Osborne and Tandy Claim Spoils in Thriller at Rockingham

In a nail-biting two-hour chase to the chequered flag, Joe Osborne and Steve Tandy secured their first ever GT3 win of the Avon Tyres British GT Championship at Rockingham.

The Trackspeed Porsche claimed the top-step of the podium by a narrow margin of just two-seconds after fending-off several would be winners, in the closing stages.

Starting from eighth on the grid under the stewardship of Tandy, no one could have predicted the 997's rise to the top of the order. Losing several places at the start, the Trackspeed Porsche found itself involved in a fight for twelfth position for the opening 40 minutes, until a safety car turned the race on it's head and handed them the momentum. Whilst running in fifth spot, the Beechdean Aston Martin of Andrew Howard speared into the outside wall of Turn One, the fastest corner of the circuit, after developing a puncture. It was a major impact for the Vantage, that clearly winded Howard, and brought out an extended safety car period, as medical crews attended. Howard was okay, although a little bruised.

With the strewn Aston cleared from the 2.05 mile circuit, it became apparent that the pit-stop window for driver changes would open just when the race was about to restart. This set up the scene for a swathe of cars to follow the Nissan Duke R pace car into pit lane just as the race restarted.

By the time the dust had settled on the frenetic pit-stops, the Osborne Porsche had leapt 10 positions to sit five seconds behind the Nissan GTR of Jann Mardenborough that had led the race since lap 15. With the bit between his teeth, Osborne meticulously reeled in the RJN Motorsport Nissan, to close the gap to a few tenths, with just over 20 minutes remaining. Then, under pressure from the Trackspeed Porsche, Mardenborough out-braked himself heading into the Deane Hairpin, leaving the door open for Osborne to snatch the lead.

While the Nissan continued to haemorrhage track positions, Osborne had his mirrors filled with the sight of the sister Porsche of Phil Keen, Allan Simonsen's Rosso Verde Ferrari and Mtech's Matt Griffin.

Tenaciously, Osborne held off the trio over the ensuing laps to secure an inaugural British GT GT3 victory for him and Tandy by a slender two-seconds. Although it looked like the sister Porsche would make it a Trackspeed 1-2, Simonsen's 458 Ferrari capitalised on a mistake by Keen at 'Piff Paff' on the final lap to secure a season's best finish of second. Just a tenth of a second behind Keen, the Mtech Ferrari of Matt Griffin and Duncan Cameron claimed fourth, 13 seconds ahead of the Chris Buncombe & Mardenborough Nissan GTR.

In the GT4 class it was a Ginetta 1-2-3, as the likes of Team WFR, APO Sport, and Century Motorsport secured podium positions at Rockingham. Taking over driver duties from Warren Hughes, Team WFR's Jody Fannin left pit lane in fourth position with Bolisetti's GT4 Lotus leading followed by Alex Osborne in the APO Team Ginetta and Zoe Wenham in the Century Motorsport G50.

However, within a handful of laps fourth became third when the drive-shaft on Bolisetti's Lotus failed, sending the Evora to the pits with it's rear on fire. Then it was Wenham's turn to give up track position, when the Century marque was called down pit-lane to serve a 15 second stop-go penalty for completing it's scheduled service too quickly.

This left it in Fannin's hands to zero in on Alex Osborne ahead in a battle to take GT4 honours, which he duly accomplished with 50 minutes of the race remaining to make it four class victories in the 2012 season.

With five rounds of the Avon Tyres British GT Championship now complete Mtech's Matt Griffin and Duncan Cameron hold a four and a half point lead over Trackspeed's Dave Ashburn. The Croatian's regular driving partner, Richard Westbrook (replaced by Phil Keen at Rockingham due to GRAND-AM commitments), is a further 12 and a half points back, with Motorbase Performance's Michael Caine and Danielle Perfetti just three marks adrift of the Corvette works driver.

Rounds Six and Seven of the Championship brings the GT field to Brands Hatch in two-weeks time.

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Chris Hall