British GT 1-2 at Brands Hatch for CR Scuderia
15
July
2008
Michael Cullen and Paddy Shovlin took victory today in round 12 of
the Avon Tyres British GT Championship at Brands Hatch. Luke Hines
and Jeremy Metcalfe joined them up on the podium in third place, and
were later promoted to second. Michael Meadows and James Sutton drove
a great race but Michael was taken off by Nick Foster in the RPM Viper,
whilst running strongly in second place with just seven minutes of
the race remaining. The Viper finished in second place on the road
but later received a one minute penalty for Foster’s actions,
demoting him and his team-mate to sixth place.
All three CRS Ferraris got away well at the start, running in eighth
(Sutton), 11th (Cullen) and 12th (Hines). Michael Cullen then passed
the Viper ahead of him which was just the beginning of the Irishman’s
astounding run through the field. After taking the Viper he moved ahead
of James Sutton, then a few laps later he passed Kershaw’s Aston
Martin for eighth place, then the no.11 Lamborghini and then the Ferrari
of Adam Wilcox, before cruising away in fifth place.
When the pit window opened Sutton dived into the pits, shortly followed
by Cullen and a few minutes later Hines also came in, the team taking
the opportunity to do a super-fast brake balance change on the no.16
Ferrari. When the window closed the CRS Ferraris were in third, fourth
and seventh places with Shovlin, leading Meadows and Metcalfe. The
safety car then came out as an Aston Martin had gone off at Dingle
Dell and it wasn’t until 14 minutes before the chequered flag
that the race got back underway.
At the restart Shovlin breezed past Jenkinson in the 22GT Aston Martin
at Graham Hill Bend, followed by Meadows, putting those two Ferrari’s
into second and third, whilst Metcalfe also started moving up the order.
A lap later the leading Viper had a puncture so Shovlin took the lead.
With nine minutes to go the CRS Ferraris were running in a 1-2-4 formation
but just two laps later Nick Foster took a dive at Meadows going into
Paddock Hill Bend and took him out of the race.
There was no stopping Shovlin though and he cruised to his third win
of the season. As he drove back through the pits he collected his team-mate,
or rather Michael climbed onto the roof of the no.15 Ferrari, and continued
the cruise along the pit-lane, all the way to the podium!
There are two more rounds to go in the 2008 British GT Championship;
Silverstone on 17 August and the season finale at Donington Park on
12 October, both two-hour races, and the CRS team can’t wait.CR Scuderia
See 2008 series calendar for British
GT Championship
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