Xero Competition Impress in Season Opener with New Driver Line up

04 April 2005

Xero Competition gained a solid 6th place finish at Donington Park yesterday in the first round of the British GT Championship.
 
Ricky Cole started the race from 9th on the grid after engine problems in qualifying but managed to stay out of trouble, coming in half way through the two hour race in 7th to hand over to new team mate Ryan Hooker. "We had a different compound on the left rear tyre", Ricky commented, "and it took a while to get up to temperature causing the back end to be loose in the right handers, I also had trouble being surrounded by GT3 cars; we could pass them into corners but they would re-pass on the straights. Due to a change in the rules just before the first event we did not have enough time to develop and improve our in-take system, so we were running lower on power."
 
With Ryan Hooker now at the wheel of the Corvette he put in consistently quick times to bring the car home, moving up to 6th after the Embassy Porsche had re-fuelling difficulties. On his debut in both the GT2 class and with the team he impressed with a good mature drive sealing a well deserved solid points finish for the team. "It’s a really good start to the season!" Ryan said after the race, "It’s a shame we were down on power as it’s frustrating to have GT3 cars drive past on the straights but hopefully we can rectify this for France. Apart from that the car felt great and the team have been fantastic, it’s a big change from last year!"
 
Team Manager Dave Beecroft continued: "It’s a great start, everything came together and I’m really pleased with Ricky, Ryan and the whole Xero team. It’s something to build on at the next round."
 
Xero now prepare to travel to France, where the next round will be part of the FIA GT Championship with a 500km race at Magny Cours; expect plenty of action!

Xero

Images from this event are now available here.

See 2005 series calendar for British GT Championship

Related Story 03.04.2005 - Kinch and Kirkaldy Dominate First Race of British GT Championship