Date 21/05/2006: Scuderia Ecosse Win in Dramatic Rain Hit Race, with Team Tiger Marcos Second Overall
Tim Mullen and Chris Niarchos won the first 2-hour race of the 2006 Avon Tyres British GT season in what can only be described as dramatic and action packed. The GTC Team Tiger Marcos of Chris Beighton and Jon Finnemore and the Beechdean Motorsport Ferrari of Neil Cunningham and Nigel Greensall took second and third overall respectively. Team LNT took second on GT2 one lap behind the leaders after a trip into the gravel at The Old Hairpin, fending off the late challenge of David Jones in the TEam Eurotech Porsche. Barwell Motorsports Piers Johnstone and Leo Machitski won the inaugural British GT3 class, finishing 8th overall.
The start was made on a wet track with all of the teams choosing Avon wets. As the lights flicked to green, Tom Kimber-Smith made a clean getaway from pole position but Chris Niarchos found the Rollcentre Racing Mosler of Ian Flux muscling his way past him on the exit of Redgate Corner to take second place. Not all of the cars made it through the opening corner as the Team Scandal Prosport of Scott Fitzgerald was left beached in the gravel trap causing the safety car to be scrambled.
The Prosport was recovered and it rejoined the race 2 laps adrift as the green flags were shown to restart the race. The two lead cars soon moved ahead of the rest of the field, with the Rollcentre Mosler trying to find a way past the very wide Team LNT Panoz. Behind them the Eclipse Mosler of Lee Caroline was being challenged by Chris Niarchos in the Scuderia Ecosse Ferrari for 3rd.
There was drama in the pitlane as Barrie Whight came into the pits in his Lotus Sport Cadena Exige and as the car came to a halt the car burst into flames. The ever vigilant marshal’s jumped straight into action and the fire was extinguished in seconds, with no harm to Barrie or any other member of the team. Meanwhile Niarchos made his move on Caroline and took 3rd on lap 6, who was also passed by Oliver Bryant in the Motorbase Porsche 996 GTC class car.
Tom Kimber-Smith was trying to extend his lead but everytime he managed to pull away, Ian Flux would reel the lead car back in. As the leaders battled on they soon caught the Prosport of Scott Fitzgerald and Kimber-Smith passed the slower car into Redgate but Flux was unable to follow the leader through as the Prosport negotiated the bend.
On lap 11 the Lotus Exige of George MacKintosh went off at the bottom of the Craner Curves, causing the secodn safety car period of the race with just 20minutes gone.
Two laps later the race restarted, with Kimber-Smith and Flux resuming their battle for the lead, over 9 seconds ahead of Godfrey Jones in 3rd place. With a dry line forming Flux struggled as the Mosler started to struggle on the wet tyres compared with the Panoz of Kimber-Smith.
On lap 20 Kimber-Smith had managed to pull out an 8 second gap as Flux struggled to keep ahead a closing Godfrey Davies. Phil Burton was bringing his JMH Ferrari into the pitlane when the engine cover exploded in a cloud of smoke. Phil brought his car to a standstil in his pitbox but only into retirement.
As Paul Drayson in the Barwell Aston Martin DBRS9 exited the chicane he started to spin when baulked by another car. As the Aston spun across the track he was collected a following car resulting in a lot of rear damage for the Barwell runner, but not enough to stop Drayson continuing.
Meanwhile the struggling Flux had a trip onto the grass at Coppice and this brought him in at the end of the lap for a change to intermediate tyres, dropping the Rollcentre Mosler down the order but on a drying track it looked to be a wise choice.
On lap 29 the first scheduled stop took place with teh Trackspeed GT3 Porsche 997 coming in, with Rory Fordyce handing over to Danny Watts. Meanwhile Godfrey Jones, now lying in 2nd place 22 seconds adrift of the leader, was given a stop-go penalty for undertaking under yellows.
With 50 minutes gone most of the cars started to head for the pitlane for refueling and driver changes but significantly Tom Kimber-Smith elected to stay out. Tim Mullen took over the driving duties on the Scuderia Ecosse Ferrari on lap 34.
In GTC Simon Pullan in the DPS Prosport was leading the class but had Jonny Lang (Trackspeed Porsche 996) and Chris Beighton (Team Tiger Marcos Mantis) not far behind, with the Emotional Engineering Monaro entering the mix as Matt Griffin pushed the Vauxhall up the grid.
As the race entered the second hour the Mosler of Ian Flux started to move back up the grid, setting the fastest lap of the race. On Lap 47 Flux was lying in 2nd place but 1 lap adrift of the leading Panoz, but gaining by 2-3 seconds per lap as the intermediate tyres worked with the drying track.
5 laps later, as the Mosler continued to close, Tom Kimber-Smith headed into the pitlane for their scheduled stop. Flux crossed the line to take the lead but it was all too brief as he to had to come in for refuelling and to let Kevin Riley take over.
Meanwhile the Beechdean GTC Class Ferrari with Neil Cunningham at the wheel was lying in 2nd place overall, 18 seconds behind the Panoz with Luke Hines at the wheel. Cunningham was lapping well but had to head for the pitlane on lap 57 for the scheduled pitstop. On rejoining Nigel Greensall was third in class behind Jon Finnemore in teh Team Tiger Marcos and Matt Allison in the Trackspeed Porsche.
At the front of the field Luke Hines had a commanding 47 second lead over Tim Mullen, with the Mosler of Kevin Riley 1 lap behind. However the weather decide to take a hand and the a heavy rain storm caused havoc.
With just under 30 minutes of the race remaining the track was awash with water and Kevin Riley was the first casualty, skidding across the grass on the exit of The Old Hairpin. He was soon joined by Hines, who beached the Panoz in the gravel trap at the same corner. Mullen headed for the pitlane to change onto wets while the Panoz is recovered by the trackside marshals under a safety car period and rejoins the race.
With minutes remaining the Scuderia Ecosse Ferrari is leading the race with the only other two cars on the lead lap being the Marcos of Jon Finnemore and the Ferrari of Nigel Greensall. Luke Hines is feeling the pressure from David Jones in teh Team Eurotech Porsche but holds off the challenge until they reach the chequered flag.
While Mullen pulls away from the rest of the field, the Team Tiger Marcos is being reeled in by the Beechdean Ferrari, but as the cars negotiate the back markers Finnemore takes advantage to secure the class win and take second overall. The Beechdean pairing of Neil Cunningham and Nigel Greensall are pleased to take 3rd overall and second in class at the end of a dramatic race.
Piers Johnson brought the Barwell Aston Martin DBRS9 home in 8th overall
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