All Eyes Turn West as British GT Heads to
Ireland
20
June 2006
After two races for the GT3 and GTC competitors on the streets of
Pau, the 2006 Avon Tyres British GT Championship now heads west to Ireland,
with all three classes represented in the two 60-minute races.
Team LNT are travelling to Ireland on a high note. Tom Kimber-Smith
is fresh from tasting the victory champagne at the Le Mans 24-Hours
after winning the GT2 class alongside Richard Dean and Lawrence Tomlinson
in the team’s Panoz Esperante GTLM. Scuderia Ecosse were third
overall, with British GT championship leaders Tim Mullen and Chris Niarchos,
along with 2005 British GT Champion Andrew Kirkaldy, scoring Ferrari’s
first GT2 class podium at Le Mans.
The battle for British GT honours will recommence on the 2.25-mile Mondello
circuit, where Team LNT will be looking to record their first British
GT win of 2006 on the back of their success in the world’s most
prestigious endurance event. Kimber-Smith will be reunited with his
regular partner Luke Hines for the two rounds in Ireland. However, they
will find that Scuderia Ecosse will not relinquish the top spot easily.
In 2005 the team scored two wins at the Irish circuit and will be using
that track knowledge to full advantage.
As in Pau, the Lotus Sport Exige cars run by Lotus Sport Cadena will
be representing the GT3 class. With Sam Blogg and George MacKintosh
currently heading the drivers championship table and the team six points
ahead in the team classification, the Lotus Sport Cadena team are hoping
for reliability at Mondello. A good score of points would move them
further ahead of Barwell before the next scheduled appearance of the
Aston Martin DBRS9 cars at Snetterton next month.
In the GTC class, the Team Tiger pairing of Chris Beighton and Jon Finnemore,
with their Marcos Mantis, will be looking to regain the team championship
lead after RPM and Trackspeed moved ahead of them at Pau. Team Tiger
scored maximum points in the first three races of 2006 but took the
decision not to travel to France for rounds 4 & 5. Beighton and
Finnemore are currently tied on points with RPM’s Bradley Ellis
and Alex Mortimer at the top of the GTC drivers championship table after
Ellis and Mortimer recorded their first class win of the season in Pau.
Trackspeed are taking their trio of GTC class Porsche 996’s to
Ireland and are also showing signs of renewed confidence after Jonny
Lang and Matt Allison scored a class win in the opening race in France.
The team also have an ace up their sleeve in the form of reigning Porsche
Carrera Cup champion, and local hero, Damien Faulkner. The Irishman,
who knows Mondello like the back of his hand, is partnering Ryan Hooker
in the number 3 Porsche and will be looking to score some useful points
for the Surrey based team.
Chris Beighton (Team Tiger Marcos Mantis): “The main thing is
to enjoy this weekend as it was hard for us to have to sit out Pau but
that's life, Still we are back for Mondello and at 100% and as usual
will bring along the Team Tiger smile. As for the competition it will
come from each and ever team, they are all capable of winning. I suspect
it will be fast and furious at the front.”
Damien Faulkner (Trackspeed Porsche 996): "I'm very excited about
racing at Mondello in the Avon Tyres British GT Championship with Trackspeed.
Mondello has always been good to me, it's where I learnt my trade in
motorsport so to speak. It's a very technical circuit and one that I
consider that I'm relatively good at. I'm just really looking forward
to going back there."
The event at Mondello Park near Dublin on Saturday 24th and Sunday 25th
June features rounds 6 & 7 (rounds 4 & 5 for GT2) of the 2006
Avon Tyres British GT Championship and rounds 7 & 8 of the 2006
Lloyds TSB International British F3 International Series. The first
60-minute British GT race takes place on Saturday at 17:05, with the
second race on Sunday at 14:00.
MotionWorks / SRO
See 2006 series calendar for British
GT Championship
Related Story 09.06.2006 - Multi-class
British GT Grid Bolstered by GT3
