Kinch and Kirkaldy, Ahlers and Bryant Take
British GT Race 2 Wins
18 September 2005
It wasn't their greatest race, but Nathan Kinch and Andrew Kirkaldy
weren't complaining. The Scuderia Ecosse Ferrari 360 pair took another
win, their ninth of the year, but it came courtesy of an error by
another car. Second went to Jordan and Caine, for Eurotech Porsche,
after a battle with the Embassy Racing Porsche of Collins and Cunningham.
In GT3 Keith Ahlers and Oliver Bryant snatched victory in
their Team Aero Morgan Aero 8 GT on the last lap, Bryant finding a
way past
the Ferrari 360 of United Christian Broadcasters pair Hector Lester
and
Alan Simonsen. The important result was that Piers Masarati and Dimitris
Deverikos took third in the Tech 9 Porsche 996, thus ensuring that
they cannot be beaten in the Drivers' competition.
When the race started
the two Scuderia Ecosse cars led the way, Kirkaldy coming under constant
pressure from Mullen. The two pulled away from
the field at an astonishing rate; after only three laps, the car
in third was 7 seconds away from the lead. But all the effort was
for
nothing, as the gap disappeared when the safety car was sent out
on lap 7, to allow a car to be recovered. Two laps later the safety
car
headed into the pits with just over 42 minutes of the hour-long
race remaining.
Mullen's pressure paid off on lap 13, when Kirkaldy went off; he
had to pit on the next lap to allow grass and gravel to be removed
from
the radiators, handing over to Kinch in the process. That dropped
them well down the order, with Mullen enjoying a handy lead.
But it all
went wrong after Mullen had pitted and handed over to Niarchos,
who went off and lost eight places, handing the lead back to
Kinch.
Behind the Ferraris, the Embassy Racing Porsche of Collins and
Cunningham enjoyed an early advantage, but lost out in the pit-stops
to the
nr 77 Eurotech Porsche of Jordan and Caine; the two cars then
battled all the way to the flag but were so evenly matched that
an overtaking
move would have been impossibly risky. Niarchos recovered well
to finish
fifth, behind the Eurotech Porsche of David and Godfrey Jones.
Things
looked set fair for the Tech 9 Porsche of Masarati and Deverikos;
the two needed only to finish to ensure they were GT3
class champions.
Staying out of trouble in the early running, Masarati handed
the car over to Deverikos early to give him a clear track after
the
safety car had bunched the field up. The tactic worked well,
and he was
well
up the field - but then gearbox problems hobbled the car, and
he dropped back down the order.
That allowed the United Christian Broadcasters Ferrari 360
of Hector Lester and Alan Simonsen into the lead - a remarkable
achievement
as two spins in the opening laps had dropped the car well
off the back
of the bunch. But they were denied the win; the Morgan of
Ahlers and Bryant used the same tactic as Tech 9, pitting early
to
give
Bryant
a clear track. He took full advantage to get back on terms,
and pursued Lester relentlessly over the closing laps. It
seemed the tight nature
of the circuit would deny him victory - but on the final
lap, with just three corners remaining, Bryant managed to get alongside,
forcing Lester onto the dirty side of the track, and the
Morgan
was through
for a famous victory.
Deverikos wasn't too concerned with that, nursing the ailing
Porsche home to claim the final podium spot and clinch
the title - which
clearly came as a great relief to all concerned.
SRO
See 2005 series calendar for British
GT Championship
Related Story 18.09.2005 - Kinch
and Kirkaldy Clinch British GT Championship at Mondello
