Tuesday 10th April 2007

British GT review

Ferrari and Porsche win at Oulton Park

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Aston Martin are right on the pace

The 2007 Avon Tyres British GT Championship got off to a promising start at Oulton Park over the bank holiday weekend, with legendary sports car marques Ferrari and Porsche scoring a win apiece.

Race one saw a winning return to the series for 2006 champ Tim Mullen, sharing the Christians in Motorsport Ferrari F430 GT3 with Hector Lester. The race pace had been set by the Barwell Motorsport Aston Martin DBRS9 of Jonathan Cocker, but when team mate Paul Drayson spun the Aston on the exit of Lodge and rejoined down in fifth the race was set for a Ferrari victory. Nevertheless, Barwell Motorsport did secure a podium place when Tom Alexander and Michael Bentwood brought their Aston home in second, with the Godfrey and David Jones Ascari in third.

Tech 9 triumphed in Race 2

Race two on Monday saw the weather playing its part, although most of the field elected to start on slicks as the rain was light. The Ferrari's of Mullen and Adam Wilcox battled hard away from the start, although it was Mullen that got the upper hand in the early stages. The race was yellow flagged after both Damax Ascaris and the David Dove Ferrari clattered the barriers strewing debris. Once the pit stop window had passed and the order filtered out it was the Tech 9 Porsche GT3 of Oli Bryant that held the advantage with Bradley Ellis in the RPM Dodge Viper in second. Ellis was caught and passed however by Jonathan Cocker in the charging Aston, but the Barwell car couldn't quite catch the Porsche and finished just 0.8 seconds down at the flag with the Viper rounding out the podium.

In the GTC class, Team Tiger Racing turned a potential nightmare into a great weekend with two superb victories. Their Marcos had experienced ECU problems during qualifying meaning they started from the back of the grid in both races, but Chris Beighton and Jon Finnemore stormed through the field to complete the double.

The next round is at Donington Park on the 21st of April.

[rob974y]

Made a weekend of it this year, thoughly enjoyed both GT races and thought Jonny Cocker was unlucky to come away without a win, he's my bet this year, would have been nice to see him head to head with Tim Mullen.

Saw a few PH tee shirts around and a nice metallic yellow T350

Thoughts on the new GT3 only format?

[seaodyssey]

What happened to the Lotus cars ?

[Truckosaurus]

seaodyssey said:

What happened to the Lotus cars ?

The single Lotus blew its engine on its first lap during qualifying.

The team then went and hired Trackspeed's spare 997 which was sat in their transporter.

[gf350]

I've put my photo's up on my website at www.motorsportgb.com