Beechdean Aston and MTECH Ferrari take Nurburgring wins

Securing their first win of the 2012 Avon Tyres British GT Championship, Jonathan Adam and Andrew Howard capitalised on a pit-stop error by the RJN Motorsport team to put their Beechdean Aston Martin Vantage on the top step of the podium in the first race at the Nurburgring, before Matt Griffin and Duncan Cameron also claimed their maiden win of the season in race two.

Race 1:

With “racing rookie” Jan Mardenborough starting from pole position in the Nissan GTR GT3, Howard could only watch on as the youngster pulled away at the start, to establish a lead of several seconds within a handful of laps. In addition, the Aston Martin dropped a place to Luke Hines (making a cameo appearance this weekend) in the Optimum Motorsport Ginetta G55 within a couple of laps of the green flag dropping. Undeterred, the Beechdean team stuck to their game-plan, and by the time the British GT field had completed their scheduled pit-stops, the No.7 car was up to second position, with former BTCC racer Adam at the wheel (assisted by a slow stop for the Optimum Ginetta).



Chasing down the RJN Nissan GTR with Alex Buncombe now in the car, Adam started to eat into the 15-second deficit and halved the leader’s advantage within the next five laps. Then, just when it looked like Round Three of the British GT Championship would be settled on the track, the Nissan dived into pit lane for a drive through penalty, caused by their mandatory stop being 0.5 seconds too fast. This effectively handed victory to the Beechdean car which had amassed a 21 second gap over the Motorbase Porsche of Danielle Perfetti and Michael Caine – a margin that was maintained until the chequered flag.

Amazingly for Perfetti and Caine, their spot on the second step of the podium was claimed despite a spin on the opening lap, when Jody Firth in the Team WFR Ginetta G55 made contact with the 997 GT3R in a busy Turn One. By the time the Motorbase car headed to pit lane and completed it's driver change, it had worked it's way up to tenth place, which became fourth once the remaining competitors had finished their mandatory stops. Then with passes on the Ecurie Ecosse BMW, and subsequent penalty for the RJN Motorsport Nissan, Caine and Perfetti claimed their first British GT podium finish of 2012. Despite the penalty for their pit-lane infringement, the Buncombe and Mardenborough car was able to rejoin and secure third position, three seconds behind the Motorbase 997.

With the chequered flag less than a lap from waving, MTECH’s Matt Griffin made a late pass on the Ecurie Ecosse BMW of Oliver Bryant to steal fourth position. Taking over driving duties from Duncan Cameron as soon as the pit window opened, the Ferrari development driver was on a charge and after passing Tim Harvey's Trackspeed Porsche set his sights on Bryant's Z4. Catching Bryant on the penultimate lap, Griffin made the move to fourth spot on the final circuit of the race.

Eight seconds behind the top-five the Jones brothers’ Preci-Spark SLS Mercedes claimed sixth position, besting the guest entry of Marco Attard and Leipert Marcel in the Rhino Leipert Motorsport Lamborghini LP600+. Rounding out the top-ten were the three Trackspeed Porsches of Tim Harvey/Jon Minshaw, Joe Osborne/Steve Tandy, and Richard Westbrook/David Ashburn.

In GT4, Warren Hughes and Jody Fannin in the Team WFR Ginetta G50 took the class honours with a 55-second advantage over the Nova Race Team model. Taking third position was the Zoe Wenham and Dominic Evan Ginetta, which moved into the podium spot with a third of the race remaining after passing the Jota Mazda MX5 of Mark Ticehurst and Owen Milldenhall. The Mazda, which was given a waiver to compete at GT4 level this weekend whilst it awaits homologation, finished 11 seconds ahead of the Phil Glew and Sailesh Bolisetti Lotus Evora that was carrying damage due to a meeting with the tyre wall as the field headed to the grid for the start.

Race 2:

Continuing the weekend of firsts, Matt Griffin and Duncan Cameron claimed their inaugural victory of the 2012 Avon Tyres British GT Championship in race two.

Starting from fifth on the grid, the MTECH 458 Ferrari immediately lost a spot to the Trackspeed Porsche of Joe Osborne, who powered his way into third on the opening lap. However, with 10 laps on the board, Griffin pulled off a daring double-pass on Jonathan Adam's Beechdean Aston Martin and Osborne's 997 GT3R through Turn One to move into fourth position.



Fending off the Vantage, Griffin maintained the position until heading into the pits to hand over to his co-driver Cameron, re-joining the circuit in third spot. Ten minutes later, the Ferrari was up to second spot and chasing the Trackspeed Porsche of David Ashburn, following a pass on Motorbase's Steve Parish. Catching Ashburn at a rate of two-seconds a lap, Cameron stepped up to the front with a pass on the leader with eight minutes of the race remaining. With an empty Grand Prix circuit ahead of him, the MTECH 458 was soon clear of the ensuing fight behind, coming to the finish line eight seconds ahead.

Meanwhile, Ashburn's Porsche in second was struggling for grip on worn Avon Tyres, giving Danielle Perfetti the impetus to catch up to the Trackspeed car with two laps to go. Searching high and low, Motorbase's Swiss driver fought to find a way past Ashburn but, despite the Trackspeed car struggling for traction and running on the dirty side of the circuit to keep Perfetti's Porsche at bay, Ashburn was able to hold on to seal second position at the chequered flag.

Although Nick Tandy started from pole position and lead the first half of the 34 lap race, the Motorbase car saw its advantage evaporate following the scheduled pit-stops. With Steve Parish at the wheel, the Porsche 997 GT3R re-joined after service in third spot, before losing the podium position to the sister car of Perfetti just a handful of laps later. Fortunately the Jan Mardenborough RJN Nissan GTR that was charging it's way through the field with passes on the Rosso Verde Ferrari of Hector Lester and United Autosports Audi of Charles Bateman, ran out of time to catch the Motorbase Porsche a few seconds ahead, giving Tandy and Parish their first top-five finish of the weekend.

Finishing just behind the 997 GT3R, Matt Bell and Bateman closed their weekend at the Nurburgring with sixth place, 20 seconds clear of the Andrew Howard and Jonathan Adam Aston Martin. Whilst the Beechdean Vantage took valuable points, it was a case of what might have been for the British GT regulars. Sitting in sixth position after the pit-stops, the Aston Martin looked set to work its way up the field into the top-five, but a black flag for crossing the merge line on pit-exit gave Howard a drive-through penalty, sending the Beechdean car to tenth. But a fighting comeback from Howard saw the Englishman make passes on the Jones brothers’ SLS Mercedes, Oliver Bryant and Alasdair McCaig’s BMW Z4 and the Hector Lester/Allan Simonsen Ferrari 458, who finished tenth, ninth and eighth respectively.

In GT4, the Lotus Sport UK Evora of Phil Glew and Sailesh Bolisetti bounced back from an out-lap incident in the first race of the weekend to take the class spoils. Whilst the opening race on the Nurburgring GP circuit saw the Lotus collide with the tyre wall on its way to the grid – an incident that meant the pair had to race with a damaged car – this time around they benefited from GT4 Championship pace-setters Warren Hughes and Jody Fannin's retirement from the lead with an oil leak.

Ending the hour-long race on the second step of the podium, Zoe Wenham and Welsh Sportscar Champion Dominic Evan's Ginetta finished 27 seconds behind the Lotus and a lap ahead of the Nova Race G55 of Piero Foglio and Marco Cassera, who were making a British GT “guest” appearance this weekend.

Catch British GT coverage on Motors TV throughout 2012.


Chris Hall