The tyre confusion that had shaken up the GT3 starting order for Race 1 on Saturday morning at a murky Spa-Francorchamps had an even more dramatic effect on the GT4 field, which ended up seemingly scattered randomly throughout the field; so scattered, in fact, that Oz Yusuf found himself leading the class from 10th overall in the #77 Lotus, having qualified sixth in class and 31st overall.
Yusuf was the only GT4 runner to have gone to the grid on slicks, whereas the majority of the 10-strong class (the #69 APO Sport Porsche still in the midst of a gearbox change and thus unable to participate) opted to stop either at the end of the outlap, or after the first of the two Safety Car laps that kicked things off. Jade Edwards was right behind Yusuf as the Safety Car circulated, but she realised too late that her gamble on wets hadn’t paid off and the #41 Optimum Ginetta followed the SC down the pitlane. She resumed on slicks, but had dropped to the tail of the field.
Yusuf was by his own admission far too cautious in the opening stages of the race and had overestimated his advantage, and it was something of a rude awakening for the Evora driver when Andrew Jarman went by into the class lead in the #49 TF Sport Aston Martin. Paul McNeilly was third in the #48 Fox Motorsport Ginetta, while poleman Oli Basey-Fisher was a long way back (sixth in class and 31st overall) in the #55 Academy Motorsport G55 but improving rapidly.
The rush of delayed GT3 cars through the GT4 field meant that a clear picture of the class didn’t emerge until Lap 6, by which the order was 49, 55, 43, 407, 77, 42, 48, 46, 44 and 41. Jarman’s lead over Basey-Fisher was around 11 seconds at this stage, with Aleksander Schjerpen a close third in the #43 Century Ginetta and Ross Wylie a similar distance further back in fourth in the Beechdean Aston.
Basey-Fisher’s pace was around a second a lap quicker than Jarman’s and the gap between the top two continued to shrink. Wylie’s pace was similarly quicker than Schjerpen’s and third place changed hands on Lap 7. Before any further position changes could take place, however, the pit window opened and Barrie Baxter, in the #44 Team Parker Porsche, and Jade Edwards were the first to stop.
Jarman pitted from the lead at the end of Lap 9, and was followed in by Wylie, Schjerpen, Parfitt, Yusuf, McNeilly and Adrian Barwick (#46 Twisted Team Parker Ginetta). Basey-Fisher stayed out for one more lap before handing over to Matt Nicoll-Jones, but a problem with his belts resulted in a longer stop than anticipated and the 2008 champion was down to fourth when he joined the track.
The TF Aston still led, but Devon Modell’s advantage over Jake Giddings was only a couple of tenths after the Beechdean crew turned their car round seven seconds quicker at the stop.
Morten Dons was third, 11 seconds back (after having served an extra five seconds as a result of third at the previous race), with Nicoll-Jones four seconds further back and Gavan Kershaw fifth in the Lotus, another four seconds behind. An extra 10 seconds at the stop had dropped Tom Oliphant to sixth in the #42 Ginetta, but then there was a gap of almost half-a-minute to the #44 Porsche of Dan Cammish, who had the #46 Ginetta of Bradley Ellis (15 seconds extra at the stop) in his exhaust fumes. Jamie Stanley’s fight was with his car’s handling, and the Fox driver had dropped to ninth, while Matt Draper was just too far back in the Optimum G55 as a result of the earlier stop and had a very lonely race.
As the top two continued to circulate as though tied together – Modell frustrating Giddings at every opportunity – Kershaw was making rapid progress in the Lotus and was by far the quickest GT4 at that point. The #77 took advantage of the battle for third between Dons and Nicoll-Jones, taking both cars on Lap 15, and now had 14 minutes to close the 11 second gap to the leaders. The Academy driver had perhaps been distracted by the news that he would have to serve a drive-through for a pitlane infringement, which dropped him behind Oliphant when he served it on Lap 16, but worse was to follow for the #55, with engine failure sidelining the car in the final 10 minutes and ending the team’s day.
“It’s irritating to say the least, our engine was brand new and had done less than two hours running before it went bang”, said Oli Basey-Fisher, “We definitely proved our pace and that the car is quick by getting pole for both races, we did as much as we could. We really thought our luck had changed, the team worked so hard all weekend and we deserved more than we got in the end.”
Modell continued to hold on to the lead despite intense and unrelenting pressure from the #407, but all the while Kershaw was closing; and with just five minutes remaining, the Lotus was with the two Astons. This seemed to spur Giddings on and with two minutes on the clock the timing screen showed the Beechdean car ahead. But Giddings had only got the nose of his car ahead as the two passed the timing beam and Modell held on. By now though, smoke was visible from the back of the #407 – an gearbox oil leak was the diagnosis – but it didn’t seem to be affecting the speed of the blue-and-white car.
Onto the final lap and the leading trio were nose-to-tail as they fought over the final seven kilometres. It looked like Kershaw had run out of time, but at the final corner he dramatically seized second. Devon Modell took the win for TF Sport after an excellent drive, while the Lotus and the Beechdean Aston were just one-tenth apart across the line.
“To win is great,” said Modell. “Andrew did a brilliant job to put us in the lead and it felt really good to stand on the top step of the podium once again, having been absent for what feels like a lifetime. Using the simulator prior to the weekend was beneficial. It showed me where the track went, but wasn’t much help as to how the car actually performed. The car understeered a lot, especially during the long, sweeping bends and at the top of Eau Rouge.”
But while the Lotus had crossed the line in second, damage to the rear of the Beechdean Aston testified to the fact that Kershaw’s last-ditch challenge had been a robust one and he was handed a post-race 10-second penalty that reversed the remaining podium positions.
“The Aston’s a bit sorry for itself after that race,” said Giddings. “Myself and Devon Modell have the same power so we were bumping and rubbing each other through our stints – but we’ve both come from Clios so we’re used to that! On the second to last corner the Lotus came up the inside and hit us in the side, we spun half round but managed to regain it and keep third. It was disappointing as we were having such a strong race till then. The gearbox was smoking a bit, but it was changing fine, so hopefully it’s something we can fix.”
“The two Astons ahead were holding each other up and defending which meant I could catch up with them,” said Kershaw. “On the last lap I could see the Beechdean Aston go for the lead around the outside, so I went to the inside. There was a three into one moment and I emerged in second. We came to Spa wanting two podiums so we’ve got what we wanted so far this weekend.”
The battle for the lead wasn’t the only close contest in the second half of the race, with the two Century cars fighting over fourth place to the flag. Tom Oliphant had begun his stint nine seconds adrift of Morten Dons, but over the course of 20 minutes had reduced that to just a few tenths. The Dane put up a hard resistance, but Oliphant found a way through on the final lap to take the place by just 0.155s.
Bradley Ellis took seventh from Dan Cammish on Lap 17, which became sixth when the Academy Ginetta expired, while a spin for the Porsche meant that its driver had to work hard to get back ahead of the ill-handling Fox Ginetta before the close.
While the class had lost the Academy Ginetta for the second race, the good news was that the APO Porsche had successfully completed its repairs and was ready to go; although having missed qualifying, Alex Osborne would be starting from the back of the grid. The Beechdean Aston was ready to go, too, after the team replaced the gearbox.
In the absence of the Academy Ginetta, Bradley Ellis was effectively the pole-sitter (although a space had to be left where the #55 should have been) in the Twisted Ginetta, but it had already been proven that the G55 was at a disadvantage around the fast Belgian circuit; “The problem we’ve got is that the Ginetta is so high that it wallows and rolls through the corners – the ride-height we’ve been given means that the dampers don’t work!” said Ellis earlier. “And because we’re not as quick as the Astons and the Lotus, the only way we can get past them is to make a pretty brave move into the corners – if we can keep up with them along the straights in the first place.”
It wasn’t much of a surprise, then, that it was Gavan Kershaw who exited the Bus Stop chicane after the first lap in the lead of the class. Ellis was still second, but Dan Cammish was third and clearly after revenge for his Race 1 demotion at the hands of the Ginetta and the #44 Porsche took second on Lap 2. Jake Giddings then took third on the next lap, but Ellis was lapping quicker than Devon Modell in fifth and consolidated his fourth place.
Alex Osborne was up to sixth in the #69 Porsche after only two laps and looked likely to progress further before too long. However, a crash for the GT3 Ginetta at the start of Lap 5 led to the Safety Car neutralising the race and Osborne was obliged to hold station.
When racing resumed on Lap 8, Kershaw was handed a cushion in the unlikely form of the #4 Oman Racing Aston GT3, which was recovering from an earlier delay, and this thwarted Cammish’s hopes of making a move at the restart. The Lotus now enjoyed a bigger lead – four seconds – than it had held before the caution period, and this began to grow as Cammish’s attention switched to defending second from Giddings. The timing screen briefly had Modell ahead of Ellis on Lap 8, but by the start of Lap 9 the Ginetta was back ahead.
Jamie Stanley had lost ground at the start of the race after contact, but had retaken eighth after passing the #43 Ginetta of Morten Dons before the Safety Car. On Lap 11, Fox Motorsport gambled on an early stop and brought him in – the pit window having opened a couple of minutes earlier – in the hope of gaining an advantage. But before Paul McNeilly could return to the track, the Safety Car was out again and the moment was gone. The net result was that the Fox car actually lost a place as Dons followed Stanley down the pitlane and Century turned their car round quicker.
On Lap 11 also, Giddings had managed to get second from Cammish and was stayed out while the remainder of the class headed for the pits. That one extra lap behind the Safety Car resulted in the Aston resuming in the lead in the hands of Ross Wylie, despite having to serve five seconds more than the Lotus as a result of second in Race 1.
The confusion that came with the caution period beginning in the midst of the driver-change window resulted in the Safety Car picking up the #69 APO Porsche, now in third in GT4 in the hands of James May.
Before long, this meant that the Beechdean Aston and the ISSY Lotus (now with Oz Yusuf at the wheel) were almost a lap ahead of the rest of the field, but eventually the wave-by was given and the GT4s sped up to catch back up with the queue. Fortunately they made it before the restart, but there was only time enough for three laps when the Safety Car turned its lights off.
The order was Wylie, Yusuf, May, Parfitt (#42), Jarman (#49), Barwick (#46), Baxter (#44), Schjerpen (#43) and McNeilly. The Optimum Ginetta had retired after just two laps with power-steering problems.
Wylie was ready for the restart and began to pull away from Yusuf, who in turn had a four-second cushion – filled at the end of the restart lap by a GT3 Audi – over the APO Porsche. Jarman managed to get Parfitt for fourth, but Schjerpen and Baxter had a coming together on the restart lap and both crashed out. The drivers were unhurt and the incident was handled with local yellows, which meant the race could run to the flag.
Alas for James May, as he passed the yellows on the penultimate lap, the #69 Porsche suffered a spin and he dropped from third to sixth. And there was more drama as the TF Sport Aston was handed a one-second stop/go penalty for a too-short pitstop. This meant that Parfitt moved up to third when Jarman took the penalty.
Wylie eased up slightly on the final lap, but had a three second cushion over Yusuf going into it and he took the flag for his and Jake Giddings’ second win of the year.
“I was panicking at the start of the race because Jake suffered a gear selection issue on the out lap but thankfully an electronics reset resolved the problem,” said Ross Wylie. “Jake did a good stint and handed the car over to me in third and unlike some of the other races this year the Safety Car worked in our favour and we got in front and stayed there.”
Giddings was also awarded the Mobil 1 Service Centre Master of the Weekend for his performance over the weekend.
“I got my head down and got a bit of lead, got a good restart, but then I saw Oz was behind the safety car when I took my helmet off!” said Gavan Kershaw. “In the end it was a comfortable second. Oz kept his own in his stint to bring it home.”
Rick Parfitt was happy with third after a difficult weekend; “We knew we couldn’t win with outright pace. The competitors are quite far ahead in that respect, so we had to stay with the top five and use our strengths to keep up. I had a difficult stint that involved a lot of defending, but the TF Sport Aston’s desperation to get ahead meant I was in control. We inherited third, but we had to be close to get that bit of luck. Tom did a great stint too.”
Adrian Barwick brought the #46 Twisted Ginetta home in fourth, with Paul McNeilly fifth for Fox, James May sixth for APO and Jarman seventh in the TF Aston.
“That’s the hardest eighth and fifth places I’ve ever had to work for. We just couldn’t get the car working this weekend, and it’s been hard going but we will bounce back for Brands,” said McNeilly.
With two races to go, the Beechdean duo now hold a healthy lead in the title race.
155 – Ross Wylie/Jake Giddings
136 – Andrew Jarman/Devon Modell
108.5 – Adrian Barwick/Bradley Ellis
94 – Oz Yusuf/Gavan Kershaw
80 – Aleksander Schjerpen/Morten Dons
Who will prevail at Brands Hatch on August 31st?
MH
