How to sum up the 3 hour endurance race at Donington Park? Not sure its possible…
Michael Lyons and Charles Bateman mastered the tricky conditions and fading light to take overall victory
23 cars lined up in drying conditions on the Donington circuit, in broad daylight. 3 hours late and 105 laps later, with the sun setting as a backdrop, 20 cars made it through the longest race of the British GT 2011 calender. With 3 safety cars, a drying track, a few stop/go penalties on the way, it was 3 hours of intense endurance racing with some of the best looking and sounding cars in any UK championship, with Michael Lyons and Charles Bateman bringing their Ferrari home to the win, but only just.
The Jones’s Mercedes suffering from engine and misfire issues throughout the Saturday running were one of 2 noticeable missing cars on the starting grid. The Audi of Jay Palmer and ex-BTCC driver John Bintcliffe also missing after destrying the rear end of the car, causing a lengthy red flag delay, in qualifying after crashing backwards at Mcleans.
Everyone starting on wets, with no sign of further rain, with even glimpses of sun and blue sky, tyre choice and strategy was going to determine the outcome of the race, as opposed to out right pace right throughout the entire race.
The Lotus Evora of Phil Glew and James Nash ran away with the GT4 honours
The 2 Trackspeed Porsches, led by the pole position car of the #1 Porsche, driven in the opening stint by reigning champion David Ashburn, were quickly swallowed up and left by the 007 Aston Martin in the hands of another ex-BTCC driver, Jonathon Adam. Adam putting the hammer down early and building up a lead on the wet track.
The #1 Porsche was left to fend off, unsuccessfully further cars making their way towards the front. One car not going forwards in the early laps was the Chevron, in the hands of Jordan Witt, suffering from a crash on lap 1 and dropping to last. However, a great recovery drive by Witt saw him upto 11th by the time he handed over for the first time to yet another ex-BTCC driver, Anthony Reid.
Current BTCC driver James Nash was awaiting his turn in the #48 Lotus, as Phil Glew helped the team lead the GT4 class for the first couple of hours.
Another current BTCC driver, Gordon Shedden was seeing his team mate Hector Lester struggle in the opening laps, battling with the GT4 Lotus’s. Something they wouldn’t of expected or hoped for. But given the very slippy conditions, less powerful cars can and do tend to do better faired against more powerful machinery. As the track dried, Lester began to work his way forward.
In the invitation class, the Nissan GTR driven by Nick Catsburg in the opening stint, couldn’t get rid of their gremlins, and only after a few minutes, the Nissan was sounding sick. Despite running in the top 10 early on, the Nissan expired after 56 laps with electrical and engine problems after gearbox problems.
At the first round of pit stops, every team stopping between roughly 40 and 70 minutes into the race, all of them switching to slicks. The first of these was the #11 Ferrari of Andrew Tate and Alex Mortimer. Mortimer given the challenge of slicks on a still slippy track, demonstrated with 2 very slow outlaps, gradually picking up pace but still slower lap times than the leading Aston Marting, still out on wets. Adam Wilcox in the #12 Ferrari also finding conditions slippy after being handed the car by Phil Burton after a solid drive, keeping the Ferrari in the top 10.
The Aston was one of the last cars to make a pit stop for fuel, slick tyres and the first of the 3 compulsory driver changes. The Aston, however, unable to keep hold of the lead in the 2nd stint, dropping to 6th place.
New race leader, Tim Bridgman, was been caught by new 2nd place driver Michael Lyons after the pit stops due to lapped traffic while Alex Mortimer was finding the slicks coming into their own now with the fastest lap of the race.
A few drivers still finding the track slippy, despite it not having rained for at least a couple of hours, plus over an hours running by the GT cars on track. Including Lyons, after a moment at the Old Hairpin found himself with Stephen Jelley in the #1 Porsche after having taken over from Ashburn right on his tail into Coppice. However, no way through.
Andrew Howard also finding the going tricky by parking the Aston Martin in the gravel, causing the 1st of 3 safety car periods, all caused by cars getting stranded in the same gravel trap at the Esses going onto the GP loop.
The Safety Car managed to miss the leader the first time round, but the Safety Car period was an opportunity for some teams. Ashburn would take over at the wheel of the #1 Porsche, while the #18 Ginetta which had been running well, Matthew Nicoll-Jones jumped behind the wheel after a short 2nd stint from Martin Short.
The #5 Ferrari of Lyons pitted the next lap handing back to Bateman, with Lester getting behind of the #3 Ferrari at the same time.
CRS Racing was caught out by the short safety car period, as Mortimer pitted from 4th as the Safety Car peeled off and the race resumed. This left Andrew Tate 1 lap down.
The Aston Martin eventually retiring just before the half way mark.
The middle part of the race seemed to be relatively normal, a few stops here and there, and nothing that much of interest out on the circuit, everyone going their own pace, just biding their time and waiting and also getting quicker as the track dried some more. The gap between the 2 leaders steadily increasing with Nash impressing in his GT debut, keeping the #48 Lotus in the lead of the GT4 class.
Until, that is, the 2nd safety car period. This time caused by Andrew Tate going off in the #11 Ferrari at the Esses. The 2 leaders (Bridgman and Griffin) pitting, with the Ferrari of Lyons/Bateman in 3rd now getting a lap back and going back onto the lead lap.
Frisken takes over the #2 Porsche with the #21 Ferrari chasing him down. With the safety car along way round the track, the 2 caught up with the slowing GT4 Aston Martin (with only 1st, 2nd and 3rd gears), driven by Sergio Lagana, who made no friends by diving in front of the 2 leaders into the pits. Causing both to brake, however, the #21 Ferrari snuck past the Porsche before the start/finish line, where you can legally overtake. The Ferrari was deemed to have gained an advantage from that (despite it being neither of leaders fault), with the Ferrari given a penalty where they would finish behind the Porsche, no matter what.
“The guy in the Aston Martin, I now discover, had a problem: his car was stuck in third gear,” Fisken said. “…and then when he finally decided at the last minute to duck into the pits, I had to swerve to avoid him. The Cameron/Griffin car took advantage and passed us.”
The #5 Ferrari made its final pitstop but with well over an hour to go and a fuel conservation mode to keep to, it would the finish very interesting and whether that car, plus others like the #3 Shedden/Lester Ferrari, who have a long final stint, would have to make a splash and dash towards the end. Unfortunatly, the 3rd and final Safety Car period meant that the cars could conserve fuel during that, but would equally make an exciting finish.
In the GT4 class, the Championship leaders in the KTM had a too short a pitstop resulting in an 8 second stop/go penalty which they duly took with an hour to go. A final (literal) stop/go penalty in the final stages meant they dropped further back into 3rd in class, with the Ginetta of Josh Wakefield and Jake Rattenbury to take 2nd. The Lotus of Glew/Nash comfortably out in the lead which they held onto till the end.
The final Safety Car meant that the reducing gap between the 2 leaders was reduced to nothing, however, with only about 15 minutes of the race to go, and lapped cars in the way, Lyons had a safety margin in which he could control. The #3 Lester/Shedden car having completed its final pitstop a while back, was inbetween the leaders, but keeping up with the leading Ferrari in the final stages.
The Trackspeed car of Fisken and Bridgman was guarenteed at least a 2nd if they kept going as the time penalty would be whatever the gap was to the Porsche to put them back behind the Porsche after the earlier incident at the end of the 2nd Safety Car period.
With the sun setting over the Donington circuit, it was Michael Lyons who took victory for the #5 Ferrari ahead of the Trackspeed Porsche of Fisken/Bridgman.
The Mtech Ferrari rounded off the podium. The 2nd Trackspeed Porsche of Ashburn/Jelley came home a close 9 seconds away from the race lead after the Safety Car bunched up the field with the Geddie Ferrari being the last car home on the lead lap, 33.5s behind the winning Ferrari.
Results GT3 & overall
1 Scuderia Vittoria Ferrari Michael Lyons/Charles Bateman 3h 0m 43.609s
2 Trackspeed Porsche Gregor Fisken/Tim Bridgman +6.054s
3 MTECH Ferrari Duncan Cameron/Matt Griffin (IRL) +6.100s
4 Trackspeed Porsche David Ashburn/Stephen Jelley +9.029s
5 CRS Racing Ferrari Jim Geddie/Glynn Geddie +33.549s
6 Rosso Verde Ferrari Hector Lester/Gordon Shedden 104 laps
7 United Autosports Audi Mike Guasch (USA)/Matt Bell 104 laps
8 360 Vision Ferrari Phil Burton/Adam Wilcox 102 laps
9 Speedworks Motorsport Corvette Ron Johnson/Piers Johnson 102 laps
10 Rollcentre Ginetta Martin Short/Matt Nicoll-Jones/Tom Sharp 102 laps etc
GT3B
1 MTECH Ferrari John Dhillon/Aaron Scott 101 laps
GT Cup
1 Chevron Racing Chevron Jordan Witt/Anthony Reid 101 laps
GT4
1 Lotus Sport UK Lotus James Nash/Phil Glew 100 laps
2 Century Motorsport Ginetta Josh Wakefield/Jake Rattenbury 99 laps
3 ABG Motorsport KTM Peter Belshaw/Marcus Clutton 98 laps
Fastest lap Bridgman 1m 31.205s / 98.17mph Est
The Championship heads to Silverstone for the finale on October 8th with a 2 hour race, and with the Championship Standings as follows:
1 GT3 Glynn Geddie 121.5
1 GT3 Jim Geddie 121.5
2 GT3 Duncan Cameron 113.5
2 GT3 Matt Griffin 113.5
3 GT3 Michael Guasch 110.5
3 GT3 Matt Bell 110.5
4 GT3 Charles Bateman 107.5
4 GT3 Michael Lyons 107.5
5 GT3 David Ashburn 103
Donington Park’s date on the 2012 Dunlop MSA British Touring Car Championship calendar has now been confirmed – meaning all ten BTCC fixtures for next year are now in place.
