Kinch and Kirkaldy End Season in Style

09 October 2005

Nathan Kinch and Andrew Kirkaldy rounded off the season in fine style, the Scuderia Ecosse Ferrari duo winning from pole position and setting fastest lap. Behind them the Embassy Racing Porsche of Collins and Cunningham came out on top of a race-long battle with Jordan and Caine, in the Eurotech Porsche. GT3 went to Phil Quaife and Stuart Moseley, of Motorbase Quaife; second was the Trackspeed Porsche of Ashburn and Moss, with the second Motorbase Quaife Porsche of Britnell and Falkner taking third. Tim Harvey and Alex Mortimer won the Invitation class in the RPM Porsche. In contrast to Saturday's race, Sunday saw sunny conditions, although a little breezy. The track was dry throughout.

After the opening lap, it would have taken a major drama to deprive Kinch and Kirkaldy of signing off their championship-winning season with another victory. But that first lap came close to providing just such a drama. Across the line, Kirkaldy made a relatively slow start, letting the Eclipse Mosler of Keen and Hyde down the inside, with the second Scuderia Ecosse Ferrari of Mullen and Niarchos going down the outside. Kirkaldy got tapped going into Copse, which pushed him into Mullen, pitching Mullen off the track; the incident slowed Kirkaldy, allowing the Collins/Cunningham Porsche to pull alongside on the run to Becketts. Kirkaldy managed to hold the place, and when the Mosler spun unaided at Becketts, he regained the lead.

From there the race became a charge through the field for both Mullen/Niarchos and Keen/Hyde, while Kirkaldy pulled out a comfortable lead. Behind him the Collins/Cunningham and Jordan/Caine Porsches were battling over second place, neither able to establish a clear advantage. Keen and Mullen charged through the field at such a pace that they were up to second and third by lap 15; however both lost out in the pit-stops, dropping back down the order.

From there to the finish the positions remained static; Caine dropped back a little from the Embassy Porsche, trying to nurse his tyres for one last charge. It didn't quite work and he had to settle for third, less than 0.9s away from second place.

With the problems hitting the GT2 runners, the leading GT3 cars ran well up the field, as high as fifth in the early laps. The Motorbase Quaife Porsche pair of Quaife and Moseley led the class for almost the entire race, their main competition coming from Invitation class cars; second went to Ashburn and Moss, with Ashburn picking up the Driver of the Meeting prize for his charging performances in both races. Third, after a steady race, went to Britnell and Falkner.

The early running in the Invitation class was made by the Trackspeed Porsche of Masarati and Fordyce, but they were unable to sustain their pace after the pit-stops and fell away. That let Harvey and Mortimer into the lead, although they had a late-race scare when they got a stop-go penalty for a pit-stop infringement; by then, they had a sufficient margin to remain in the class lead.

SRO

See 2005 series calendar for British GT Championship

Related Story 08.10.2005 - Kinch and Kirkaldy Take Wet British GT Win at Silverstone