Round 3 start - Knockhill
After a dramatic start to the2008 Avon Tyres British GT Championships a few weeks ago, which saw a number of cars dramatically crashing out, a heavy downpour 30 minutes before round three this weekend threatened to make it just as eventful. In fact throughout the race there would be no less than four safety car periods.
All the teams decided to go out on slicks however, hoping the track would dry out, with theTrackspeed Porsche going to the grid on wets and David Ashburn choosing to swap the Avon tyres before the green flag lap. Jeremy Metcalfe led the 22 car grid as the race began but behind him David Jones had got the run on Michael Meadows into the first corner to snatch 2nd place. Oliver Morley had a spin at the first corner in the Tech 9 Lamborghini and Peter Bamford (#4 Chad Peninsula Racing) also had an off at Butchers on the same lap. Metcalfe led from Jones who had Meadows shadowing his every move but on lap 2 the Ascari ran wide at the Carlube corner and ended up stuck in the gravel trap. Steve Clark in the #1 Team RPM Viper also went off early on in the race, retiring against the barriers at Butchers.
Abbott and Austin Ginetta
Just one lap later there was another incident, with David Ashburn spinning at the Carlube corner, narrowly missing the stranded Ascari and the stewards decided to deploy the safety car to retrieve the beached car. Lap 7 saw the race resume and Metcalfe took advantage of his lead position to move away from the rest of the field as Peter Bamford in the Chad Peninsula Racing Ferrari, who was a lap down, held up the second placed driver for a couple of corners at the restart. Gornall had Bryant filling his mirrors on the run into the final corner and the Team RPM Viper swept past into 4th place at the end of the lap just before the safety car was deployed for the second time as Oliver Morley went off at Scotsman in a dangerous position.
The Tech 9 Lamborghini was pulled from the gravel trap by the recovery vehicle and racing resumed on lap 13. Another safety car period was declared a few laps later when the #51 Team RPM Ginetta of Joe Osborne disappeared in a cloud of oil smoke at Butchers while leading the GT4 class. As the lead cars approached the scene Michael Meadows went off into the barriers on the oil dropped by the stricken Ginetta, quickly followed by the CiM Ferrari of Hector Lester and the Trackspeed Porsche of David Ashburn, who got the Porsche back on track almost immediately.
The beached cars were all recovered and Osborne’s Ginetta was moved to safety and the race went green once again with Harrington now in the lead by 30 seconds ahead of Luke Hines, who was now at the wheel of the #16 CR Scuderia Ferrari. Harrington stayed out until the last minute of the pit window to hand over to Ben de Zille Butler. After the pit stops Hines led by just over 6 seconds from Jason Templeman (#9 Tech 9) and a further 4 seconds ahead of Jon Barnes. Richard Williams, now at the wheel of the Trackspeed Porsche 997, was storming through the field passing the #2 Team RPM Viper of Nick Foster at the first corner to move into 4th place at the end of lap 38.
Templeman was handed a stop go penalty after it was judged that the Tech 9 Lamborghini was stationary for less than the required 45-seconds during the driver handover and this promoted Barnes into second place and Williams into 3rd. Ian Stinton (#71 Stark Racing) then went off into the gravel at Scotsman corner and the safety car was deployed for the 4th and final time. After the safety car the stewards judged that Williams had overtaken the Viper before he had reached the start finish line and was handed a stop go penalty, dropping the Porsche back to 4th with three laps of the race remaining.
Aaron Scott in the #20 ABG Motorsport Viper now found himself in a podium scoring position and was bearing down on Jon Barnes but the Team Trimite Viper held on to score the teams first podium finish in the GT3 class. Luke Hines took the win, the second of the 2008 season for the CR Scuderia team, with Richard Williams in 4th and Michael Cullen (#15 CR Scuderia) in 5th which was enough for the Irish duo to retain the championship lead. Rob Austin brought the Ginetta home to win GT4 by over a lap from Stewart Linn and Fulvio Mussi. Stewart Linn and Matt Nicoll-Jones extended their championship lead in the GT4 class to six points.
ROUND 3 - PROVISIONAL RESULT
1 - 16 - GT3 - Jeremy Metcalfe / Luke Hines - Ferrari 430 GT3 - 1:00:51.012 - 60 laps
2 - 40 - GT3 - James Gornall / Jon Barnes - Viper Competition Coupe - 1:00:56.611 - +5.599s
3 - 20 - GT3 - Craig Wilkins / Aaron Scott - Viper Competition Coupe - 1:00:57.387 - + 6.375s
4 - 5 - GT3 - David Ashburn / Richard Williams - Porsche 997 GT3 S - 1:01:00.384 - +9.372s
5 - 15 - GT3 - PAddy Shovlin / Michael Cullen - Ferrari 430 GT3 - 1:01:02.467 - +11.455s
6 - 9 - GT3 - Leo Machitski / Jason Templeman - Lamborghini Gallardo - 1:01:06.249 - +15.237s
7 - 42 - GT3 - Adrian Willmot / Michael Bentwood - Aston Martin DBRS9 - 1:01:06.787 - +15.775s
8 - 21 - GT3 - Guy Harrington / Ben de Zille Butler - Lamborghini Gallardo - 1:01:28.598 - +37.586s
9 - 4 - GT3 - Matt Griffin / Peter Bamford - Ferrari 430 GT3 - 1:00:58.372 - +1 lap
10 - 55 - GT4 - Hunter Abbott / Rob Austin - Ginetta G50 - 1:01:39.375 - +1 lap
11 - 88 - GT4 - Matt Nicoll-Jones / Stewart Linn - Ginetta G50 - 1:01:35.442 - +2 laps
12 - 52 - GT4 - Nigel Redwood / Fulvio Mussi - Ginetta G50 - 1:01:38.427 - +2 laps
13 - 99 - GT4 - Andrew Howard / Jamie Smyth - Aston Martin N24 - 1:01:45.172 - +2 laps
14 - 50 - GT4 - Steve Tandy / Phil Bailey- Ginetta G50 - 1:01:46.941 - +3 laps
15 - 22 - GT3 - David Jones / Godfrey Jones - Ascari KZ1R - 1:00:57.820 - +4 laps
16 - 23 - GT3 - Hector Lester / Allan Simonsen - Ferrari 430 GT3 - 1:01:06.507 - +4 laps
17 – 71 – GT4 – Neil Clark / Ian Stinton – Ginetta G50 – 1:01:40.225 - +14 laps
18 – 2 – GT3 – Oliver Bryant / Nick Foster – Viper Competition Coupe – 45:35.213 - +17 laps
DNC - 14 - GT3 - Michael Meadows / James Sutton - Ferrari 430 - 16 laps
DNC - 8 - GT3 - Tom Ferrier / Oliver Morley - Lamborghini Gallardo - 8 laps
DNC - 1 - GT3 - Steve Clark / Paul O'Neill - Viper Competition Coupe - 1 lap
DNC - 51 - GT4 - Joe Osborne / Alex Mortimer - Ginetta G50 - 14 laps
23 - GT3 - Allan SIMONSEN - Christians in Motorsport - lap 51 - 51.316s
55 - GT4 - Rob AUSTIN - - Rob Austin Racing - lap 44 - 55.192s
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