IMS Motorsport Maintain British GT Pace Dispite
Extra Weight
01
June
2008
It had been a five week break in the championship since the rounds
at Knockhill and in that time, the GT3 and GT4 equalisation measures
were announced and the G50s were given a hefty 60 kilo ballast penalty,
minimum ride height increase and a restrictor to slow them down. The
team had already run with the penalties onboard and had set the car
up to take account of the measures imposed.
During Saturday's two test sessions, the team posted decent times,
whilst continuing their development programme. The day was dry and
the team were happy with the development work they managed to carry
out and the drivers acclimatised themselves to the blustery conditions
around the Northamptonshire track.
Durting early morning practice on Sunday, the team were able to
put their full attention to getting the car ready for the Qualification
sessions and race later that day. The non feature day of each round
is packed with track time and little else for all of the teams involved,
it's all about knuckling down to the hard work involved and making
sure that the drivers get enough quality time on track and that the
car is set up well for qualifying and the races. IMS Motorsport with
Richmond Racing were looking to set the car up for what was likely
to be wet conditions, all day. The team were confident that the car
was well set up and would go well with a full load of petrol in it.
For the first qualifying session, set up decisions were made and
Matt would take part in the first qualifying session. It was a tense
session, with cars setting quick times and the conditions changing.
Matt put in a tremendous effort and eclipsed the times of all the other
GT4s! In the second session, the team were looking to have two successive
pole positions and Stuart started well and in the end missed out on
pole position by 0.22 of a second! So near yet so far.
Race 1 was a stunning race, with drama plus plenty of thrills and
spills. The conditions were wet and windy. Matt started in the car
and unfortunately had no pit to car radio communications - it had been
that wet! He was pulling out one to one and a half seconds per lap
on the other cars and pulling out a massive lead, even hassling some
of the GT3 cars! Unfortunately a spin later dropped him down to third,
he started to battle back and then another spin dropped him down to
fifth. He then pulled himself back to second place.
The driver change
window was open, but the team left Matt out to attack the Rob Austin
car. Suddenly a Safety Car was deployed and all of the teams
pitted to change drivers. The number 51 car came in, but the only communication
the team had with Matt was the pit board and they're not easy to see
at Rockingham. Matt had the foresight to see the pit board, knew the
safety car was deployed and both Rob Austin's car and the IMS Motorsport
car came in together. The IMS Motorsport team performed a faultless
change and got the car out ahead of the number 55 car. By this time
they'd also made ground on the number 51 car and so Stuart was released
in the GT4 lead. A few laps later Rob Austin did manage to get past
Stuart, but Stuart held him in his sights and started to reel him back
in and then overtook him, maintaining his lead to the chequered flag.
A great win for the team!
On Monday morning practice, the team were looking to give both drivers
time in the car to ensure that they had a good feeling for the car
in a dry set up. With quite a large amount of fuel in the car and set
about making sure that if the race later on was a dry one that they
had a set up for the conditions that could win the race. The team ended
up heading the times and finished the practice more than happy.
For the second race, the team sensed that from second place on the
grid that they could possibly put together a double win on the weekend,
but the conditions were literally changing every fifteen minutes and
eventually the car didn't have quite enough grip for the first half
of the race. With some teams coming in for wet tyres and then coming
in later on for slicks again, IMS Motorsport made the right decision
by staying out on slicks and not losing valuable time on the track.
Stuart started the race and kept the car out of trouble. He dropped
down to third place but he started to gain on the leaders towards the
end of his session. The driver change was left until the last possible
moment, so as not to lose out on any possible needs for tyre changes.
Matt took over the car and set about chasing the number 52 car. He
hooked on to the back of it and put it under so much pressure that
it fell off the track.
Unfortunately as he was now catching the leader,
the Safety Car was deployed, so that number 52 could be recovered and
then the organisers ended the race early, as the conditions were worsening.
A great weekend, with two more podium finishes, the team have so far
finished first and second at every round and further extended their
championship
lead.
Richmond Racing
See 2008 series calendar for British
GT Championship
Related Story 01.06.2008 - Trackspeed Racing Withdraw From the British GT Championship
