Tech 9 Take Win for Porsche in British GT Round 2
10 April 2007
Matt Harris and Oliver Bryant claimed round 2 in the Tech 9 Porsche
997 is a race influenced by the rain where tyre choice made all of
the difference to the result. The Bio fuel Aston Martin of Paul Drayson
and Jonny Cocker were second and the Team RPM Viper of Alex Mortimer
and Bradley Ellis was third.
GTC was won by the Team Tiger Marcos Mantis of Chris Beighton and
Jon Finnemore, gaining maximum points for the team that was dogged
by ECU problems and Saturday and were forced to start at the back of
the field for both races. Second went to the Team Aero Morgan of Keith
Ahlers and Steve Hyde, with Graeme Mundy and Jamie Smyth claiming the
final podium place in the RSS Performance Porsche 996.
As the cars made there way around for the rolling start the rain was
light but definately falling. Most of the teams had chosen to start
on slicks and the Brookspeed Viper of Nigel Greensall, which had elected
to start the race on wets, dived into the pits at the end of the first
green flag lap to change onto slicks.
The race went green and pole position holder Tim Mullen (CiM Ferrari
430) and Adam Wilcox (VRS Motor Finance Ferrari 430) were side by side
into the first corner at Old Hall. Everyone held their breathe as the
two Ferrari's exited side by side as ther dropped down the hill to
Cascades, however Mullen had the advantage at the next corner and moved
into the lead.
The Trackspeed Porsche of Gavan Kershaw was circulating slowly with
a rear puncture as the leaders came through to complete lap 1 andit
was Mullen 0.5 seconds ahead of Wilcox from Richard Williams in the
#14 Trackspeed Porsche, Godfrey Jones in the Team Eurotech - Preci
Spark Ascari and Michael Bentwood in the Barwell Aston Martin.
Further back however there was mayhem at Deer Leap as both Damax Ascari's
and the David Dove Ferrari were seen sliding down the circuit after
clattering the barriers. Jimmy Brodie's Ascari was left on the outside
of Deer Leap, while the David Dove Ferrari was left stranded on the
inside of the main start finish straight. Tommy Erdos managed to get
his battered Ascari off the circuit but the safety car was deployed
at the end of lap two. Keith Ahlers in the Team Aero Morgan also got
caught up in the incident and he managed to pull his battered Morgan
into the pitlane for some running repairs and he rejoined one lap down.
It took four laps for the marshal's to make it safe to go racing again
and at the restart Michael Bentwood was under pressure from Richard
Williams as soon as the race went green. Williams stuck the nose of
his Porsche onto the rear bumper of the green Aston Martin as they
crossed the line and made his move as the cars headed out towards Shell.
When they cam e back into view Williams had got ahead. 5th placed Godfrey
Jones was tapped into a spin at Old Hall by one of the Porsches, dropping
the Ascari down the field. Another casualty was the Team RPM Porsche
of Nigel Redwood whose car was seen limping back to the pits with a
puncture.
In GTC pole position holder Aaron Scott was leading the class but
the Team Tiger Marcos of Jon Finnemore was powering its way up the
field from the back of the grid and on lap 7 was closing in on the
leading Ferrari as the pitstop window approached.
Meanwhile at the front Mullen was pulling slowly away from the Ferrari
of Adam Wilcox who was having to defend his second place from a flying
Richard Williams. On lap 11 the pit window opened and Paul Drayson
was the first car to come in, handing the bio fuel Aston Martin DBRS9
over to Jonny Cocker from 10th place.
As the pitstops continued the teams debated whether to swith to wets
or not, with many deciding the conditions were not bad enough to warrant
the Avon wets. On lap 17 the three leading cars came in together with
Tim Mullen parking his Ferrari at an angle in the pitlane, which resulted
in the Ferrai getting blocked in as other cars pitted. The Christians
in Motorsport team had to push the Ferrari back before Hector Lester
could regain the track, losing the Ulsterman precious time.
With the pit window closed the race order became clear and the Tech
9 Porsche with Oli Bryant now at the wheel was out in front, with the
Team RPM Viper of Bradley Ellis in second but being caught by Jonny
Cocker in the Barwell Aston Martin. Ellis tried to hold off the Aston
but the 2004 British GT Champion wasn't going to be denied and he moved
ahead of the Viper on lap 15 and set off after the leading Porsche.
After the pitstops the GTC lead went to Chris Beighton in the Team
Tiger Marcos after the Beechdean Ferrari was delayed for three minutes
due a technical problem, which the team fixed in good order but the
result was they regained the track in 4th place. Beighton was over
a lap ahead of the Team Aero Morgan of Steve Hyde and just had to get
the car home to complete a maximum points weekend for the team.
As the race entered the final stages Cocker started to close up on
Bryant's leading Porsche but he was running out of time. Further down
the field there was a five car battle for 5th between Tom Alexander
(#2 Barwell Aston Martin), Guy Harrington (#3 Barwell Aston Martin),
Phil Burton (#12 Team VRS Motor Finance Ferrari), Hector Lester ( #23
CiM Ferrari) and David Jones (#22 Team Eurotech - Preci Spark Ascari).
The five car train was nose to tail with Burton and Jones side by side
into Old Hall as the cars started their 27th lap. There was contact
and the VRS Motor Finance Ferrari spun, dropping Burton down the field.
Harrington moved ahead of his Barwell teammate on the same lap to move
into 5th and quickly caught the Trackspeed Porsche of David Ashburn,
which he passed on the penultimate lap of the arce for 4th.
At the flag it was Bryant who crossed the line, just 0.8 seconds ahead
of Cocker, with Ellis a further 30 seconds up the road. In GTC it was
another win for the Team Tiger Marcos of Chris Beighton a lap ahead
of the battered Team Aero Morgan of Steve Hyde and the RSS Performance
Porsche of Jamie Smyth. Andrew Howard brought the Beechdean Ferrari
home in 4th. Beechdean Motorsport went home with the concellation of
taking the fastest lap of the race in GTC.
SRO
See 2007 series calendar for British
GT Championship
Related Story 10.04.2006 - Mullen and Lester Win British GT Round One Thriller
