Circumstances may have temporarily reduced the GT4 field to 10 cars at Rockingham, but that didn’t detract from a fascinating contest that had more twists and turns than a twisty, turny thing (©1986 BBC/Blackadder).
Rick Parfitt Jr and Tom Oliphant had taken pole with almost identical times in the #42 Century Ginetta, suggesting that they were going to be very difficult to beat, and the 2013 Champion made sure his start was similarly impressive. Despite having to slow up to avoid the GT3 carnage at Deene, Parfitt crossed the line more than three seconds ahead of Oz Yusuf’s #77 Lotus Evora, and with the #13 GT3 Ferrari – John Dhillon having started from the back row – between him and his pursuer; and on Lap 2 the two delayed Trackspeed Porsches similarly acted as a temporary cushion as they recovered lost ground. By the end of Lap 3, the Century Ginetta was more than seven seconds clear of the Lotus, which was preoccupied with keeping the #407 Beechdean Aston of Jake Giddings in its mirrors.
In contrast to the GT3 field, which had seen wholesale changes in its order on the opening lap, the only place change in GT4 had happened at the rear of the field as Andrew Jarman took the #49 TF Sport Aston past Barrie Baxter’s #44 Team Parker racing Porsche 911. By Lap 3, Jarman had taken two more scalps – the #46 Twisted Team Parker Ginetta of Adrian Barwick and the #41 Optimum G55 of Tania Mann – while Aleksander Schjerpen took fifth in the #43 Century Ginetta at the expense of Paul McNeilly in the #48 Fox Motorsports Ginetta.
On Lap 4, Yusuf’s resistance crumbled and Giddings was through, as was Oli Basey-Fisher in the #55 Academy motorsports G55. The gap from first to second was now a full 10 seconds and the Aston driver soon find his times being matched by the Ginetta ahead for lap after lap.
Jarman continued to rise up the order over the next few laps and by Lap 9 was in fourth place. Immediately ahead was Basey-Fisher’s Ginetta, but the GT3 leaders had already begun to lap the Gt4 field and the duel played out with the intervention of several faster cars. The Academy driver held out for 10 more laps before Jarman finally took third with a well-timed move at Deene. Poor old Adrian Barwick, meanwhile, was having a torrid time, first getting punted off by a passing GT3 on Lap 14 and then finding the grass again at Chapman Curve on Lap 18. He was, however, able to continue.
With 20 laps completed, the GT4 order was 42, 407, 49, 55, 3, 48, 77, 41, 44 and 46. There still wasn’t much between Parfitt in the lead and Giddings in second, in terms of pace, but continual traffic meant that any gain by the Aston was soon wiped out. Jarman’s progress, meanwhile, had been blunted by a rear slow-puncture that left him unable to close on the Beechdean Vantage.
On Lap 26, Yusuf brought a very smokey Lotus into the pits for an unscheduled stop. The team got to work and the car rejoined, but Gavan Kershaw’s time in the Evora was a short one before further issues brought down the curtain after 32 laps. Also on Lap 26, Tania Mann dropped her Ginetta into the kitty litter at Kirby and the Safety Car had to intervene to enable a safe recovery.
Although Parfitt saw his hard-won advantage eroded, he at least had the luxury of a GT3 Ginetta between himself and Giddings at the restart a few minutes later, and he was handed a further cushion when the Beechdean car was hit by the United Autosports Audi at Tarzan. Giddings was able to continue okay, but this incident would have repercussions later in the race.
The pit-window opened three minutes after the resumption of racing and Baxter was the first to pit, handing his Porsche over to Dan Cammish. Barwick was in next, to hand over to Bradley Ellis, while McNeilly handed his Ginetta over to Jamie Stanley a lap later. Schjerpen handed his Ginetta to Morten Dons from fifth place after 33 laps, but something went badly wrong for the Dane as he began his outlap and the #43 Century G55 got no further than Turn 1 before spinning out in wild fashion; Dons climbing out of the car unscathed. This, coupled with John Gaw’s GT3 Aston also finding the Kirby gravel, brought out the Safety Car for a second time.
Giddings pitted as the Safety Car came out, leaving Parfitt and Basey-Fisher as the only GT4s still to do so; Jarman having stopped just before the race went yellow. The Century driver ended an excellent and flawless hour of racing on Lap 40, handing control of the #42 to Tom Oliphant, but Optimum looked to have blown their chances by leaving Basey-Fisher out too long as he began his stop just as the race went green again. Once Matt Nicoll-Jones rejoined in the Academy car, he was back in third in class and almost a lap adrift of the top two.
Oliphant’s pace was every bit as quick as Parfitt’s had been, but just four laps after joining the race, the 23 year old was back in the pitlane; a wheel-nut failure being quickly diagnosed. The team got to work, but their chances had gone – a cruel blow after such a great stint by Parfitt. The car would rejoin later in the race and was classified eighth in class, 22 laps down on the class winner, so at least some championship points had been earned.
“Yet again fate dealt us a blow!” said Rick Parfitt. “The weekend was going fantastic with us securing pole position and our race strategy was working perfectly. I was able to pull what should have been an unassailable lead on the GT4 pack, but sadly it didn’t work out due to three wheel studs shearing, and so far this season in two out of the three races a component has failed on the car that is beyond our control. I can’t tell you how utterly frustrating it is to have had two potential wins snatched away! On a more positive note, my pace was great this weekend and both Tom and I have shown yet again that we are one of the fastest pairings on the grid.”
Ross Wylie now led the class with a huge lead over Nicoll-Jones, but the Beechdean driver had had to serve a drive-through for a yellow-flag infringement just before the Century car hit trouble and the time lost through this would prove to be significant. The penalty related to the Audi incident at the end of the first caution period and was later rescinded on appeal, but the damage had been done.
The fight for third place was undoubtedly the highlight of the second hour, with Jamie Stanley repeatedly challenging Devon Modell for the place. The Fox Ginetta and TF Aston were nose-to-tail for several laps and Stanley oh-so-nearly landed the killer blow at Deene, Modell closed the door in the nick of time and the fight continued.
As the race entered its final half-hour, news began to filter through that the Beechdean car had had a problem at the driver-change and not enough fuel had been taken on board, This meant that a splash’n’dash would be needed and Wylie came down the pitlane with 26 minutes to go. The regulations state that refuelling cannot take place with the driver in the car, so the Scot quickly climbed out and hopped over the wall. Once the requisite amount of fuel was taken onboard, Wylie climbed back in, with Jake Giddings helping with belts. The Aston rejoined just ahead of the TF and Fox cars, but was now 36 seconds behind Nicoll-Jones.
It was now a case of putting his foot down and trying to close the gap in the time remaining, but although he managed to trim 17 seconds off the gap, the win went to a delighted Academy Motorsport.
“It’s a bit of a different feeling to Oulton Park this weekend”, said an elated Oli Basey-Fisher. “The car really was fantastic, 10 times better than it was in the first round even though we are still a little bit down on pace compared to the Aston Martins. We’ve made a big step forward, things are looking good for the championship.”
“Fantastic,” added Matt Nicoll-Jones. “We’ve had a hard few weeks leading up to this but Ollie and the team did a great job. The car was awesome and didn’t miss a beat.”
“That was probably the toughest race of my career with lots going on but the reward is to be leading the championship,” said Ross Wylie.
Although Modell could not keep pace with Wylie over the closing laps, he was able to finally pull away from Stanley to claim third for TF Sport.
“In hindsight, the GT4 result may have been even better if we hadn’t had to start from the back of the grid,” said TF Sport Director, Tom Ferrier, “but Andrew’s pace was exceptional and moved us forwards and Devon did a very good job considering he turned up today with hardly any practice miles under his belt. However, today’s result means that we go into the next long races aiming for more and I think we might target a minimum of second in GT4 next time out at Silverstone. We came here knowing this wasn’t going to be the strongest track for the Aston Martin and we have some circuits coming up that the drivers excel on. Onwards and upwards!”
Dan Cammish and Bradley Ellis finished fifth and sixth for Team Parker and Twisted Team Parker after lonely drives, while Matt Draper brought the much-delayed #41 Optimum Ginetta home a distant seventh.
After three races, Giddings and Wylie have 64 points, a lead of just 1.5 over Jarman and Modell. Basey-Fisher and Nicoll-Jones move into third with 43.5 after their win.
Full standings – here.
Next up is the three-hour race on the Silverstone G.P. circuit, where the debut of the Toyota G86 and the return of 2013 front-runners APO Sport is expected.
MH
