Masters Endurance Legends takes on Brands Hatch
The Masters Endurance Legends series was in action over the weekend as part of the Brands Hatch Historic Festival.
11 cars took part, with a trio of Peugeot 90Xs, four Ligier JS P3s, an ORECA LMP2, ORECA FLM 09, a Courage LC75 and a single Ferrari 458 GT3 all on the entry.
Steve Brooks, who won both races at Hockenheim earlier in the year, won Race 1 leading a 1-2 for the Peugeot 90Xs. The Lola B12/60 driven by David Brise was in contention for a podium, before retiring with a gearbox issue, leaving Marcus Jewll to take third overall in his Ligier JS P3.
In Race 2 Steve Wiltshire would take the win with his Peugeot 9X8, with Race 1 winner Steve Brooks suffering a broken gearbox. Richard Meins meanwhile, didn’t take the start in his 9X8, meaning only one of the three made the finish. A pair of Ligier JS P3s completed the podium.
Elsewhere, the Masters GT Trophy was also part of the packed programme of racing at the Kent circuit, with its mix of GT4, Cup and Challenge cars.
Abba Racing criticises British GT BoP
Ahead of last weekend’s British GT race at Donington Park, Abba Racing released a strongly-worded public statement, criticising the SRO’s decision to hand the team a weight penalty between the Silverstone and Donington Park races, after the team managed to set pole at Silverstone with a previous-gen Mercedes AMG GT3.
In the end, Abba Racing qualified 11th at Donington Park, and retired from Sunday’s race.
The statement read:
“This weekend, Team Abba Racing’s Gen 1 Mercedes will be competing with an extra 15kg of weight to that of the upgraded Evo spec Mercedes.
“SRO, the governing body of the British GT Championship, is believed to be uncomfortable that a Gen 1 Mercedes took pole position at this month’s Silverstone 500. On Friday last week the Balance of Performance (BOP) for all cars was made available and Team Abba was given a BOP 15kg heavier than all other GT3 Mercedes competing this weekend.
The team was advised earlier this week that ‘the car is outside the performance window of the 2019 Evo’.
“Team Abba Racing believes this to be a penalty against driver ability and not the car. It further believes it confirms that its drivers, Richard and Sam Neary, continue to aggravate some with their strong driver pace in what is an older specification car. The team’s Gen 1 Mercedes is not faster than the Evo-upgraded Mercedes, a fact that is established through timed sector analysis of all BGT races this year and last.
“Furthermore, this decision implies that Mercedes has produced an upgrade to its GT3 car that is slower than the original Gen 1. Mercedes is currently supporting the team in lobbying the SRO about this matter but as yet no reversal has been forthcoming.
“The team is astonished by this decision and has lobbied since Monday for it to be reversed; earlier this week team principal Richard Neary advised the SRO of its intention to appeal. The SRO has now changed the championship’s sporting and technical regulations yesterday in relation to regulation 9.1.6 preventing such an appeal.
“As those that follow Abba Racing will know, the team is a small family-run race team that has competed in the British GT Championship for the past nine years. It operates a tight ship and runs on a slim budget. The father and son pairing have gone from strength to strength in recent years and despite their Silver/AM status compete at the front with the Pro/AM drivers each race weekend.
“This week’s decision by SRO means Team Abba Racing will no longer be able to compete on a level playing field with its peers. The team has asked for some evidence to substantiate this decision, but nothing has been forthcoming.
“The Evo upgrade was introduced in 2019 and both the Gen 1 and Evo specification cars have always carried identical weight. If, as it appears, this is a `cosmetic upgrade’ that is required then the question is why Team Abba was not given the opportunity to complete this as part of a winter rebuild programme and certainly before testing in the Spring.
“As it stands, it is impossible to purchase the upgrade kit for this round which leaves the Team going into qualifying with ‘one hand tied behind its back’.
“Team Abba currently has no points in the championship and is not in the running for the Silver Am class. It strongly believes this penalty to be unfair and inappropriate.”
While normally BoP chatter is something that DSC usually avoids writing about where possible, this situation is certainly worth a second look. It raises a wider point about the ‘evo kit culture’ that GT3 racing has adopted, specifically whether or not teams competing with older machinery should be given a fair shot at setting poles and claiming wins, up against newer cars from the same make.
It’s become the norm that older GT3 cars become uncompetitive the moment a newer model or evo kit is released. But is this right?
By design, BoP is implemented to ensure a variety of cars can compete together on a relatively equal footing. Should BoP play a role in an instance like this, where clearly an older car is being slowed down to ensure that Mercedes’ newer product has a performance advantage?
It will be interesting to see if SRO responds ahead of the next race meeting…
Huge Ferrari Challenge field set for Le Mans
Round four of the Ferrari Challenge Trofeo Pirelli Europe 2023 will take place in support of the centenary running of the Le Mans 24 Hours next month.
For the occasion, a field of 71-cars Ferrari 488 Challenge Evo cars will compete on the 13.6-kilometre Circuit de la Sarthe. This is the largest ever grid for a Ferrari single-make race.
The French outing marks the season’s halfway mark, with attention in the main class focused mainly on Eliseo Donno (Radicci Automobili), the current leader in the overall standings and winner of four of the six races, as he attempts finally to break the resistance of his closest rivals.
Besides the young and promising Thomas Fleming (HR Owen – FF Corse) and Bence Valint (Rossocorsa – Ferrari Budapest) and the more experienced Max Mugelli (CDP – Eureka Competition), his challengers will include the Frenchman Thomas Neubauer (Charles Pozzi GT Racing), the reigning Trofeo Pirelli world champion, who is also competing in the 24 Hours in the 488 GTE of JMW Motorsport.
Franz Engstler (Charles Pozzi GT Racing) leads the group of twenty-four Ferrari Challenge 488 Evos in the Trofeo Pirelli Am, the race’s most crowded class.
The 35-minute race will kick off on Saturday, 10 June, at 9.30 am local time.
