mistake, which ultimately ended PFL’s race too (broken steering arm).
On the restart, a game of cat and mouse began between Joe Osborne (in for Mowle) and Rob Bell (in for McCaig) over seventh place. Osborne, nursing an unhappy BMW, and Bell, nursing a glitch-ridden McLaren exchanged places multiple times, but never in an overtaking manouvere you’d expect from these two fine British racers. No sooner had Bell got past the Z4, his McLaren needed a reboot, allowing Osborne through. And no sooner was Osborne through, the McLaren had righted itself with another Ctrl-Alt-Delete, it was back past. This carried on for more laps than it should’ve, but Osborne found it all quite entertaining post-race, remarking: “I just wanted him to go and clear off, it was a bit like Groundhog Day and it was getting a bit dull having to overtake him again and again.”
Upfront, the Barwell Lamborghinis were like a pair of conjoined twins. Watching Carroll and Keen pound round the sub-2 mile Rockingham circuit was a joy to watch; never an apex missed and a healthy dose of respect being shown between the pair at all times. Keen looked the quicker of the two, but the racecraft and positioning of Carroll was second to none. It’s not often you get to see this level of driving between two team-mates, but it was a joy to behold. That was, until a safety car period lasting one lap to remove the GT4 McLaren threw a spanner in the works.
The earlier enjoyment was smashed on lap 79 when, on the restart, Carroll and Morris (along with seemingly most of the GT4 field) were given drive throughs for a number of sins, but the GT3 boys were penalised for overzealous overtaking upon the restart, with Carroll adjudged to have overtaken Martin Short’s Team ABBA Rollcentre Racing prepared BMW Z4 (which was a lap down) before the start line on the restart
Making quiet progress behind the front trio were Ross Gunn (in for Howard), Ross Wylie (in for Dryburgh) and Ryan Ratcliffe (in for Moore). While they all ran at different paces, with Gunn again noticeably rapid, Wylie made a lot of progress through the Rockingham weekend and secured his fifth place at the flag from Ratcliffe by over 43s.
Gunn would figure more visibly before the end of the race, when, after Carroll took his penalty, he closed in on Keen’s Lamborghini, getting the gap to below a second in the final minutes of the race, cautiously looking for opportunities to pass his more experienced rival. For those thinking Beechdean-AMR would struggle without the presence of Jonny Adam alongside Andrew Howard this season, the doubters were wrong, and Gunn looks mighty capable at the sharp end of the series.
Post-race Gunn added: “Andrew had a difficult start and got contact into the hairpin, but he is for me one of the best AMs out there; he did a great job closing the gap before the pitstops, which set me up nicely for my stint. I felt I had more pace than the guys ahead today, but it was difficult to find a way past. I couldn’t get past Phil (Keen), but I’m really enjoying driving this car. I’ve really meshed with it and it’s great to show what I can do against people like Jonny (Adam).”
And, that’s how it finished, with Adam crossing the line 4.9s ahead of Keen (Barwell’s fouth successive podium across BMW and Lamborghini machinery) and Gunn, giving Beechdean-AMR its first podium appearance since a race two victory at Snetterton in August last year. Carroll was fourth, an arguably unjust result given the crime and the potential double podium that loomed for the Surrey-based team.
Adam had this to say after the race: “Derek’s stint was incredible, he managed the tyre degredation, and the team have turned around a great car again. We’ve got a good pairing and we’ve done well today. We’ll struggle next time out at Oulton with the time addition, but we just need to get the best results possible.
Johnston agreed, “The whole weekend has been awesome, something really clicked for me here. The GT4s were brilliant today, they were all good and I can’t complain. It’s a dream come true if we can challenge for the win every round, but at Oulton it will be tougher.”
We caught up with Barwell’s Keen and Carroll together post-race, just as the second-place finisher was giving his rival some stick. Keen remarked: “He’s been driving Lamborghinis for ages, he’s been testing all week in another one, don’t let him give you any excuses!”
Carroll was quick to respond to his Barwell team-mate: “That Lambo feels pretty different to this one though! It wasn’t just as easy to jump into as first thought. Rockingham is a difficult place to come for a debut, it’s a tricky, unique circuit, so all that plays a part in getting up to speed. In general I would’ve said second was definitely a good result for us today, but it wasn’t to be unfortunately. I don’t have much luck here. I think I got a bit confused about the pass, and I think I was only just a metre ahead. Fourth is pretty good. Phil wasn’t really trying though if I’m honest.”
Keen responded: “Nah, I’d have done him in the final few minutes…!” Good spirits on display in the Barwell camp then.
Speaking on the race performance of he and his team-mate Keen continued, “Jon had a really good weekend and we had the pace to chase Adam today, but it’s so difficult to pass here and I’d only have got by had he made a mistake. Ross (Gunn) was right behind me too, so it wasn’t an easy end. The GT4s were good today, I had more problems lapping the GT3s. Jon goes well at Oulton, it’s his local circuit and Barwell are getting this Lambo quicker every race. Hopefully we can do something there and stay out of trouble.”
Wylie and Ratcliffe sealed their first top-six finishes of 2016 for Motorbase and Optimum Motorsport respectively, with Bell nursing home the McLaren in seventh, one wonders what might have been had they been able to have an issue-free race. The 650s GT3 had a far better showing at Rockingham on the same BOP and credit to Garage 59 / Black Bull Ecurie Ecosse, the McLaren looks like a race winner later this year. Odds on McCaig and Bell repeating the feat of Von Ryan Racing last year at Silverstone will be low.
Bell was reflective after the race had finished, “After a weekend which saw us at the top end of the standings during practice and qualifying, we have come away encouraged by the pace of the McLaren 650S GT3. My performance in qualifying was a step up from Brands Hatch, I feel without the extra ballast for my driver grading, I would have snatched pole. The weekend was a step in the right direction.”
Jon Barnes finally split the Bell / Osborne entanglement in the closing stages, giving the second TF Sport Aston Martin an eighth place finish in the wounded Vantage. The Team ABBA Rollcentre Racing BMW was eleventh, but Short and Neary should take some cheer from the pace they were able to run relative to the AMDtuning,com Z4. The gap is closing.
Next up British GT takes the leap north to Oulton Park (28-30 May) where we’ll have the first weekend of sprint races. Will that dynamic be able to provide us with a new winner? The likelihood is that in the first of the two 60-minute sprints that will be the case. Ecurie Ecosse will look for their first win in the McLaren at the venue of their first with the BMW, can Beechdean take their maiden win of 2016 where they took their first win last season? Similarly, Liam Griffin will look for a repeat of last year’s first race win and Phil Keen and Jon Minshaw will hope for a repeat of their 2013 heroics.
