Paragon – Like They’ve Never Been Gone
Very little has been seen of Mark Sumpter, Adrian Slater, and the Paragon Porsche 997RSR this season, but they came back in resounding fashion in the first of two rounds of the GT Trophy series at Brands Hatch on Saturday afternoon, taking the win in a race where strategy had to be very rapidly re-aligned.
The Brands Hatch GP circuit is always a draw for drivers, so it was surprising to see just 16 cars muster for the two-hour enduro, and just 15 make it to the qualifying sessions; The JC Racing BMW E90 of Mark Smith and David Cuff expired with power steering failure during free practice, and was withdrawn. “It was intermittent, and just too dangerous to drive. We bought this car (the ex-Andy Priaulx WTCC chassis), and fitted a road-car V8 engine, so that we could use off-the-shelf BMW spares, not wait six weeks for specially-made bits from backstreet engineering companies, but it hasn’t worked out that way” rued a disappointed Mark Smith.
Qualifying was two single-driver, 20-minute sessions, with the best time of the two sessions setting the grid. The best times were made in the second session, where Michael Vergers, sharing the Xero Competition Corvette with Mitch Millett, claimed pole at 1:29.917, just 0.110 ahead of Richard Fores, in Andrew Beaumont’s Topcats-run Mosler. The Corvette had, in fact, missed the opening session, with both Vergers and Millett cramming their laps into the final 20 minutes. The Paragon Porsche headed the second row, nearly a second adrift of the Mosler, with the regular Britcar Topcats Marcos Mantis alongside, Rapael Fiorentino and Henry Fletcher sharing the driving duties. Row three saw former Britcar, and now BGT rivals line up together – the MTECH Ferrari 430 of Duncan Cameron and Nima Khandan-Nia, next to the all-Scottish Kinfaun Porsche 997 of John Gaw and Phil Dryburgh. GT Cup front-runner Marco Pullen was on row four, sharing the OMG-sponsored Ferrari 430 with Mark Speller, alongside the Craig Wilkins/Aaron Scott Ginetta G50. The Barwell Ginetta of Julian and Matt Draper headed the fifth row, with Chris Bentley , who was sharing the CTR Porsche 996 with Brazilian race coach Adriano Medeiros, next up, and the sixth row was an all-GT Cup affair; The ABG Motorsport X-Bow of father-and-son duo Colin and Sam Mowle, and the Geoff Steel BMW M3 of championship leader Keith Webster – only in his first full season of racing – and single-seater veteran Gino Ussi, a recent convert to Britcar tin-top racing. The BMW, had, in fact, missed the second qualifying session, suffering from a mystery misfire, and the remainder of the grid had a troubled feel to it – Chris Bialan had gone off in free practice in the ill-handling Lotus 2-11, and he and Simon Mason managed just a few cursory laps in each session, resigning themselves to treating the race as a test session whilst the team fettled and re-aligned the car. Sportscar regulars Doug and Chris Setters just couldn’t get it hooked up in the Lotus Exige, and neither could Adrian Barclay and BTCC ace Tom Onslow-Cole in the similar Plans Motorsport machine. Languishing atypically at the very back was the Honda NSX of David and Robert Fenn, a concern over smoking oil causing them to sit-out the final session.
Post-qualifying analysis saw some class re-alignment, and the publication of the pit-stop handicaps The Topcats Marcos was promoted to Group 1, and the MTECH Ferrari dropped down to Group 2, attracting a draconian 200-second pit timing. Almost the whole of Group 3 graduated one slot upwards, and Group 4 was abandoned, its occupants filling the vacant Group 3 slots. The recalcitrant Group 3 Bialan/Mason Lotus had its troubles compounded by also receiving a 200-second pit stop handicap (the lowest was 120 seconds), whilst staying in the class. These penalties were based on each car’s “declared” lap time, which in some cases, matched the timing screens, and in some cases, didn’t.
There was a clean and somewhat subdued rolling start, with Mitch Millett assuming the lead into Paddock, and David Fenn, looking to move the Honda NSX very quickly out of last place as the pack soared up the hill towards Druids. The Flying Fenn became the Flaming Fenn, though, for what looked initially like a spectacular flame-out turned into a violent conflagration, and the Honda came to a rest on the grass on the approach to the hairpin, bringing out the fire truck and the safety car. David Fenn was thankfully unharmed, and told the tale: “The build-up to the problem was oil surging but I think it’s fair to say that that was more of a fuel fire than oil…The team had tried to stop oil escaping from the breather under pressure (as it was making its way on to the rear tyres), so I started the race knowing that I could be thrown off by skidding on my own oil or there was a small chance of an oil fire. Little did I realise. The funny thing was that I was just lining-up to pass the blue Lotus going through Paddock up to Druids and casually checked my rear view mirror… which was when I first noticed the flames. I’m no expert, but I thought at that point it might be best to park and exit!”
With two pit stops mandatory for the race, and no restrictions other than a final 30-minute curfew, the quick-thinkers re-strategised, and the first time round – already under SC conditions - saw the CTR Porsche, the Kinfaun Porsche, and the Topcats Marcos all pitbound for their mandatory first stops, then, lap by lap, cars drifted out of the queue, until, when the caution was lifted seven laps in, there were two distinct groups – the real race, with Millett leading Pullen’s Ferrari, Bialan’s Lotus incredibly holding third, Craig Wilkins in the Ginetta, and the two Exiges of Doug Setters and Adrian Barclay – then the “virtual” race, the pit-stoppers, led by Forentino’s Marcos, which was struggling with Sumpter’s Porsche, whilst the pair of them were furiously attempting to steal a lap back from Pullen.
Fiorentino had to give best to the Paragon Porsche, and was now pursued for eighth place by stablemate Richard Fores in the Topcats/Runnymede Mosler, whilst further ahead, Craig Wilkins pursuit of the Lotus 2-11 came good on lap 14, and the ebullient Brummie took third place.
Sumpter, meanwhile, was struggling to unlap himself from leader Millett, and attracting the attention of Fores. With half an hour gone, Marco Pullen pitted the OMG Ferrari 430 for Mark Speller to take over, the first of the “real” race bunch, and he was followed by a steady run of stops; the battling Exiges within a lap of each other, Bialan’s 2-11, then, ten minutes later, Craig Wilkins, handing the silver Ginetta to Aaron Scott. Millett, still out, and still in the lead, posted a very slow lap, signifying potential trouble, and very shortly the yellow Corvette was driven straight into the garage. “I had a spin – one of my better ones – and flat spotted the tyres. We’ve got a long pit stop, so we’re changing all four wheels in the safety of the garage” explained Mitch.
It was bad news for Doug Setters, though. Having retaken the wheel after the first mandatory stop, the Lotus was soon back in again, with excessive vibration from a cv joint, and was retired.
Sumpter got his laps back whilst the Corvette was stationery, and now led the Topcats duo of Fores . eight seconds adrift, and Fiorentino, half a minute back, then Adriano Medeiros, impressively fourth in the CTR/Alfatune 996, though a lap down. All four would need to stop again, as would Phil Dryburgh in the Kinfaun 997, a lap of more than two minutes highlighting that now wouldn’t be a bad time. John Gaw blasted out of pit lane with 70 minutes of the race left, for a run to the end.
The second round of stops commenced at the half-way stage – Henry Fletcher took over the Marcos, Duncan Cameron relieved Khandan-Nia in the MTECH 430, and GT Cup championship leader Keith Webster entrusted his BMW to Gino Ussi. Vergers was meanwhile punching in a series of fastest laps has he hauled the Corvette back into contention, and by the time Sumpter handed the Paragon Porsche to Adrian Slater, and Fores gave the Mosler over to Andrew Beaumont, the Dutchman was fourth, behind Fletcher’s Marcos, though he still had to make that final stop.
John Gaw struggled in with a puncture, further exacerbating a strange race for Kinfaun – despite that early tactical stop, they seemed to be making no headway, and the unplanned drama put paid to any further progress; they would finish ninth overall.
As the pit stop curfew approached, the final batch of second-stops straggled in – Simon Mason, Mark Speller, handing the OMG 430 back to Marco Pullen, Aaron Scott giving the Ginetta back to Craig Wilkins, and, with just 90 seconds before the window closed, Michael Vergers, bringing in the Corvette for Mitch Millett to take to the flag. Despite Verger’s stirring performance, he had been driving around problems, as he explained: “There is an issue with the brakes – they are vibrating, and I was having to brake earlier than usual. We have lost this race, right from the start, by not pitting under the safety car” he rued.
There were now pockets of action through the field; Beaumont was slowing in the Mosler, allowing Topcats stablemate Fletcher to mount a challenge for second position. Further round the track, Cameron was catching Gaw – spirited drives from both – and Gaw was reeling in Gino Ussi’s BMW. All this for 10th place, not where you’d expect the BGT protagonists to be fighting.
Gaw took the place from Ussi, as did Cameron a few laps later, but then the Ferrari and the BMW came up to the battling Topcats pair; Fletcher had caught Beaumont, who had no intention of letting go of second place easily. All four came across Barclay’s Lotus as they cascaded down the hill from Druids, Cameron taking a dusty wide line through Graham Hill Bend as he attempted to exploit the confusion and grab a lap back. Ussi then dropped back a little, allowing Cameron to focus ahead, and pretty soon the red Ferrari split up the Topcats duo as the three cars went through Surtees.
Craig Wilkins was pitbound with 25 minutes to go – too late for a planned stop, this was obviously a problem, and the Ginetta was withdrawn with a gearbox concern.
It all came to a head on lap 64 – the Mosler had a spin out on the GP loop, and Fletcher had re-lapped Cameron. Had there been contact? Topcats team boss Warren Gilbert shed some light later; “Henry did give Andrew a love tap – there’s damage on both my cars – but that was before the Ferrari got between them. Andrew spun on his own – he’d been having trouble with the paddle shift, and was distracted by all sorts of warning lights coming on”.
With that conflict put to bed, attention turned to another potential dispute. Adriano Medeiros had done a sterling opening stint in the CTR/Alfatune Porsche, and now Chris Bentley was having the drive of his life. He had no answer to the power of the Corvette, which he let through into fourth place, but he was in the Group 2 lead, and coming under threat from Matt Draper in the Barwell Ginetta G50. Not only that, but Colin Mowle, using as much grass as he was tarmac in the ABG X-Bow, was catching the both of them.
Meanwhile, the Paragon Porsche had been lapping majestically at the front, and Adrian Slater duly took the flag after a faultless performance. “Mark did all the hard work” joked Slater a the winners made their way to the podium, and Sumpter added “ It helped that we’re evenly matched, and it was a good call to pit under the early safety car”.
The Group 2 battle went down to the wire. Bentley responded to Draper’s advance, but Mowle fought to the end, the trio crossing the line covered by just three seconds after two hours of racing.
After a disastrous start to the meeting, where the car was virtually rebuilt, and the race declared “little more than a test run for Spa”, the Lotus 2-11 of Chris Bialan and Simon Mason was the well-deserved victor of Group 3. “The car’s working perfectly now” smiled the genial Mason.
STEVE WOOD
