First Lamborghini Win in British GT as Tech 9 Take Chequered Flag

25 March 2008

Tom Ferrier and Oliver Morley took the first ever win in British GT for a Lamborghini with a 0.9 second victory over the CR Scuderia Ferrari of Michael Meadows and James Sutton. The CiM Ferrari of Allan Simonsen and Hector Lester looked to be heading for an easy win but the team were handed a 20 second stop-go penalty after Simonsen missed the pitstop window. Matt Nicoll-Jones and Stewart Linn won the GT4 Class in their IMS Motorsport Ginetta G50.

The start of the second race of the 2008 Avon Tyres British GT Championship was a frantic affair as Allan Simonsen led the pack across the line to begin the 60-minute race. Behind him Tom Ferrier had Richard Williams in the Trackspeed Porsche challenging him before they even reached the first corner. Ferrier defended and Williams had to back off while behind them Michael Bentwood (#42 Aston Martin) spun after contact with one of the Vipers, the Manchurian driver managing to keep the car pointing in the right direction and he was soon back in the race.

Simonsen was over a second ahead at the end of the opening lap and this increased to over two seconds as Ferrier, Williams and Adam Wilcox in the VRS Motor Finance Ferrari squabbled over 2nd place. They were soon joined by the Chad Peninsula Racing Ferrari of Matt Griffin. Further back the CR Scuderia Ferrari of Luke Hines (#16 CRS) was an early casualty after a spin at Knickerbrook.

In GT4 the Ginetta G50 of Fulvio Mucci (#52 Team RPM) was leading the class but was under immense pressure from Stewart Linn in the IMS Motorsport Ginetta. On lap 6 the two cars were side by side into Old Hall and then at the next few corners it looked like the two cars were going to swap paint but they never did. This battle continued for the next three laps and they were joined by Joe Osborne in the #51 Team RPM Ginetta.

Meanwhile at the front Allan Simonsen continued his domination of the race, opening up a six second lead by lap 10 as Ferrier and Williams continued to battle for 2nd place. Further back Paul O’Neill (#1 Team RPM) passed the CRS Ferrari of Michael Cullen out of Lodge to move into 6th place and set off after James Sutton in the #14 CRS Ferrari.

As the pit window opened some of the backmarkers came in to change drivers but the leaders all stayed out as they tried to build as much of a cushion for their co drivers to finish the race. As the pit window came to a close Tom Ferrier dived into the pits to hand the Lamborghini over to Oliver Morley but, to the amazement of the entire pitlane Allan Simonsen stayed out and wouldn’t be able to do another lap before the pit window closed. The Dane came in on the next lap but it was too late by about 20-seconds. He handed over to Hector Lester, the Ulsterman getting back out in the lead but a 20 second stop go penalty was handed down from race control and Lester had to come in again on the next lap, costing the team their first win of the season.

Morley was now in the lead, with David Ashburn in the Trackspeed Porsche right behind. However on lap 28 the Porsche spun at the bottom of Cascades and Ashburn parked the car on the side of the track. This put Michael Meadows in the #14 CRS Ferrari into second place, 7 seconds down the road, but the former British F3 racer set off after the Lamborghini and three laps later he had Morley in his sights. However Guy Harrington in the lapped Chad Racing Ferrari was sat behind Morley trying to unlap himself and was effectively a barrier to Meadows attacking Morley for the lead.

The chequered flag approached and Meadows was unable to find a way around Harrington and at the flag it was Morley from Meadows, with Steve Clark in the #1 Team RPM Viper in 3rd, ahead of Paddy Shovlin in the #15 CRS Ferrari. 4th place for Michael Cullen and Paddy Shovlin was enough to give them the championship lead going into round 3 at Knockhill and give CRS the lead in the team championship.

Matt Nicoll-Jones brought the IMS Motorsport Ginetta home a lap ahead of Charlie Hollings in the #52 Team RPM Viper and Andrew Howard in the #99 Beechdean Motorsport Aston Martin after a storming drive by Howard’s teammate Jamie Smyth in the early part of the race.

Rounds 3 & 4 will take place at Knockhill in Scotland on 12 and 13 April respectively. TV highlights will be shown on Channel 4 and Motors TV, with a full TV schedule available here.

SRO

See 2008 series calendar for British GT Championship

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