Well, they only went and did it again! ‘They’ being the competitors in the British GT Championship, and ‘it’ being the production of a truly magnificent end to the season for the second year running. The two-hour finalé decided the Drivers titles in all three classes, with the overall honour of being crowned British GT Champion 2013 going the way of Andrew Howard; the Beechdean driver taking the trophy by the squeakily-narrow margin of 1.5 points after a truly tense encounter.
“An incredible feeling,” said the champagne-soaked champion as he left the podium. “In terms of not really being able to go for it early on in the season this is such a great result. Half way through the year we were out of the running. We had to get wins or seconds and that’s exactly what we did – suddenly we’re at Zandvoort and we’re leading the championship.
“There was a lot of pressure and we had to be disciplined. It was tempting to push in the early stages. I really had to get in front of Marco and then we just had to try to manage the car from there. It was frustrating sitting behind the McLaren; we’re all racers but at the end of the day we had to think about the championship and keep our heads.
“The prospect of starting next year with number one on the car is just amazing.”
For Matt Bell, crossing the line at 15:25 on Sunday afternoon was, by his own admission, a bittersweet affair; the joy of taking his and Mark Patterson’s first win of the season in the #25 United Autosports Audi R8 LMS ultra being tempered by the realisation that results elsewhere in the field had not gone in their favour and that they had fallen just shy of snatching the crown.
“The team has worked really hard this year and it’s been a challenge,” said United MD Richard Dean. “To lose the championship by a point and a half is disappointing but a win is a great reward for all the effort. Mark Patterson has earned his position as a class driver. He’s a pay driver, but has worked really hard to improve his game and develop his race skills. He has elevated himself as a real contender and drove brilliantly today.”
Indeed, Patterson’s performance was just one of many hugely impressive stints from various drivers, which was testament to just how far some of them had progressed over the season. As FF Corse’s Rob Barff put it; “These aren’t Gentlemen racers sharing a car with Pros – these are sportsman racers sharing a car with their driver coaches, and we’ve seen today the result of the hard work put in by both sides.”
The evidence of this was provided on the opening lap when Lee Mowle, making his first race start from pole position, confidently controlled the pack out of Roberts and made a great start; keeping the #8 888Optimum BMW Z4 in the lead going into Redgate and ensuring that the much more experienced Gregor Fisken was denied an opportunity to launch an attack in the #32 Trackspeed Porsche 997 GT3 R. More significantly, Mowle looked fully in control at the head of the field in the opening stages and was not daunted when a Safety Car period meant that a second rolling start would be required; the BMW again heading off into the distance as the lights changed.
Such was his confidence, that he only lost the lead on the penultimate corner of his final lap before pitting; and that was only because his tyres had reached the end of their life while the Ferrari of Gary Eastwood was much happier on its used rubber. Mowle had driven brilliantly and should, by rights, have been the recipient of the Blancpain Gentleman Drivers Trophy, which went elsewhere. But worse was to follow for the #8 BMW.
Eastwood had begun the race in fourth in the #18 FF Corse 458, but saw his opportunity to progress at the Melbourne Hairpin on the opening lap; the red car taking third from the #79 Ecurie Ecosse BMW of Marco Attard. He was then gifted second as Gregor Fisken suffered a spin at the same spot while under pressure from Eastwood and dropped to ninth. Thereafter, Eastwood kept station with the lead BMW; the gap extending to almost five seconds at one point before falling rapidly as the pitstop-window approached. By the time he stopped, Eastwood had done enough to ensure that the 15-second penalty that came with second-place at Zandvoort would not be a significant factor.
These two had been able to pull away from their pursuers as a result of an epic fight for third place that involved three of the title contenders – Attard, Howard and Patterson – as well as the Von Ryan McLaren MP4-12C of the rapid Grégoire Demoustier, who had carved his way from 17th to sixth by Lap 17. Patterson knew he had to win, while Attard knew that he had to stay ahead of Howard’s #007 Aston Martin Vantage. The Beechdean driver was not taking any risks in fourth place, but was letting Attard know that he was very much there by closing right up from time to time (how odd much it have been for the BMW driver to be concentrating on the most important drive of his life only to see SpongeBob Squarepants grinning at him whenever he looked in his mirrors?) before finally making his move on Lap 19. Attard resisted for a number of corners, but the Aston prevailed; and Patterson took advantage of the fight to get into position to pull the same move on the BMW on the next lap.
Demoustier’s continuing progress took the #9 McLaren past both Attard and Patterson, but this enabled the Audi to again take advantage as third place changed hands, with the R8 pushing the Vantage down to fifth on Lap 27. But the South African handed finished and took back third from the Frenchman at Roberts just before pitting.
“It was nail-biting stuff,” said Patterson after the race. “It was controlled to begin with and everyone drove meticulously well. The guys up front got going a bit quicker than I thought they would which created a bit of a gap, but it was disciplined and we got going after a while. When the safety car went in, that’s when it really going and our car was quicker in the chicane than anyone ahead of me, which allowed me to get them under braking at the hairpin. This was maybe the most enjoyable race I’ve ever had. Some of these tracks we visit, Donington and Oulton are just fantastic for a driver, it was very enjoyable and we’re pleased with the win.”
It was at this point in the race that the first ‘wild card’ was played – the #2 Aston, #8 BMW, #13 Ferrari, #33 Porsche and #80 Aston all being handed drive-through penalties for overtaking under yellows. John Dhillon was one of those affected and held his hands up; “It’s a fair call, but I just didn’t see the flag; I don’t think any of us did!” It would appear to be the positioning of the marshals’ post that was the issue on this occasion. Dhillon was another to have put in a sterling stint, getting the #13 AF Corse Ferrari up to seventh after losing a chunk of time when stuck behind a slower GT4 behind the safety car, before catching the #33 Porsche of Jon Minshaw and coming out on top after an epic struggle between the two; “I really enjoyed that,” said the Leicester man. “The last two rounds have been great for me and without the drive-through I think we could have got a podium, so it’s massively frustrating that the season has come to an end; but it sets us up well for next season!”
Aaron Scott made his stop early and fought back to sixth by the end of the race, setting up the fastest lap – 1:30.236 – along the way.
Joe Osborne also took his car’s penalty at the end of his outlap and managed to retain the (effective) race lead by undertaking the FF Corse Ferrari in the pitlane; Rob Barff easing off his pace to ensure that he complied with his allocated minimum pitstop time. However, Osborne was destined to make two more stops before long, with serious consequences.
“I’m really upset by this,” he told us later,” because it makes me look like an idiot! I was called back in for a stop/go because they said my drive-through was completed too quickly. I was on the pit limiter all the way down and our in-car footage confirms that it took us 18 seconds, while the minimum time was 17.5s. However, their decision was based on TSL’s timing loop which said we did it in 16.2s; and because it was deemed to be a matter of fact, we could not appeal. So I took the penalty and still managed to hold on to third. But then they said that the second penalty was also taken too quickly – 16.1s against our timing of 18s – and they gave us a third! I couldn’t believe it, but had no choice but to stop again; and when I pulled away again the propshaft failed.”
The string of penalties had the effect of taking the #8 BMW from first place to retirement, but if a mistake had been made with the timing then the implications were much more significant than just ruining one team’s race – for the sequence of events almost certainly determined who would be champion!
Prior to the first stop/go penalty being issued to Osborne, Matt Bell had managed to take second place from Rob Barff and the United Audi was left with a 3.5s lead as the BMW dropped back to third. But fourth was held by Duncan Tappy in the Von Ryan McLaren and he was preventing Jonny Adam from going by into that crucial place – the one that would give him enough points to take the title for his teammate (the Scot not in the running due to being docked points for an avoidable-contact penalty at Snetterton). More significantly, Richard Westbrook was right behind at the time and on unstoppable form in the #32 Trackspeed Porsche that he’d inherited from Gregor Fisken in ninth.
Adam found himself in fourth on Lap 58 as Tappy was handed a penalty for passing under yellows, and this became third when Osborne received his second stop/go instruction. This sequence of events had the effect of removing Matt Bell’s hand from the trophy and placing one of Andrew Howard’s on it instead, and Westbrook taking third shortly afterwards affected only the race and podium positions. We can, of course, only speculate as to what might have happened had the BMW not received the two additional penalties – would Adam have been able to fend off Westbrook to the end? Would the propshaft have failed on the BMW anyway? – but the crucial fact is that fifth for the #007 Aston would have sent the title to United Autosports, while fourth gave it to Beechdean.
But that is one to ponder for later and it should take nothing away from the fact that Andrew Howard became a popular and deserving winner of the trophy, not just for his performances this year – his season starting in calamitous fashion with two DNFs at Oulton Park – but also for his support of the series over the years and his decision to invest in and develop the Vantage GT3 last year. Jonny Adam also drove brilliantly again and should be considered to be co-champion, even if his name will not be engraved on this year’s trophy.
Matt Bell and Mark Patterson did what they had to do and took the win, but even though the title wasn’t theirs they could be proud of what they had achieved this year – finishing every race and never giving up.
“We were seventeen seconds off the lead when we came into the pits, but we had a really good stop, which has been a real strong point this year, and I found the pace in the car was great,” said Bell. “We were able to push and hold the gap. I had a nervy period when the Ferrari was three or four seconds behind us but I managed to keep him back and manage the car to the win.”
Rob Barff was a tad disappointed that he hadn’t been able to take the win, but he and Gary Eastwood came good at the end of the season and are sure to do well if they return next season, as looks likely; “We had a small issue with mechanical grip into and out of the slow corners which meant that I couldn’t carry as much momentum as I needed, but Matt was driving very well and deserved the win. Gary had a brilliant stint and I’m a bit embarrassed to finish second after he gave me the car in the lead, but had we not had the extra 15 seconds after Zandvoort, I’m sure we’d have taken it.”
Barff and Aaron Scott then headed straight off to the airport for an overnight flight to Abu Dhabi, where Barff’s Middle East-based team, Dragon Speed, would be holding its media launch.
Westbrook’s efforts not only secured third for Trackspeed and earned him the Mobil Service Centre Driver of the Weekend award, but also ensured that Gregor Fisken’s season ended on a happy note after rather too many sour ones in 2013.
“It’s really good to get a finish and a good result,” said the Scot. “Early on I came up on an oil flag and got a bump that put me off line, then I found a load of neutrals. The BMW was really strong at the start and I just couldn’t go with it. It was tough hanging in there during my stint. The Ferrari was a big challenge – Gary was behind me all the way and I couldn’t give him an inch. Every apex, every braking point had to be right; I just could not give him a chance. To be honest I don’t think we could have done any better today. Richard is an absolute star and pushed it hard, but I think we got the best out of the car to reach the podium.”
So what of the other title contenders?
Marco Attard and Olly Bryant came close to taking the title after an impressive season, but Bryant just wasn’t able to get ahead of Adam in the second half of the race – 2.702 seconds being perhaps the most significant gap of the whole season. The Ecurie Ecosse duo were also unlucky to find themselves fighting for the title on a day when so many people drove well and when mistakes were few. But errors were being made and some of these accounted for the remaining three contenders.
“It was a great weekend except for the fact that we were out-powered by the Aston Martin,” said Attard. “We have had an excellent driver pairing all season and with Barwell we were up at the front from race one. Everyone has done a great job and let’s hope for more next time. Well done all!”
“2013 was the most competitive season in the history of British GT, so to challenge for the title aboard the Ecurie Ecosse BMW was a privilege,” added Bryant. “It was fantastic working with Barwell Motorsport and Marco, who has developed to become one of the quickest amateur drivers in the series. We won the best race of the year, the 3-hour at Silverstone where there was a 49-car grid, and took podiums at Oulton Park and Brands Hatch. All that has combined to make it a very rewarding season, despite missing out on the title by just 3.5 points – or two seconds! We’ll be back for sure.”
David Ashburn’s race ended on only Lap 8, when he attempted to pass the Team Parker Ginetta of Adrian Barwick. Contact was made and the #31 Porsche spun out, causing the Safety Car to be scrambled. This meant that Nick Tandy not only failed to complete a lap in any of the races longer than an hour this season, but also that his remote chances of the title were over before he could do anything about it.
And it was contact that put paid to the hopes of the #1 Motorbase Porsche of Ahmad Al Harthy and Michael Caine, and the #888 888Optimum BMW of Steve Tandy and Dan Brown.
Tandy started the race in the BMW but found himself being rear-ended by the #6 PGF-Kinfaun Aston Martin of Phil Dryburgh on Lap 7.
This caused the retirement of the Aston, but Tandy was able to race on, albeit with heavy rear damage. Just a few laps later, however, further contact with the #22 Preci-Spark Mercedes of David Jones caused race-ending suspension damage to the BMW and also caught up the Porsche of Al Harthy. This one incident resulted in the retirement of Tandy, an insurmountable delay for Al Harthy – Caine eventually bringing the car home in 12th and failing to collect points for the only time this season – and exclusion from the race and a fine for Jones.
Duncan Tappy finished seventh after a good race for the Von Ryan McLaren – the two penalties being the only issues for the car – while Tom Sharp and Colin White were finally able to celebrate a top-ten finish and their first championship points in the #40 IDL-CWS Ginetta G55 GT3, which came home in eighth. Their season almost ended before it had begun with a catastrophic fire at Oulton, but they came back and kept at it and this result was fully deserved.
The #16 Team LNT Ginetta of Rob Smith and Mike Simpson was running strongly in seventh after 90 minutes, but a holed radiator caused the car to come to a steamy halt just as it was poised for further progress. The third Ginetta – the MTECH G55 of Derek Johnston and Luke Hines – hit trouble early on and was in and out of the pits before eventually retiring. The last two meetings had been enough to convince Hines to come back next year; “Yeah, I want to come back one more time and win it for dad,” he said. “I’ll have a look at what cars are looking the best for next year, so it’s likely to be a late decision.”
Phil Keen brought the #33 Porsche home in ninth, while Jacques Duyver and Charlie Hollings were able to celebrate their first GT3 race together with a point and tenth place; Duyver also leading the race for a couple of laps during the pitstop window in the #26 AF Corse Ferrari 458, with AF boss Amato Ferrari watching from the pitwall.
Barwell Motorsport got all three of its cars home – the #80 Aston of Mark Poole and Richard Abra in 11th and the #78 BMW of Ron Johnson and Piers Johnson in 14th – while the #14 Fortec Mercedes finished in 13th after losing a minute at the driver change. Phil Burton and Adam Wilcox finished their first race together in the Paul White-owned #2 ‘Bilstein’ Aston Martin – hopefully giving them the incentive to return in 2014 – while Tom Roche and Dom Evans brought the Blendini Audi home in 16th.
The GT4 battle followed a similar pattern to that in GT3, in that the #43 Century Motorsport Ginetta had to take the win and have the #44 Optimum Motorsport Ginetta finish no higher than third in order for Declan Jones to take the title. In fact, this is exactly what happened; but because the second-placed Silverstone Auctions Aston of Harry Whale and Richie Stanaway was not eligible to score points, Rick Parfitt Jr and Ryan Ratcliffe took the GT4 title by two points.
“This is the most disappointing win of my life,” admitted the young Liverpudlian. “It’s fantastic to win, the team was great and we had an engine go yesterday, so they’ve put in a big effort. But to finish second by two points is hard, it’s been a really hard year. If certain things didn’t happen I would’ve walked it. I’ve had the pace to win all year and I’ve done the best I can do in the situation and I couldn’t do anymore. It’s my first year of GT and I’ve been the quickest in the class and I’m the youngest in the class, so I’ve got a good future ahead of me.”
Parfitt and Ratcliffe knew exactly what they had to do, and events elsewhere meant that a late stop/go penalty for a too-short stop did not endanger their title bid, even if it did mean that it allowed the Aston to take second.
“My stint went like clockwork,” said a delighted Parfitt, who watched his teammate clinch the trophy from the pitwall alongside Rick Parfitt Snr. “I had to bide my time getting past Adrian (Barwick) and he was perhaps driving too defensively considering he wasn’t in the title battle. I let him do his thing, then got ahead and then when Nathan came past I sat behind him and just managed the gap. I struggled with some of the GT3 traffic today and that is when the Aston Martin, Harry Whale I think, got past me. We got the result we wanted by boxing clever, we didn’t need to win it and if we had to, Ryan had the pace and the grip to win, but that’s how you win championships. I was happy with Ryan in the car, I trust him completely and it was great to win in front of my Dad, it’s the first race he’s ever seen me drive. I’m going to celebrate by having one and a half drinks, which will probably render me absolutely smashed. I’m going to really celebrate by getting married in a fortnight, but I also celebrated when I heard Shaun on the radio say, ‘Box this lap, Rick!’”
“It hasn’t really sunk in, but it’s an amazing moment,” added Ratcliffe. “Our strategy was to go out and win it, but we knew if we finished second we’d be OK. We were running a strong second then I got the call that we had a drive through penalty and I couldn’t believe it. Apparently our pit stop was too short. I remember getting the countdown and was convinced there wasn’t an error on our part. We disputed it; there’s been some bad calls this year, but in the end we had to go through with it. I was in a really bad mood after that and asked if the third placed car could catch us. When I was told ‘no’ I just went into limp mode. I didn’t want there to be any reason for us failing scrutineering with weight or anything. I couldn’t believe it on the last lap, I was actually in tears – it’s an amazing feeling.”
Nathan Freke had a good opening stint in the Century car to set up the win, while both Whale and Stanaway put in sterling stints to take second for the AMR-entered Aston; only a lengthy driver-change preventing a possible debut win.
The rest of the title hopefuls never really featured in this race for one reason or another, but fourth for Matt Smith and Dan Eagling in the #50 Redgate Lifetime G50 secured third place in the standings, which was an excellent result given the disasters of Oulton Park. James May and Alex Osborne, meanwhile, deserve kudos just for getting to the end of the season after a trying and expensive year. Things didn’t go their way in the end in the #69 APO Ginetta, but fourth in the standings and 133 points was a fine result given the extra 40kgs they’ve had to carry all year.
The Complete Racing Aston of Steve Chaplin and Tom Wilson finished fifth in their comeback race after missing Zandvoort while the Blendini Ginetta of Zoe Wenham and Rory Bryant limped home in seventh.
The #46 Twisted Team Parker Ginetta of Ade Barwick and Bradley Ellis came home eighth on a day when the entire class finished – a rare occasion indeed. Barwick has started the car from pole, but given that this weekend was only his third time in the car, it wasn’t a surprise when the Century Ginetta took the lead on the opening lap. The contact with the Trackspeed Porsche on Lap 8 saw the Twisted car take to the grass in an alarming manner and bar wick did well to keep it pointed in the right direction. Thereafter he stayed on the tarmac and gave the car to Bradley Ellis having regained a place from the Redgate Ginetta. Alas for Ellis, his stint was stymied by a lengthy unscheduled stop for repairs to the gearbox and all he could do was bring the car home. Pole and the fastest race lap, however, suggests that we’ll be hearing a lot more from this crew in 2014.
And congratulations are also due to Paul Bailey and Andy Schulz for taking the GTC title in their Horse Power Racing Ferrari 458 Challenge. The original intention to enter their Aston Martin Vantage GT3 in the race came to nought as its engine had reached its rebuild mileage, but even though they had no competition in the class, the points from the race were enough to take the trophy.
“Now we’ve won GTC and next season we’ll be racing a V12,” said Bailey. “It’s great to see it win the championship today, it gives us confidence using it next year when we mix it with the big boys in British GT. The decision is made, we’ll be racing a GT3 Aston Martin in British GT next season.”
John Dhillon is right – it is frustrating that the season is over, just as a number of teams were clearly reaching their peak; but it won’t be long before preparations begin again for the 2014 season and before you know it we’ll be at Oulton Park once more. Bring it on!
Mark Howson/Martin Little
