Alexander Schjerpen and Jack Mitchell took an ultimately comfortable win at Silverstone for Century Motorsport’s #43 BMW team.
After a poor start in which he fell to 16th, the team recovered back to the front and took advantage of the dominant Equipe Verschuur #10 McLaren suffering a suspension failure while leading by half-a-minute.
And Schjerpen felt the team had to work hard to earn their second straight victory.
“We knew that we were going to be strong here at this track. We struggled a little in qualifying so going into the race we knew the pace was there so we had to push hard.
“I had a bad start, I’m not sure what happened there but others went and I didn’t so we ended up P16 and it was hard work in the first stint, Jack did a great job in his first stint to get us back to the front.”
The Norwegian took the first British GT win of his career with Mitchell on Sunday and left nothing on the table in his second stint.
“I finished my second stint with qualifying laps and we were pushing very hard, we were unsure where exactly we were with the stops and cars pitting around us, it was a hectic race and we’re super-happy that we finished at the front.”
And he had a lot of praise for his team’s preparation of the GT4 BMW M4, having had bad luck earlier in the season.
“The BMW is a brilliant car, every time I get into it I can throw anything at it and it responds. We’ve been playing around a little with set-up in practice yesterday and we found a good setting with the car.
“Century Motorsport are doing a brilliant job with it, and it’s fun to drive.”
TF Sport’s Mark Farmer was relieved to win the Silverstone 500 event with Nicki Thiim in #11 Aston Martin after an earlier collision with the #47 Aston of Graham Davidson left him facing the wrong way.
Thiim held off the Lamborghini #33 duo of Jon Minshaw and Phil Keen, with Flick Haigh and Jonny Adam were third.
Davidson was given a 10-second stop/go penalty for causing the collision with a move that Farmer branded “silly”.
“I thought it was game over because of our 10s success penalty in the last stop.
“It was a move that wasn’t on really and he ruined his own race and nearly ruined ours. It was silly really because they were lightly fuelled, they were quick and could have gone well, he was catching me and another couple of corners and he’d have done it easily. I was quite cross because it was never on.”
Farmer paid tribute to his TF Sport team for their strategy that saw the team negate the 10s penalty to squeeze ahead of Keen’s Lamborghini at the final stop, a move that proved crucial as the #33 could not land a blow.
“The team played a masterstroke on strategy, that really worked for us and Nicki drove like he stole it. The team executed the pitstops flawlessly.”
Thiim meanwhile was delighted after TFSport secured their third straight podium and their second win in three races.
“It was a great weekend, we started off really well but we struggled a little with the set-up because of the new surface at Silverstone. It was really hard at the end with the tyres going away.
“The team did the right strategy in my eyes and it was a really good race after the opening stint. I’m so happy to win this meeting.”
This weekend sees the return of the British Touring Car Championship to the Cheshire circuit of Oulton Park.
Map of Oulton Park Circuit.
The 5th event on the calendar this year, Oulton Park marks the midpoint in the hectic season that defines the BTCC and what a season it’s been so far!
With Adam Morgan currently holding a precarious one point lead at the top of the championship, this weekend could be the location for large amounts of reshuffling with the top 5 separated by a mere 18 points! Oulton Park is a circuit renowned for exciting racing with its varying gradients and hills such as Knickerbrook as well as possessing a number of tight corners ideal for overtaking such as Lodge Corner. Be prepared to see big reshuffles of the standings throughout races as there are simply countless areas ideal for overtaking.
With low chances of rain and predicted temperatures of around 20 degrees Celsius, the fans will be turning out in droves with an estimation of around 40,000 coming to the circuit over the weekend. It’s sure to be an enjoyable weekend for them if they are lovers of adrenalin fuelled overtaking and gorgeous weather!
The make-up of the grid was confirmed after qualifying today and there was a shock at the top of the grid. Matt Simpson set pole with a lap over two tenths faster than second placed Sam Tordoff. In terms of the title race, it was expected to be a tricky qualifying session for championship leader Adam Morgan with the 75 Kilogram success ballast that accompanies the top spot. He ended up 19th. This leaves considerable work to be done on race day for Morgan but it also presents a glorious opportunity to his championship contenders, especially Matt Neal. After struggling in the early rounds of the Championship Neal has gotten to grips with the new Honda Civic sealing a win at Thruxton, he currently sits 6th in the standings but has qualified 5th at Oulton. If there’s a man to watch this weekend I’d point towards Matt Neal.
It’s sure to be a great day of racing at Oulton Park with many thrills and spills along the way so start your countdown to round 12 of the season, it’s going to be an interesting one.
James Clinton Hunt
Featured image courtesy of BrianDeegan.co.uk under creative commons
The British GT series rolls into Silverstone for the longest race of the season just two weeks after the two sprint races at Snetterton.
Aston Martin dominated in the GT3 class with two victories including the #11 TF Sport crew of Mark Farmer and Nicki Thiim in Race One, while Derek Johnston and Marco Sorensen in the #17 Aston held off a late charge from the #99 Beechdean crew of Darren Turner and Andrew Howard in Race Two.
There are fourteen GT3 crews at Silverstone this weekend, with Balfe Motorsport’s McLaren returning this weekend and one-off appearances from Ultimate Speed’s Aston Martin team and another Mercedes in Team ABBA Racing.
Points-and-a-half are on offer in the British GT’s Big One, where five different crews have won five races in 2018, with the #116 Mercedes of Lee Mowle and Yelmer Buurman leading the overall GT3 class by just 4.5 points after a tough weekend in Norfolk.
Like the ERC Sport Mercedes, the second in the championship #33 Barwell Motorsport Lamborghini crew of Jon Minshaw and Phil Keen do not have to serve a success penalty in the first mandatory pitstop.
Such is the closeness of the GT3 category that the top seven crews are separated by less than the 37.5 points available this weekend.
The #99 Beechdean Aston Martin is 12 points behind in third, with the #17 of Johnston and Sorensen and the #11 of Farmer and Thiim following close behind.
The Optimum Aston crew of Flick Haigh and Jonny Adam are still in touch in sixth, while technical issues meant that Iain Loggie and Callum Macleod slipped to seventh in #7 Bentley.
Meanwhile, the GT4 championship race is as closely fought as the GT3 counterparts after Tolman Motorsport’s #56 crew of Joe Osbourne and David Pattison took the spoils in Race One and a dramatic Race Two win for the #42 Century Motorsport BMW of Ben Tuck and Ben Green.
Five different crews have won five races this season, and half a point separates the leading #55 Ginetta crew of Callum Pointon and Patrik Matthiesen leading the #4 McLaren duo of Michael O’Brien and Charlie Fagg.
Academy Motorsport’s Will Moore and Matt Nicoll-Jones are next after three straight podiums and the #42 Century BMW of Tuck and Green.
The Jaguar Invictus’ second batch of wounded, injured and sick armed forces veterans make their British GT debuts this weekend when Basil Rawlinson (2nd Battalion Parachute Regiment) joins Jason Wolfe in the #22 F-TYPE SVR and Paul Vice (42 Commando Royal Marines) teams up with Matthew George aboard #44.
It’ll be a busy weekend for George, who is also registered to race as James Holder’s co-driver in the Generation AMR Super Racing Aston Martin.
George and Holder last contested a full-season British GT programme together in 2016, which ultimately led to David Appleby Engineering – which runs the V8 Vantage – overseeing 2018’s Jaguar project. George will therefore split his weekend between both cars and swap between them during the race, before a lie down after the race.
It was an early start on Sunday the 20th of May, heading up at 6.30am on Sunday for the two-hour trip to the Northampton track. The weather was fantastic, with sunshine and blue skies. Ed Hocknull and I had been invited by Lexus UK to attend the second UK round of this championship that is held in the UK, although this would be the longer endurance three-hour race, rather than the two separate one-hour sprint races held at Brands Hatch.
There were perfect track conditions for the three hour race. – Photo credit, Warren
The team run two Lexus RC-F GT3 cars, numbered 14 and 114. The drivers of car 14 are, Albert Costa, Christian Klein and Marco Seefried, whilst Stephane Ortelli, Norbert Siedler and Marcus Palttala team up in 114. We were given a warm welcome by the team, with VIP passes allowing access to the garage at all times and grid access too.
Emil Frey Racing hospitality – Photo credit, Warren Nel
The first track action of the day was qualifying, which is an hour long. Each driver has to drive the car in qualifying, getting 15 minutes each, with a seven-minute break between each run. This makes for a busy hour when there are 50 cars on track! When all was said and done, the number 14 car was third on the grid, whilst the sister 114 car had qualified seventh. The team were very happy with this result, particularly after topping the timesheets in the second part of the session with car 14, showing that they were starting to find the sweet-spot in the set-up and unlocking the potential pace.
Everyone was watching how qualifying would turn out! Photo credit – Warren Nel
At the start of the afternoon, we were given a garage tour. The BOP or, Balance of Performance was explained. The are so many different cars that run in this championship, that SRO mandate certain things to keep the performance of the cars very close. For example, every team get the same tyres and fuel and then there are also restrictors placed on the inlets for the engines, controlling the power the engine can produce. There are freedoms though and the teams use trick single seater suspension systems.
Garage tour – Photo credit – Warren NelThe poor guy giving us the tour kept getting interrupted by engines revving and wheel gun noise! Photo credit – WarrenThe garage tour continued with a look at the engineers area. – Photo credit, Warren
A pit walk followed the tour, allowing the fans to meet the drivers and teams. The championship definitely welcome fans with open arms, and it’s great to see! After this, we had a delicious lunch at the teams’ hospitality. It was getting close to race time though, and before that was the grid walk. It was super busy on the grid, with the cars coming around from the pitlane, before being pushed to their spots on the grid.
The drivers meet the fans! Photo credit, Warren NelA very fan friendly championship – Photo credit, Warren NelWhat a great looking race car! – Photo credit, Warren NelOn the grid with the team – Photo credit, Warren NelThe number 14 Lexus chases down the 62 Aston Martin. Photo credit, Warren Nel
Race Recap
Christian Klein would be taking the wheel of the number 14 car, whilst Stephane Ortelli would start the 114.
Now after half an hour of racing, the two Lexus were running very well, with Klein in 4th place and Ortelli two places further back in 6th. As the pitstops approached after nearly 50 minutes of racing, the RC-F GT3’s were 6.3 and 9.4 seconds from the leader.
The team had done a very good job indeed. The number 14 Lexus, with Klein behind the wheel pitted, but suffered a slow pitstop. The reason? Well, the team had a failure with a wheel gun slowing down the changing of the tyres.
Ortelli pitted a couple of laps later, and the pitstop was completed without any hitches. All of this meant that the 114, driven by Marcus was now in 5th place, whilst number 14, piloted by Marco was now in 7th.
Lexus 114 approaches the left-right-left before Hangar Straight. Photo credit Warren Nel
Twenty minutes after the pitstops Marcus passed the number 4 Mercedes, and then quickly closed on the number 62 Aston Martin which had Alex Brundle behind the wheel. On lap 51, Alex made a mistake and slid wide in the left-right-left and this allowed Marcus to get alongside the Aston and then make the pass into third place down Hangar straight!
With an hour and five minutes to go, Marcus pitted and handed 114 over to Norbert. It would be down to him to bring the car to the chequered flag. A lap later and Marco pitted and Alberto Costa took the wheel of the number 14 and re-joined in 8th place. He started setting some very fast sector times, looking to move up some places.
Lexus RC-F GT3 – Photo credit, Warren Nel
On lap 69, Albert Costa passed the Strakka Racing number 43 Mercedes for 7th place. He was just two seconds behind the 62 Aston Martin now. Just thirty minutes remained in the race.
With just twenty minutes left, Costa was dropping back a little, with the 43 Mercedes getting closer and behind that, the 72 SNP Ferrari closing on the Merc.
Meantime, the 114 was holding its own, 22 seconds from 1st place, but the number 1 Audi was within 1 second of the Lexus. Drama though for the number 14 car which ran wide at Aintree on lap 75, giving the 72 Ferrari 7th place. Just six minutes remained now, and the battle was on for the final spot on the podium between 114 and 1! With less than 4 minutes remaining the 114 Lexus was still in 3rd place! The team were looking at their first podium finish!
The number 114 Emil Frey Racing Lexus RC-F GT3 chases the number 4 Mercedes – Photo credit, Warren Nel
Coming into the loop near Silverstone six stand, the number 1 Audi got a run and was starting to get alongside the Lexus, but he ran wide, giving Norbert a breather! It was enough! They’d done it! Further back number 14 had lost another place unfortunately, crossing the line in 9th place. The team had definitely done a very good job to improve the car, allowing them to fight at the front.
Nerves were high in the garage as the final minutes of the race counted down. Photo credit, Warren Nel
We all headed down to the end of the pitlane to watch the podium, which was their first ever in the Blancpain championship. The trophies were handed out and then it was the time-honoured tradition to spray the champagne!
The top three celebrate on the podium – Photo credit, Warren NelStéphane Ortelli, Norbert Siedler, Markus Palttala, hold their trophies aloft! Photo credit, Warren Nel
It was now time to go home, but first we visited the team garage and watched as the team all celebrated their great result!
Finally, I’d like to say a big thank you to Matt at Lexus/Toyota and Emil Frey Racing for the invite. Ed and I had a fantastic time, with a really friendly team.
It’s time for the really dusty rally! Last year, M-Sport won the rally, thanks to a superb drive from Ott Tanak. Thierry Neuville is the championship leader, currently 19 points ahead of the reigning champion Seb. Opening the road on Friday will make the event very tricky for him. Last year we saw Seb open the road and he finished in fifth place and kept the lead in the championship.
Rally Italia Sardegna – Photo credit – M-Sport World Rally Team
Here’s last year’s result.
Final Overall Classification -Rally Italia Sardegna
1
O. Tanak
M. Jarveoja
Ford Fiesta WRC
3:25:15.1
2
J.M Latvala
M. Anttila
Toyota Yaris WRC
+12.3
3
T. Neuville
N. Gilsoul
Hyundai i20 Coupe WRC
+1:07.7
4
E. Lappi
J. Ferm
Toyota Yaris WRC
+2:12.9
5
S. Ogier
J. Ingrassia
Ford Fiesta WRC
+3:25.3
6
J. Hänninen
K. Lindstrom
Toyota Yaris WRC
+3:38.5
7
M. Østberg
O. Floene
Ford Fiesta WRC
+6:31.8
8
A. Mikkelsen
A. Jaeger
Citroën C3 WRC
+8:07.8
9
E. Camilli
B. Veillas
Ford Fiesta R5
+11:15.8
10
J. Kopecky
P. Dresler
Škoda Fabia R5
+11:21.4
Here’s the full schedule for this tricky event!
RALLY ITALIA SARDINIA SCHEDULE (GMT+2)
THURSDAY 7 JUNE
8.00am: Shakedown Olmedo (3,34 km)
5.00pm: Start (Alghero)
6.00pm: SS 1 – Ittiri Arena Show (2,00 km)
7.00pm: Parc fermé (Alghero)
FRIDAY 8 JUNE
6.30am: Service A (Alghero – 15 min)
8.33am: SS 2 – Tula 1 (21,99 km)
9.48am: SS 3 – Castelsardo 1 (14,52 km)
10.37am: SS 4 – Tergu – Osilo 1 (14,14 km)
11.48am: SS 5 – Monte Baranta 1 (10,78 km)
12.44pm: Service B (Alghero – 30 min)
3.02pm: SS 6 – Tula 2 (21,99 km)
4.17pm: SS 7 – Castelsardo 2 (14,52 km)
5.06pm: SS 8 – Tergu – Osilo 2 (14,14 km)
6.24pm: SS 9 – Monte Baranta 2 (10,78 km)
7.00pm: Flexi service C (Alghero – 45 min)
SATURDAY 9 JUNE
5.55am: Service D (Alghero – 15 min)
8.38am: SS 10 – Coiluna – Loelle 1 (14,95 km)
9.33am: SS 11 – Monti Di Ala’ 1 (28,52 km)
10.11am: SS 12 – Monte Lerno 1 (29,11 km)
1.03pm: Service E (Alghero – 30 min)
2.11pm: SS 13 – Citta’ Di Ittiri – Coros (1,40 km)
4.08pm: SS 14 – Coiluna – Loelle 2 (14,95 km)
5.03pm: SS 15 – Monti Di Ala’ 2 (28,52 km)
5.41pm: SS 16 – Monte Lerno 2 (29,11 km)
8.15pm: Flexi service F (Alghero – 45 min)
SUNDAY 10 JUNE
7.45am: Service G (Alghero – 15 min)
8.45am: SS 17 – Cala Flumini 1 (14,06 km)
9.38am: SS 18 – Sassari – Argentiera 1 (6,96 km)
11.12am: SS 19 – Cala Flumini 2 (14,06 km)
12.18pm: SS 20 – Sassari – Argentiera 2 Power Stage (6,96 km)
1.15pm: Service H (Alghero – 10 min)
2.15pm: Podium (Alghero)
Let’s hear from the driver’s!
Hyundai Motorsport
Thierry Neuville
“Portugal was the near-perfect weekend for us, as we took 29 out of a maximum 30 points. We now move onto Sardinia, which is one of the most technical events on the calendar, leading the championship. The roads are very narrow and become extremely rough on the second pass. The grip level is quite high on the repeat loop, but we often lack traction on the first run through. They are tricky conditions but the stages tend to suit my driving style and pace notes system. I am able to be very precise and I have been successful there many times in the past.”
2017 FIA World Rally Championship Round 07, Rally d’Italia Sardegna 8-11 June 2017 Thierry Neuville – Nicolas Gilsoul, Hyundai i20 Coupe WRC Photographer: RaceEMotion Worldwide copyright: Hyundai Motorsport GmbH
Hayden Paddon
“First of all, I am feeling fighting fit after the incident in Portugal and I’m ready to get back down to business. Up to that point, we were able to show a competitive level of performance, taking a stage win and battling for the lead. Rally Italia Sardegna is certainly one of the highlights of the year, located in the Mediterranean with sunny conditions and hot temperatures. The stages are very twisty and challenging. It is a rally I enjoy, and from where I have good memories. I scored my first WRC podium there in 2015 and led the rally in 2017. I would like to finish off what we started last year.”
Andreas Mikkelsen
“Rally Italia Sardegna is a very warm event and it’s important to have high concentration; there are many rocks sticking out that can cause punctures or damage. You also need a stable car because the stages are quite narrow and rough with a lot of bumps. We have made improvements to the car on gravel, which has given me an improved feeling, and I felt really comfortable during Rally de Portugal. This is a positive sign for Sardinia where our aim is to catch up some points and improve our position in the drivers’ championship, while also helping the team to increase the manufacturers’ lead. It will be tough on mind and body, as well as the car and tyres, but we’re ready for it.”
Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT
Jari-Matti Latvala
“I always enjoy competing in Sardinia. I actually drove there for the first time in 2003 on the Rally Costa Smeralda, the year before the WRC started going there. The roads have a very hard base with a layer of sand on the top which can make it very slippery for the first cars on the road. The roads are narrow but you can go very fast if you can keep to the right line. I feel positive heading to Sardinia. I had two clean days of driving in Portugal without any mistakes and this helped my confidence a lot, and I am really enjoying driving this car.”
Jari-Matti and Miikka scored a podium last year on this event – Photo credit Toyota World Rally Team
Ott Tanak
“Sardinia is a special rally for me as it’s where I got my first win one year ago. Hopefully we can get another top result this time around. I think this will be a key rally for the championship. Portugal obviously didn’t go as well as we planned or hoped, so it will be really important to score some strong points. We are trying to be well prepared as possible, and I know that the team is working really hard. I am really happy with how the car has been performing: In Argentina it was fantastic and it felt good in Portugal as well. Now we just need to translate that speed into a good result before the summer holidays.”
Esapekka Lappi
“I am really looking forward to competing in Sardinia again. We had a pretty good result there already last year and my speed was good, as we won six stages. I think I have learnt a lot since then, and there has also been a lot of progress with the car. I have felt very comfortable over the last couple of rallies and I have had the confidence to push hard. Now that we are fifth in the championship, we will have to run quite early on the road on Friday. The road cleaning effect can be quite big there, but I got some good experience of this on the final two days in Portugal, so I am not worrying about this too much.”
M-Sport Ford WRT
Sébastien Ogier
“Portugal was a shame as we had the speed to challenge for the win. It was a small mistake with big consequences, but we put it behind us and are now fully focused on giving it everything we’ve got in Sardinia.
“Having competed here many times before, I’ve learned to really enjoy these demanding stages. It’s a beautiful island, but not the easiest of rallies with some very rough and abrasive terrain. You need to keep a margin and stay focused from start to finish – which is exactly what we intend to do next week.
“We won’t be opening the road this year, but we’ll still have something of an uphill battle with many fast drivers benefitting from a cleaner road behind. Even so, I’m confident that we can challenge for a good result. If we can keep the lead in sight on Friday night then we’ll be in with a chance – and will push for the best possible result.”
FIA WORLD RALLY CHAMPIONSHIP 2017 -WRC Italy Sardegna (ITA) – WRC 08/06/2017 to 11/06/2017 – PHOTO : @World
Elfyn Evans
“Sardinia will always be a special place for me. It’s where I first got behind the wheel of a world rally car and I’ve come to really enjoy the challenging nature of the stages. It’s not an easy rally by all means, but I think that’s one of the reasons why I enjoy it so much.
“It’s such a demanding event and there are so many things that you need to keep in mind. The stages themselves are very rough and abrasive. You need to keep a margin within your driving otherwise your rally can be over before it’s even begun.
“Then there’s the heat. At this time of year, we can be looking at temperatures as high as 30C. That takes its toll on the cars, and the 50C plus temperatures inside the cockpit take their toll on the crew too!
“After our good result in Portugal we’re keen to keep that momentum going in Sardinia. We’ve completed two days of testing and we’ll have a fairly good road position on Friday that we’ll need to make the most of. If everything goes our way, I see no reason why we can’t be challenging for another strong result.”
Teemu Suninen
“I didn’t compete in Sardinia last year, but I did win the WRC 2 category in 2016 so hopefully that will help us this year. Every rally is difficult at this level and every minor detail has an effect on the end result – I’m sure Sardinia will be no different.
“We completed a one-day test last week which proved really useful. The road was quite slow, but that was good for me as it’s on these slower roads where I need to focus on improvements – where it’s slow and narrow and you need to take an advantage over every inch of the road.
“Even on the test I noticed how hot it will be next week. Normally I drink three litres a day but in Sardinia I expect to be drinking more than five litres a day! The stages are also quite rough and that means that we will have to get every stone marked in our notes.
“By focusing on my rivals my speed won´t improve. I’ll focus purely on my own driving and on improving stage by stage – then we’ll see where we are at the end of the rally.”
Citroen Abu Dhabi WRT
Craig Breen
“This is one of the WRC rallies where I have the least experience, but fortunately it hasn’t changed much since last year and so I have most of the pace notes already. It’s not necessarily my favourite event, because it’s never easy to adopt a fluid driving style on these really narrow, technical stages. But I have a good road position in eighth in the running order, because it’s one of the events where cleaning is most significant, so I’m going to try and make the most of it on the opening day.”
Mads Østberg
“It’s one of my favourite rallies. I’ve always been quick here. First of all, you need very good pace notes and then you need to find the right balance between pushing where you can and defending when there is a real risk of smashing the car. I learned a lot about the C3 WRC in Portugal and ended up by showing some pretty decent speed. The two days of pre-event testing held this week will help me to find the right pace, especially as I fully intend to take advantage of my good position in the running order.”
Mads Ostberg – Photo credit, Citroen Racing.
Just one team will be running two cars, with the removal of Kris Meeke and Paul Nagle from the Citroen team a few days ago. This will make it hard for them to make some good ground up in the manufacturers championship, but with Mads making his third start this year for this team and Craig in the other car looking to learn more about this tricky event for the future, they’ve got two drivers that can get to the end of the rally in the points.
Now, this is a special event for Miikka Antilla. He is making his 200th WRC start. A very special moment for Jari-Matti’s co-driver. The Toyota crew will want to get a great result, to mark this weekend.
Well, who do I think could win? Hayden Paddon and Seb Marshall will make their third start this year, and with his great road position, I would expect them to be in the mix for the podium at the very least, along with Andreas, Jari-Matti and Esapekka.
Don’t forget, all the action starts on Thursday morning with shakedown at 8am, that’s 6am BST here in the UK. The latest weather reports for the area on Friday are suggesting there will be thunderstorms. If there are stages that have rain, then Thierry will be a happy man.
Joe Osborne took the chequered flag in Race One for the #56 Tolman Motorsport McLaren to take their first win of the season, while in Race Two the #42 BMW Century Motorsport piloted by Ben Tuck and Ben Green rescued a late victory after being spun early in the race.
Victory in the #56 McLaren also driven by David Pattison exceeded expectations for Osborne.
“I’m absolutely delighted, especially when you don’t expect it at the start of the race. I always have an expectation, position that we’d be happy with and pre-race I’d have been super-happy with a top five.
“With the Safety Car and David’s start, I changed those expectations to third, a podium was on the cards and the pitstop worked out so cleanly for us. I had to bring it home, manage it, do all the boring bits and not mess up.”
After that good fortune from a Safety Car lasting almost eight minutes right up until the opening of the pit window, Osborne is hopeful that the #56’s luck is changing.
“The Safety Car brought us into contention. You get your luck, last year we lost out in the Safety Car with a huge lead, things have maybe righted themselves.
“I’d like it to be sign of things turning, bad luck is pretty boring and tends to follow you for a long time, and good luck comes and seems to disappear earlier. It definitely sets us up for a good second half of the season although it’s only the third weekend.”
After victory at Snetterton, Osborne is now expecting more of a challenge from an entry that has not started with momentum in 2018.
“It’s difficult. Success penalties with a podium stops you getting on a mega-roll for the next race, you’re shot in the kneecaps but I still haven’t changed my expectations from the start of the season to try and win the Pro/Am class and be in the mix for the top three overall. This definitely helps my predictions more than the first two weekends. Hopefully we carry this on.”
In GT4 it was a last-minute move that won the day for Century Motorsport for Ben Tuck, after teammate Green hit strife when tagged into a spin shortly before the pitstops.
“I thought that was it,” he began.
“We had three instances of contact in the first stint, worked hard to get up to the front and I kept pushing even as the car didn’t feel good after the contact, Ben did a great second half of the race.
“I am absolutely delighted, so so happy. You get spun off, in the grass, facing the wrong way and think it’s all over. You just have to keep pushing no matter what happens.”
Both men praised the two-hour sprint format in use for the final time this season in Norfolk.
Green believes that the extra race means more chances for a big result.
“The two-race format means more opportunities to do well, you can have a poor one in the first one but still dominate in the second like we did. But, a two-hour race is much harder because there’s less flexibility.”
Tuck confessed to having more motivation for the shorter races this weekend.
“The shorter races make you want it more because you have less time to get the job done. With the longer races it’s about managing tyres and looking after the car a lot more, it’s a good mix and good to have both in the championship.
BMW’s second driver was delighted with the manner of his late victory, as he took his maiden British GT win.
“The second group out was the Ams so I could pick them off a little easier, and up against the other silver cars the McLaren was struggling on the tyres at the end.
“That is one of my favourite ever moves to be honest, seeing as it got us a win in the British GT for the very first time. It’s definitely one for the memories.”
And Tuck believes there’s more to come, with the BMW outfit having improved as the season has gone on.
“Winning it late is a different buzz, definitely. It’s a great feeling anyway because this season BMW and Century have done a great job, we’ve been learning and developing a lot more and getting better and better. It’s all come out on top here this weekend, doing it right at the end does create a different buzz because you know you have to do it. It’s almost do or die.”
Aston Martin dominated the British GT GT3 class with two victories from Snetterton’s two sprint races on Sunday.
Nikki Thiim and Mark Farmer in the TF Sport #11 Aston Martin eased home after pole position for race one, and Farmer was relieved with his second GT victory after falling back to third.
“I made a bit of a mistake which cost me momentum. Sadly the Aston got me and the Bentley got me because of that, it went from perfection to losing out in the blink of an eye but that is how it is.
“We had a lightning driver change, we’d been practicing all morning, it was really fast and we jumped them in the pits.”
Farmer was quick to point to the guidance given to him by Thiim, a world champion at sportscar level.
“It’s massive to have a Pro driver like Nikki with you, as an Am you’re still finding your way in the sport so to have someone that can guide you an coach you is super important. I had John Barnes for a long time, to have Nikki as well, I’m extremely fortunate.
“They’re both very different, but we get on well and I’m learning a lot from him.”
After finishing well back at Rockingham with technical gremlins affecting his Aston Martin, there’s plenty of motivation for the #11 Am driver, who conceded that the team cannot afford any more mistakes.
“We were really quick in Rockingham but had a technical issue, these things happen and our championship starts now. The competition is really tough, you can’t afford to slip up and we have at Oulton and Rockingham. We need to be flawless from now.”
Later in the afternoon, a stint-long battle between Derek Johnston’s #17 Aston and Andrew Howard in the #99 Beechdean Aston eventually went the way of the former.
Howard had been all over Johnston and despite pushing, Johnston held on for a far from stress-free victory.
I don’t know if it was fun! That’s the hardest I’ve worked in a race I think, Andrew kept me on it and as we’re in identical cars he knows what I can do and vice versa. That is why we go racing. For two old guys like me and him to be out there like that, that was perfect.
“I thought “What have I got to do?” because he just kept on following me through back markers. I was working harder and harder. He just never let me breathe.”
Johnston was well aware of the importance of teammate Marco Sorensen passing the #33 Barwell Motorsport Lamborghini of Phil Keen at the start of the race, which kept the #17 in touch with the leading #11 of Nikki Thiim.
“To pass Phil at T1 at the start was important for us, we weren’t quite as quick as the sister car early on but all in all that was great. We had a BOP (Balance of Performance) disadvantage and we thought that may affect us, but the Aston is still a good old car at seven years old.”
And the #17 Am driver praised the two-race, sprint format in use this weekend.
“Two races lets you know whether you have made a mistake on setup, you can put it right. For me, I rarely get the opportunity to take the chequered flag with a win so that was phenomenal. The best feeling in the world.”
Ford Fiesta reece car – Photo courtesy of Phil Hall
Recce for Rally Portugal is particularly challenging, the stages are tight and twisty but also rough. Today we did 6 incredible stages, which will form the route for Friday and Sunday. A lot of KM covered and in the hot and dusty conditions you really have to focus.
Rally de Portugal reece day – Photo courtesy of Phil Hall
I get a few funny looks around the world when I turn up to Recce with a pillow ‘borrowed’ from the hotel. But on rough roads it makes all the difference to lean on as a shock absorber. Along with a lot of practice it means I can usually get all my notes down tidily on the first pass, with little touch up work later. It’s actually quite interesting to see which countries make the best Recce pillows. Keep an eye on my Twitter as I usually post the best ones.
Recce day Two (Wednesday 16th of May)
Similar to day 1, another challenging day of recce awaited us. Today we covered the Lousada super special as well as the monster that is Amarante. The surface in Portugal changes a lot so it is important to make sure your pacenotes take this into account.
Calm. Serene. Picturesque. Beautiful scenes during @rallydeportugal recce. But nothing like the dusty, sandy, rocky and rough barrage of stages that lie ahead over the next few days.#ReadyForItpic.twitter.com/7JF18G04Xk
Shakedown is a spectacular, if short, stage finishing in a huge arena full to the brim with fans. We had a good run, getting a good feeling for the car and the surface.
After a long drive to the ceremonial start, a great opportunity to meet the incredibly passionate Portuguese fans, we headed to the Super Special at Lousada. The sheer volume of rally fans crammed into this venue was a sight to behold.
Friday: (18th of May)
The rough northern stages bring their own challenges, we tried to keep it clean and were running comfortably inside the top ten despite a puncture. For a co-driver here in the heat and dust it is very important to keep focused. the tight twisty stages require a lot of information to be delivered often whilst the road is very rough.
Tom and Phil press on in their M-Sport built Fiesta R2
Saturday: (19th of May)
A new day and a new surface, and the iconic Amarante test. At 37km this is a big test for crews, and for us unfortunately where it all unravelled. Amarante hasn’t been kind to me, I rolled out of the Drive DMACK Fiesta Trophy event on this stage in 2016, and again today we had a small roll that put us into Rally 2.
Sunday: (20th of May)
Another tough day, and the attrition rate was high. A few stages were cancelled because of incidents and we focused on just being clean and getting to the finish. despite a couple of near misses, we did just that and got to the end. In fact, we managed to hold on to our top ten position, with 7th overall in the JWRC.
Things to take away about Rally Portugal:
– The Fans are incredible!
– The stages are a true test of physical and mental stamina
– Dust!
-Truly iconic roads
Many thanks again to Phil Hall for this great diary! Why not give him a follow on Twitter? @PhilHallRally
Snetterton in Norfolk plays host to rounds four and five of the 2018 British GT series as its near three-mile “300” layout welcomes over 65 drivers across 33 cars.
Snetterton will be the last of the hour long sprint races split between Pro and Am drivers.
Yelmer Buurman and Lee Mowle surprised everyone when taking their ERC Sport Mercedes to GT3 glory to claim their first British GT win last time out at Rockingham.
Despite starting last after an accident in qualifying, Mowle looked solid during his run in a low-key Am stint while Buurman performed multiple overtakes during the second stint as others fell by the wayside.
History favours the #33 Barwell Motorsport Lamborghini, with Lamborghini having won three of the last four races at Snetterton, while Aston Martin have also performed well in Norfolk in recent times with Jonny Adam won there in 2015.
The other Aston Martin squad – TMF – have also shown pace this season despite only one podium apiece for Mark Farmer/Nicki Thiim and Derek Johnstone and Marco Sorenson. TMF finished 1-3 at Snetterton last year.
In GT4, the #55 Ginetta of Callum Pointon and Patrik Matthiesen won easily in the dry race at Rockingham having fell away during wet qualifying. Matthiesen had hounded the #4 Tolman McLaren of Charlie Fagg throughout the first hour of the race.
The McLarens quick fell behind after a strong Saturday but remain second in the standings, and crucially do not have the 10s success penalty that the Ginetta will have as a result of its leading of the GT4 standings.
Another team to watch for are the UltraTek Racing Team RJN Nissans, which took their best ever result with second and fourth for Stephen Johansen and Jesse Anttila, and Kelvin Fletcher and Martin Plowman.
Matt Nicoll-Jones and Will Moore were third last time out at Rockingham in their Academy Motorsport #62 Aston Martin, and the team will be sure to be a threat once again.
