It’s often amazing how the smallest of things can have the largest consequences, and in the case of the British GT Championship it was a brief shower just after nine o’clock on Saturday morning at Zandvoort that may well have played a significant role in determining the outcome of the 2013 title fight.
Without that shower, Ahmad Al Harthy’s 1:42.988 was unlikely to have been enough for pole position and the Motorbase Porsche would probably have started Race 1 mid-pack; its extra 75kg restricting the 997 GT3 R to a fastest lap all weekend of just 1:42.748. As it was, the rain was enough to catch out those who had taken the decision to sit out the first few minutes, with the most significant casualty being the Beechdean Aston of Andrew Howard – the #007 Vantage GT3 seeing rain falling on its windscreen as it left the pitlane for the first time and finding a 19th-quickest 1:52.523 to be the fastest it could go in the conditions. This improved to 18th following a grid penalty for the #61 Horsepower Racing Ferrari, but the end result was to be a finish outside of the points; not what you need when jut two more races remain.
Regardless of the circumstances of his claiming pole, Al Harthy was determined to make the most of his opportunity and made an excellent start to break away from the field on the opening lap and he extended this to two seconds by the end of Lap 3. On Lap 5, however, the #1 Porsche found itself behind the Safety Car and stayed there for the next 16 minutes, only being released just moments before the Pit Window opened. As things turned out, there was more fortune for the leader as several cars which pitted immediately were delayed by an incorrect light at the end of the pitlane, and this meant that Michael Caine would emerge in the lead and with a five second advantage after he took over a lap later.
What followed was a master class in defending a lead, with Caine holding off the much-quicker Dan Brown and Rob Barff for lap after lap.
The Motorbase man lost the lead only briefly – Brown lunging at Tarzan but overshooting and being unable to stop the Porsche going by once more – while a very late challenge from Barff resulted in contact but no change in position. When Caine took the flag, the win was fully earned and to his, Al Harthy’s and the team’s credit – and it extended his streak of points-scoring finishes to 13 races.
“At the start, I got away really well and had to push very hard straight away to try and build a gap: we knew it was our chance if we managed that. I couldn’t believe it when the safety car came out though,” said Al Harthy. “The team did a fantastic job with the car. It was perfect in the race and ran faultlessly all the way through. The guys did a great job in the pit-stop too and Michael had a mega stint. We’re absolutely over the moon to have taken our second win in British GT.”
Race 2 on Sunday would need something truly remarkable to see the Porsche repeating this finish – a 16th-placed qualifying for Caine being turned into 21st on the grid after a five-place penalty for ignoring red flags; a decision vehemently-contested by the team (with in-car footage apparently supporting the driver’s claim that there had been no flag at the point of the circuit in question), but which was not overturned. Even so, Caine and Al Harthy once again drove a strong race to haul the heavy Porsche into the points once more and remain very much in the title chase as it enters the final furlong. Could Caine be the first repeat-winner against all the odds?
David Ashburn took himself out of the chase for title honours when he was deducted points after his Silverstone pitlane faux pas, but Nick Tandy could still get his hands on the trophy. After a Lap 2 exit from Saturday’s race, however, that looked a remote possibility. But Sunday’s race couldn’t have gone better, with Tandy leading from the front and giving Ashburn the #31 Trackspeed Porsche with a huge lead, which the 66 year old then brought home to the win without a hint of an error.
“We were confident this weekend because it was a sprint race. Today was like it should have been yesterday,” said Tandy. “We had a really good car, a really good first stint and a really good pitstop. Dave was straight on it as soon as he went out; it’s the best I’ve seen him drive all year.”
Jon Minshaw was probably kicking himself for an error early in his stint on Sunday, which saw him spin the #33 sister car; his subsequent pace suggesting that he might well have been able to take the fight to the team owner had he kept it clean for the first few laps, although his task was not made any easier by a delay at the pitstop. A podium finish was a just reward for his and Phil Keen’s efforts this weekend – one of their best for a long time – after a sixth-place finish in Race 1 (just 2.389s behind the winner).
But it was another weekend to forget for Gregor Fisken and Stephen Jelley, who once again had as much luck as Yul Brinner at a Stéphane Ratel-lookalike competition; a Mercedes-induced spin dropping them down the order in Race 2, a day after the erroneous red light at the end of the pitlane had stymied their chances of a top result in the first race. With no points and more damage to his car, the normally-affable Fisken was said to be seriously reconsidering his participation in the championship.
“I had a very good stint,” said the Scot. “I was two seconds a lap faster than most of the other cars on track; I can’t do much more than that. I thoroughly enjoyed my stint. There’s no result though, it seems this season that luck isn’t going our way. Trackspeed gave me a great car, and Stephen did a great job saving the car from being a complete write off, but this is again another race where we’ve been assaulted from the rear.”
It would be a great shame if the Scot was to leave, although it would also be perfectly understandable.
A mixed meeting for the Porsche-contingent, then, but a very good one for the two Ferraris present and their Pro-Am drivers.
The FF Corse pairing of Gary Eastwood and Rob Barff have had wretched luck so far in 2013, but it all came together in North Holland [and that is the correct term for this part of The Netherlands, should any pedants be reading – Ed] and the duo headed back to Blighty clutching an armful of silverware – a trophy apiece for their third-place on Saturday and again for their second place on Sunday, while Barff also collected the Mobil 1 Driver of the Weekend award.
Neither driver put a foot wrong all weekend – although Barff was kicking himself for the last-lap lunge at Caine that resulted in him losing second place – and while Eastwood perhaps had a straightforward job in Sunday’s race, his performance in the opening laps of Race 1 strongly suggested that he would have risen further up the order before handing over to his partner had there been no caution period.
A very strong weekend for FF, then, and if this momentum carries over to Donington, the #18 Ferrari could well have a say in determining where the title ends up.
And while the first race was one to forget for AF Corse – Aaron Scott taking over the car from John Dhillon in a strong position, only to also be delayed at the red light and then to suffer a race-ending puncture – the second was much more positive. Scott handed the #13 458 over to Dhillon in fifth place and he went on to have the race of his career so far – moving up to fourth at the expense of Lee Mowle before being passed by Andrew Howard and then defending his position to the flag under intense pressure from Marco Attard and others. His reward was ten championship points and the Blancpain Gentleman Trophy.
Andrew Howard could do nothing about Minshaw in the time remaining after passing Dhillon three laps from the end, but the 12 points that came with fourth place re-established him at the head of the title standings by the smallest of margins – half a point – with just one race to go. His partner Jonny Adam would not share the title with him in the event of his winning it, on account of the Scot being docked points for avoidable contact at Snetterton.
Prior to Saturday’s race, the last time the Beechdean Aston had failed to score points in an event was at Oulton Park, when other people’s accidents took the car out of both races. That meeting was also the only other time when the PGF-Kinfaun Aston of Phil Dryburgh and John Gaw had outscored the #007. The single point collected in the season-opener on Easter Saturday remained the sum total of championship points for the #6, until a further three came their way at Brands Hatch last month. Zandvoort, though, yielded 16 points for the Anglo-Scottish duo after a fourth and an eighth in the two races. It would appear that their luck has finally changed .
That half-point lead that Andrew Howard enjoys is over the #79 Ecurie Ecosse BMW Z4 of Olly Bryant and Marco Attard, who gained six points on the Beechdean man following two solid results at the weekend. The car was there or thereabouts all weekend without ever really looking like it was going to lead – subdued is the wrong word, but it somehow didn’t seem as aggressive as it normally does. No matter, it did what it needed to do and heads off to Donington with a very real chance of grabbing the title.
“With a new circuit and mixed conditions it was a difficult weekend, but the car was faultless,” said Bryant. “The team did a great job and Marco drove well as always. As such I’m very much looking forward to the season finale at Donington.”
And how wonderful to see the #78 Barwell BMW of Ron Johnson and Piers Johnson finally land a much-deserved championship point after a difficult season.
‘Difficult’ could also describe Lee Mowle and Joe Osborne’s year so far, with the #8 888Optimum BMW being round the corner and down the street in the queue for good luck. Another strong run in Race 1 yielded little in the way of points (four for eighth place) when it could so very easily have been much better; Osborne being certain that he would have led the race after the pitstop were it not for the erroneous red light. Race 2 was marginally better, with Mowle finishing seventh after a tough scrap, but there is still no silverware in the cabinet this year. However, the fact that the car has recorded four consecutive points-scoring finishes after failing to score in the first five races should provide encouragement.
Things went much better in Race 1 for the #888 sister car of Nick Tandy and Dan Brown, with the two claiming their third podium finish of the season so far, but things went badly wrong on Sunday when the Z4 was involved in a hefty shunt that led to its and the APO Ginetta’s retirement. Brown had been fighting for sixth with Jonny Adam and Matt Bell when they came across the GT4 car. It moved over to let the Aston and Audi past and Brown thought it was doing the same for him, but it instead moved back across and the BMW hit it full on, sending it into the tyre wall. The damage to the Z4 was also race-ending, but the shunt was declared to be a racing incident after investigation by the officials. Tandy and Brown are still officially in the title chase, but they’ll be needing help from other quarters if they are to succeed at Donington.
Also on 86.5 points are Matt Bell and Mark Patterson, who left Zandvoort frustrated by an error by the officials in Saturday’s race – the United Autosports Audi being another to be held up in the pitlane – and by a lack of grip on Sunday; “We were feeling optimistic as the car was great in race one,” said Bell. “When race two began I knew by turn one on lap one that something had dramatically changed. I had zero grip and had to fight hard just to hold onto seventh place. The team executed another perfect pit stop which got us out in fifth but Mark then had all the same problems I had. When the tyres dropped off even more he couldn’t fight back and he finished 11th.
“To illustrate how big the problem was you have to remember that Mark was the fastest non-professional driver at Brands Hatch. We will have to investigate what happened as we didn’t make any changes to the set up after race one. Why would we when the car was perfect?
“The most disappointing thing is that the officials cost us a podium in the first race. Even if we win at Donington the title is out of our hands now. The officials have had a profound effect on the race result and ultimately the championship standings.”
Things were no better for the other Audi, with Rembert Berg spending most of Race 1 behind the safety car (after pitting soon after the start with an issue) and then retiring on his outlap in Race 2 with a lack of drive in the #5 WRT R8; not how he wanted to celebrate his return to his home circuit after an absence of 12 years. Hughes took over the car in 24th in the first race and did well to fight his way to ninth by the end, while Sunday’s race saw him fighting over 11th place with Michael Caine before pitting. Things haven’t gone their way since M-Sport’s withdrawal, but they remain a potent pairing and things could be very different at the final round in October.
Fortec’s Zandvoort was a bumpy affair, with the #14 Mercedes AMG SLS GT3 of Jason Minshaw and Benji Hetherington being involved in two collisions over the weekend – the first when Minshaw was clobbered in the opening moments of Race 1 by a wayward Ginetta G55, and the second when Hetherington turned Stephen Jelley’s Porsche around early in Race 2. Even so, the car would go on to complete both events, albeit out of the points. Any hope of a decent result were scuppered by…yup!…the red light in the pitlane in Race 1 and a spin for Minshaw right at the close of the race dropped him out of the points-positions in Race 2. The car should go well at Donington, so – assuming it stays out of trouble – might its occupants have one last chance for glory?
It was frustrating weekend for the trio of Ginetta G55 GT3s, with lack of pace being the issue here. Having looked so quick around Brands Hatch, the G55 couldn’t replicate the speed at the Dutch circuit and they all went home without picking up points. There were some positives, though. All three cars made it home in Race 2 – the first time that this has happened this season – with both the LNT car of Rob Smith and Mike Simpson and the new MTECH G55 of Derek Johnston and Luke Hines completing both races.
Colin White was at the wheel of the #40 CWS-IDL car when it jumped the kerbs into the Fortec Mercedes in Race 1, incurring race-ending damage in the process, but he and Tom Sharp had the satisfaction of beating home the factory and MTECH cars in Race 2.
Running solo in a class may seem to offer little to the entrant, but for the Scuderia Vittoria-run Horsepower Racing duo of Paul Bailey and Andy Schulz, two finishes – and thus wins – for their Ferrari 458 Challenge yielded more than just trophies.
“The idea for the whole weekend was to determine which championships we will compete in during 2014 and the two at the top of the list were the British GT Championship and the Dutch Supercar Challenge,” said Bailey. “We didn’t want to jump in at the deep end and running in the GTC class was the perfect compromise – we quickly realised how phenomenal the British GT Championship is, especially in terms of its organisation.
“Everything turned out really well,” said Schulz. “As long as we finished the two British GT races, we won. That was obviously quite straightforward and it was nice to not be under any pressure to perform. I think both Paul (Bailey) and I came away with very positive views of the championship.”
The icing on the cake for the team was a podium finish for Bailey’s McLaren MP4-12C Can-Am (chassis #001) at its debut race meeting.
GT4 was a fractious place to be over this weekend, with a major dispute arising between the class-leading Optimum Ginetta G50 of Rick Parfitt Jr and Ryan Ratcliffe and the Century version of Declan Jones and Nathan Freke. Optimum claimed that Parfitt’s huge shunt on Lap 4 of Saturday’s race was a direct result of damage incurred by a hit on the rear from Jones’ car a lap earlier. Video evidence showed that the contact was not in dispute, but it could not be proven that there was a direct correlation between the hit and the crash so no action was taken. However, when elements within the Century team subsequently refused to sign the waiver that would allow Optimum to field a spare car – the only team to refuse – tensions were high and voices were raised.
Despite this unfortunate development, there were some bright spots; and the maiden wins for the Redgate Lifetime G50 of Matt Smith and Dan Eagling on Saturday and for the Blendini Ginetta of David Barker and Rory Bryant on Sunday were the brightest.
Jones and Freke followed up a third place in Race 1 by taking the flag first in Race 2, but a technical infringement led to the car’s subsequent exclusion from the results.
Century Motorsport released the following statement: “Following their exclusion from the British GT4 results in the 2nd race at Zandvoort, Century Motorsport can confirm that the exclusion was as a result of the Catalytic Converters not being correctly in place at the end of race 2. The fuel map on the new paddle shift system supplied by Ginetta Cars and used for the first time at Zandvoort caused the burning out of the catalytic converters in the two one hour races resulting in them not being present when inspected. This problem was unknown before the event as no testing was carried out on the system prior to Zandvoort, other than on a rolling road to ensure the gearbox worked correctly.”
The APO Sport Ginetta of Alex Osborne and James May looked strong all weekend and – having finished second on Saturday – the car was leading in Sunday’s race when taken out by Dan Brown’s BMW. Without that, the car may well have gone on to win and thus end the weekend just three points shy of the Optimum Ginetta going into the last round. As it was, after an expensive season – the #69 also having to contend with a wheel striking it during Parfitt’s shunt – their season may well have ended in the Zandvoort tyres. Let’s hope that that is not the case.
The five Dutch GT4 cars were not on this occasion fighting for British GT (and Avon Trophy) points, but were instead embroiled in their own HDI Gerling Dutch GT race. Luc Braams and Duncan Huisman took a double victory in the #409 Las Moras Chevrolet Corvette SS GT4.
The BGT standings can be found – here
And that was the Trophy of the Dunes.
Next up for the British GT Championship is the Donington finalé, and for the second year running we’re likely to have to wait until the final moments of its two-hour duration to discover just who will get their hands on the GT3 and GT4 trophies.
MH
