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Second Victory for Lester-Mullen Partnership |
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Tuesday, 14 August 2007 |
The Christians in Motorsport Ferrari 430 of Hector Lester and Tim Mullen scored their second victory of the 2007 season, finishing well ahead of the VRS Motor Finance Ferrari of Adam Wilcox and Phil Burton and the Aston Martin DBRS9 of Paul Drayson and Jonny Cocker.As the lights went out it was Adam Jones, starting from the second row, who got away well, moving ahead of both Ferraris on the front row. Phil Burton found himself boxed in by the Lamborghini and the Ferrari of Hector Lester and as the 27 car grid went through Copse for the first time it was Jones from Lester from Burton.The first retirement came at Becketts when the Damax Ascari of Stephen Keating pulled off having lost all drive. As the rest of the field came back into the stadium, Tom Alexander in the Barwell Aston Martin spun at Luffield and the Cadena Motorsport Aston of Barrie Whight also had a spin somewhere out of view.
As the cars crossed the line the Team Modena Lamborghini Gallardo had
already opened up a 1.7 second gap over the CiM Ferrari, which in turn
was pulling away from the VRS Motor Finance Ferrari in third. Matt
Harris in the Tech9 Porsche had made up two places on the opening lap
and crossed the line one place behind the 4th placed Rollcentre Mosler
of Kevin Riley. Riley had the Porsche snapping at his heels as they
went through Copse and on the run into Becketts Harris made his move
and breezed into 4th. Riley then seemed to have a problem as he
dropped back to 20th before the end of the lap.
Erik Zwart in the Team Berlanga Ascari was also making up ground from
11th on the grid and swept past Ben de Zille Butler in the Barwell
Aston Martin, but he wasn’t going to let the Ascari get away. As the
two cars entered Abbey for the third time there was contact between the
two cars and the result was the Ascari ended up in the gravel, though
Zwart managed to recover the car to the track and the Aston limping
into retirement with a split radiator hose.
Meanwhile Phil Burton was falling into the clutches of Matt Harris, who
in turn was being caught by the flying Bradley Ellis in the Team RPM
Viper, up to 5th on lap 3 after starting in 14th. As Harris started to
put 3rd placed Burton under pressure Ellis was content to watch and
wait for his opportunity. On lap 6 Harris made his move at Woodcote,
with Burton unable to stop the Porsche moving into 3rd place and at
Copse Ellis repeated the move and the pole position holder found
himself down in 5th at the end of the lap.
Meanwhile David Jones in the Team Eurotech Preci Spark Ascari was
served with a drive through penalty for overtaking under yellows.
Having started at the back of the grid, Jones had worked his way up to
11th by lap 9 when he came in to serve his penalty and knew he had to
do it all over again.
By now Harris was catching the second placed Hector Lester and on lap 9
the Tech 9 Porsche took another Ferrari scalp followed by the Team RPM
Viper of Bradley Ellis. By this time Adam Jones in the Team Modena
Lamborghini had disappeared into the distance and was over twenty
seconds ahead of the rest of the field. The Team Trimite Brookspeed
Viper of Nigel Greensall was another car on the move through the field.
After starting in 19th place Greensall was scything through the field
and was lying in 6th place behind the Damax Ascari of Oliver Bryant as
they crossed the line to start lap 11. The two cars entered Copse nose
to tail but the Viper got the better exit and Greensall was now 5th and
chasing down the Ferrari of Phil Burton. In the next two laps
Greensall overtook Burton and Lester and was now closing in on the
Viper of Bradley Ellis.
Kevin Riley in the Rollcentre Mosler came in for an unscheduled stop
and a sticking throttle was diagnosed when downshifting which had
caused him to lose places. The team managed to solve the problem and
Riley rejoined the race.
At the rear of the field the Team Aero Morgan of Steve Hyde was 15th
overall and well ahead of the rest of the GTC field after the team had
changed the engine overnight, forcing them to start form the back of
the grid. By lap 14 Hyde was nearly 10 seconds ahead of nearest rival
Graeme Mundy in the RSS Performance Porsche, with Andrew Howard in the
Beechdean Ferrari holding third a bit further down the road.
Meanwhile back at the front Adam Jones was now 26 seconds ahead of Matt
Harris, but Ellis, who was being caught by the Viper of Nigel
Greensall, had had enough of following the Porsche and made a move to
take second and on lap 16 he made it stick. It was now the turn of
Harris to have the pressure from Greensall but the Tech 9 Porsche was
able to maintain the pace and not hand the Viper any opportunity to get
past.
Phil Burton had caught up with Hector Lester and was applying a bit of
pressure to the CiM Ferrari and on lap 21 Lester slid wide at Abbey and
Burton took advantage of the mistake to move into 5th as the pitstops
approached.
Lap 23 finally saw Greensall get ahead of Harris at Copse as the
Porsche seemed to be struggling. Hector Lester lost another place to
Oliver Bryant in the Ascari and further back Paul Drayson was having a
great battle with the Team RPM Viper of Henry Fletcher.
On lap 25 the first of the pitstops took place when Peter Bamford came
in to hand over to Matt Griffin in the Team RPM Porsche, while further
back David Jones was coming through the field once again passing the
Cadena Motorsport Aston Martin of Barrie Whight into Abbey.
As the pits became busy with cars making their mandatory stops Adam
Jones continued to circulate at the front of the field and by lap 30
held a massive 31 second lead over Bradley Ellis, who in turn was 7
seconds ahead of Nigel Greensall. The little Ginetta G20 of Nick Marsh
was another retirement at this point, pulling off the track at Luffield
and stopping in a safe place.
On lap 37, as the top three cars continued to race, Phil Burton brought
the VRS Motor Finance Ferrari in to hand over to Adam Wilcox. The team
decided to stay on the same Avon tyres for the rest of the race and the
Ferrari exited the pitlane in good time. It was then the turn of
Hector Lester to make his stop to hand over to Tim Mullen. The CiM
team decided to change one tyre, the left rear, which was to prove an
astute move by the end of the race.
Bradley Ellis in the second placed Team RPM Viper suddenly slowed with
a puncture as he headed to the pits and he crawled back to his pit box
to hand over to Alex Mortimer. The problem cost the team a massive
amount of time and undid all the good work Ellis had done in the
opening part of the race. Nigel Greensall, who had briefly held
second, came in to hand over to Phiroze Bilimoria.
On lap 43 Adam Jones came into the pits from the lead with a massive 55
second lead to hand over the car to Matt Owen. Owen regained the track
still in the lead but a slow stop put the Lamborghini just 2.5 sceonds
ahead of the Brookspeed Team Trimite Viper of Bilimoria and the Indian
driver was able to move into the lead on lap 45 to lead his first ever
British GT race.
A stop go penalty was handed to car 54, the RSS Performance Porsche
with Jamie Smyth at the wheel for speeding in the pitlane. However the
Team Aero Morgan had a problem and spent a long time in the pits as the
mechanics tried to find an electrical problem, dropping the Morgan down
the order and out of contention for the GTC win.
As the running order became clearer after the pitstops it was Bilimoria
leading from Owen in the Lamborghini with Wilcox in the Ferrari ahead
of Phil Keen in the Damax Ascari and Jonny Cocker in the Aston Martin.
Tim Mullen was 6th in the CiM Ferrari ahead of Godfrey Jones in the
Team Eurotech Ascari after a good pitstop and a great recovering drive
from brother David after the stop go penalty.
Wilcox was the driver to watch as he first overtook Owen in Lamborghini
at Brooklands and then a lap later he swept past Bilimoria at the same
spot to take the lead. However the fastest car on the track was the
CiM Ferrari of Tim Mullen who overtook Cocker on lap 51. Phil Keen in
the Damax Ascari was also moving up as Owen and Bilimoria dropped back
down the order and on lap 55 it was Wilcox from Keen from Mullen from
Cocker.Bilimoria brought the Brookspeed Viper into the pits with a
problem, dropping the Indian out of contention as the mechanics tried
to find the source of the problem. The Cadena Motorsport Aston of
Gavan Kershaw also came into the pits with oil smoke coming from the
engine bay and the Trackspeed Porsche of Jonny Lang also came into the
pits with a problem.
Back on the track and Mullen was catching Phil Keen and moved into
second place at the end of lap 56, 17.7 seconds behind the leading
Ferrari of Adam Wilcox. It was then the turn of Jonny Cocker to attack
the Ascari and as the two cars crossed the line for the 61st time they
were side by side into Copse Corner, with Cocker holding the inside
line to take the final podium place away from Keen.
Tom Ferrier in the Tech 9 Porsche and Godfrey Jones in the Team
Eurotech Ascari were also on the move back towards the front of the
field overtaking Matt Owen’s struggling Lamborghini, with Ferrier not
targeting the Ascari of Phil Keen as the race entered its final stages.
At the front Mullen was taking huge chunks out of Wilcox’s lead, the
decision spend the extra time to change the rear tyre during the
pitstop clearly giving Mullen a performance boost. By lap 72 the two
Ferrari’s were nose to tail and as they crossed the line Mullen moved
to the inside into Copse but Wilcox defended. However Mullen wasn’t
going to be denied and at Brooklands the red Ferrari moved ahead and
into the lead.
Ferrier caught and passed Keen and was quickly followed by the Jones
Ascari. However it was then Ferriers turn to come under pressure and
into Copse Jones made his move and made the move stick to take 4th
place as the race entered the final lap.
At the flag it was Tim Mullen who scored the Christians in Motorsport
teams second win of the year, 11 seconds ahead of Adam Wilcox in the
VRS Motor Finance Ferrari. Jonny Cocker was a further 12 seconds down
the road in the Barwell Aston Martin, but after the disappointments of
two non finishes at Brands Hatch the team were pleased with the
result. Godfrey Jones came across the line in 4th, 37 seconds behind
Mullen, an excellent result after starting from the back of the grid.
The Tech 9 Porsche 997 of Matt Harris and Tom Ferrier was 5th just
ahead of double race winners Alex Mortimer and Bradley Ellis. The
Damax Ascari of Oliver Bryant and Phil Keen was 7th and the final
championship point was secured by Matt Owen and Adam Jones for Team
Modena.
Jamie Smyth brought the RSS Performance Porsche home at the head of the
GTC class, the first win of the season for the team, which consolidates
their championship lead. Phil Nuttal and Andrew Shelley were 83
seconds behind on their British GT debut for Trackspeed, with Andrew
Howard and Aaron Scott two laps adrift to take the final podium
finish. Keith Ahlers brought the Team Aero Morgan home to claim five
useful championship points.
Bradley Ellis and Alex Mortimer head to Thruxton with a two point
advantage over Paul Drayson and Jonny Cocker in the race for the 2007
Avon Tyres British GT Championship title, with Godfrey and David Jones
just one point behind the Barwell drivers. In fact just six points
cover the top 11 drivers with six races remaining.
Rounds 9 and 10 of the Avon Tyres British GT Championship will be held at Thruxton in Hampshire on August 25/26.
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