One Second Covers First Six Qualifiers and Five New Winners
David Tomlin took his first ever GT Cup Championship win on Sunday morning on the 1.2 mile Brands Hatch Indy Circuit, after almost losing it before the race had even begun with a spin on the pace lap. He quickly recovered his composure, however, and was ready for the start; whereupon he immediately leapt into the lead in the #66 Ferrari 430 and stayed there to the flag.
Jordan Witt emulated Tomlin in Race 2 by recording his and the Chevron GR8’s first overall win following a magnificent display of wet-weather driving.
Paul Cope also had a very good day with two wins in Group 2 in the venerable Venturi 400 GTR, while Group 3 honours were shared between Russell Foster and Mark Radcliffe on a day notable for some excellent and entertaining racing.
Qualifying
While the Friday test day was conducted in fine weather, things were very different for free practice and qualifying on Saturday, with torrential rain passing across Kent on a regular basis. All three sessions were affected, but conditions were damp, rather than wet, by the time qualifying began at 15.10.
The only tyre choice at the start of the session was wets, but it transpired that the characteristics of the Porsche and Ferrari wets were very different – the Porsche version being a ‘monsoon’ tyre, but the Ferrari being more akin to an intermediate; however, neither marque seemed able to establish a significant advantage.
As the 20-minute session progressed, the first evidence of a dry-line began to emerge and both Gary Eastwood, in the #8 Ferrari 430 GTC, and series debutant Simon Blankley, in the #30 Porsche 997 GT3, gambled on slicks. Unfortunately for both drivers the track didn’t dry quickly enough and they were unable to find the grip needed to improve their times.
Conditions were at their optimum at the end of the session and the majority of the field set their times in the closing moments of the session. Peter Bamford claimed pole for race 1 in the #60 Ferrari 430 GTC with a 54.658 – a quarter of a second ahead of Tomlin – with his second-fastest time also being quick enough for the Race 2 pole.
Paul Cope took Group 2 pole with a 55.597 in the #11 Venturi, while Russell Foster claimed Group 3 pole on his debut with a 56.577 in the #12 BMW M3.
Race 1
All 18 cars assembled on the grid for the first of the day’s two 25-minute races. A very light and very short shower had passed over not long before, but dry conditions would prevail for the duration of this race at least.
Due to the short length of the circuit, two pace laps would be run before the field was released for the rolling start, but Tomlin had got only as far as Druids for the first time before he hit trouble in the tricky conditions; a spin at the hairpin dropping him back down the field. Fortunately, he had avoided both the gravel trap and contact with any other cars and was able to almost regain his front-row position in time to see the lights change from red to green.
Pole man Peter Bamford’s lead lasted just a couple of hundred metres before contact and a spin at Paddock Hill Bend caused the #60 Ferrari 430 GTC to drop to the rear of the pack. The only other casualty of the incident was Rupert Martin, who dropped to 17th while trying to avoid contact. The biggest winner, however, was Tomlin, and he managed to pull out a lead in excess of two seconds in the Group 1 #66 Ferrari 430 on that opening lap.
As the leader pulled away, Jordan Witt had managed to keep the #85 Group 1 Chevron GR8 ahead of Andy Ruhan’s #6 Porsche 997 GT3, but the championship leader was applying constant pressure; and Witt’s defence allowed the #31 BMW GTR E46 of Michael Symons and the #30 Porsche 997 GT3 of Simon Blankley to close up and make it a four-way battle for second. The #99 TVR Cerbera of Michael Saunders had initially held fifth, but a loose radiator-hose caused his race to be curtailed on only the third lap.
Ruhan managed to get his heavily-success ballasted Porsche up to seventh on Lap 4, but he still had an eight-second deficit to the leader to overcome. He briefly pulled away from Witt, but it wasn’t long before the gap from second to third started to come down again.
Elsewhere, Paul Cope was going very well in the Group 2-leading Venturi 400 GTR – even managing to catch up on the tail of the #30 Porsche to make the fight for second a five-way affair – but the fight for Group 3 honours was the hardest fought, with the blue #12 BMW of Russell Foster leading the orange Beemers of Mark Radcliffe and Adam Hayes; all three covered by under two seconds for most of the race.
Gary Eastwood was fighting back from his lowly qualifying position and was up to seventh from 15th by Lap 11, but had had to overcome a determined Group 2 Porsche 996 GT3 of Francis Galashan en route. Don Grice followed through to eighth in the Group 1 BMW M3 GTR V8.
Symons managed to find a gap at Paddock Hill bend at the start of Lap 14 and took third from the Chevron, which resulted in the fight for second becoming a spectacular sight a lap later, with a block of five cars seemingly all trying to get through Surtees at the same time. Unfortunately, this proximity led to the Chevron running into the back of the BMW and Symons was left with bodywork rubbing on his rear-right Pirelli. This in turn allowed Blanckley to grab fourth from Witt.
The damage to Symons’ car didn’t initially slow his pace, but as the laps progressed it was clear that things weren’t getting any better for him and the tyre let go just four minutes before the end of the race. His assailant wasn’t able to benefit from the BMW’s retirement, having suffered a spin at Surtees on Lap 19 which dropped the GR8 down to eighth; after which he came under pressure from Galashan’s Porsche which lasted to the end.
Symons’ demise had resulted in Simon Blankley moving up to third and it wasn’t long before he had caught up with Andy Ruhan; a huge wobble for the #30 997 at Graham Hill Bend on Lap 22 indicating just how hard the newcomer was trying.
Even though his lead was down to just under four seconds, David Tomlin was driving a very controlled race and dealt with the traffic well; and as he put cars between himself and his pursuers – who were focussed more on each other – his lead began to increase again. Eventually, after 28 perfect laps, the #66 Ferrari GTC of Tomlin rounded Clark Curve to be greeted by the chequered flag.
Blankley continued to push Ruhan, but just couldn’t get enough of a run on the short track to get fully alongside and remained tantalisingly just out of range of second to the flag.
Paul Cope ended the race in an excellent fourth place in the Venturi to take Group 2 honours, just ahead of Gary Eastwood’s Group 1 Ferrari. Francis Galashan took second in Group 2 after a very good race, while Sean Winder came third in the group in the #17 Ferrari 360 GTC after a race-long battle with the Group 3 Porsche 996 GT3 of Robert Koenig.
The battle for Group 3 went down to the final lap, with Russell Foster withstanding the pressure from Mark Radcliffe to take the win by 1.699 seconds. Adam Hayes had been attached to Radcliffe’s rear bumper for 26 laps before mechanical problems caused him to drop away on the penultimate lap. He completed the race in the #9 E46 M3, however, finishing 15 seconds further back to take third.
This had arguably been the best race yet in the 2011 Championship, but rain – heavy at times – began to fall on the circuit soon afterwards and caused all sorts of chaos in the MINI Challenge race before lunch. The second GT Cup Championship race would follow three hours 40 minutes later, with all eyes on the skies in the interim.
Race 2
As things turned out, there was no need for the GT Cup field to watch the skies as most of it was falling on them as they moved off for the two formation laps – it was throwing it down!
All 18 cars had again made the grid, but this time it was Paul Cope’s turn to play catch-up behind the Pace Car after a stall on the grid almost dropped him to the rear of the pack. He did manage to recover to his appointed grid spot before the lights turned green, at which point the field once again thundered towards Paddock Hill Bend.
Mindful of what had happened four hours earlier, Peter Bamford did not put up too much resistance to David Tomlin as the #66 Ferrari lunged for the inside. The move stuck and the red car was ahead; but what neither of the lead two cars had anticipated was a charge around the outside of the first corner by the #85 Group 1 Chevron of Jordan Witt, which got the small yellow car in between the two Ferraris; and another run round the outside of Druids which gave Witt the lead.
The Chevron driver later admitted that he had been praying for rain all day, and that he was determined to make the most of his opportunity. His lead was 0.766 at the end of Lap 1 and 2.133 after two laps; and it just kept on increasing after that.
As the GR8 moved away, we again had a great scrap for third forming up as Bamford, Andy Ruhan, Michael Symons and Michael Saunders circulated nose-to-tail. Ruhan’s tyres were working better on the very wet track than Bamford’s and second and third places swapped owners on Lap 3.
Symons now saw his own opportunity to make progress at Bamford’s expense and had the #31 BMW GTR E46 lined up perfectly on the #60 Ferrari as the cars exited Clark Curve on Lap 4. As he pulled out to attempt the pass along the Brabham Straight, however, his car hit standing water and he was immediately pitched into a spin that ended with a thump in the pit wall. The car bounced back into the path of the remaining cars, but somehow they all missed – Gary Eastwood’s Ferrari by little more than millimetres – and Symons was able to make it to a place of safety under his own steam.
This incident spread the top six cars out and temporarily brought a halt to the action at the front. Elsewhere, however, things were still very close. Francis Galashan was going very well in the Group 2 #57 Porsche 996 GT3, taking 11th from Rupert Martin’s Ferrari on Lap 5 and lapping at a pace that suggested that Paul Cope would not have it all his own way. The Venturi again led Group 2 in seventh overall. Mark Radcliffe led Group 3 in the #19 BMW M3, and this time enjoyed a gap of almost two seconds over the #9 E46 M3 of Adam Hayes; and in between the two orange cars was the Black Ferrari of Gary Eastwood.
Michael Saunders had been closing on Peter Bamford for fifth for a couple of laps and had the gap down to under a second after eight laps; but a big wobble at Graham Hill Bend on Lap 9 heralded brake problems that would see the #99 TVR Cerbera post its second retirement of the day at the end of that lap.
Saunders’ absence allowed Blanckley to close on Bamford and the Porsche was up to fifth soon afterwards. But with the rain by now having stopped, the momentum was about to start swinging the other way and Bamford started to find his feet once more – recording the race’s fastest lap as he fought his way back up to fourth by the end of the race. Blanckley meanwhile would suffer a spin on Lap 20 and drop a long way down the order, eventually finishing ninth.
At the head of the field Witt continued to lap in truly impressive fashion and his lead went past the ten-second mark on Lap 19. Behind him at this point was Andy Ruhan, who had found a way past Tomlin on Lap 14. Once into second, however, the Porsche could not make any headway into the Chevron’s lead which continued to inexorably grow, until the smallest car in the field (save arguably for the #84 version driven by his father David) took the flag after 25 laps to record a famous victory.
Tomlin did his best to come back at Ruhan, but the 60kg that he was carrying after winning Race 1 was a lump-of-lead too far and the Ferrari had to settle for third behind the Porsche.
Bamford had closed the gap to Tomlin to just a second and could well have ended up on the podium given a further lap or two, while Eastwood did well to get from 15th to fifth by race’s end in the #8 Ferrari, given the very challenging conditions.
Paul Cope crossed the line in sixth to take his second win of the day, while Francis Galashan was just 2.5s behind – second in Group 2 and eighth overall. In between the two cars was the Group 3-winning BMW of Mark Radcliffe, whose margin over Adam Hayes at the end was a relatively comfortable 3.5s.
Five of the six Group winners at Brands Hatch were first time winners in 2011 – illustrating again the depth of competition throughout the GT Cup field; and both races had been close and exciting. There will now be a four week hiatus before the Bute Motorsport GT Cup Championship reconvenes at Donington Park for Round 6 and races 11 and 12 out of 18 being contested during the year.
Pics: Norwich Photo
The GT Cup Championship is set to produce even more thrilling sports car action in 2012 following the announcement of a 23 race calendar which includes visits to the UK’s premier circuits.
