British GT Qualifying Notes

Beechdean Motorsport took pole positions in both classes for the penultimate round of the British GT championship at Brands Hatch as Jonny Adam and Andrew Howard attempt to apply the pressure on chief title rivals Ecurie Ecosse. The defending champions’ combined lap of 2:52.477 was enough to see them four tenths clear of Phil Keen and Jon Minshaw’s Trackspeed Porsche, with the Oman Racing Aston Martin of Michael Caine and Ahmad Al Harthy just seven thousandths slower in third. Porsche works driver Nick Tandy set the quickest time in the Pro session, but would have to settle for fifth on the grid with David Ashburn when their times were combined. 

None of the top seven cars – monopolised by Aston Martin and Porsche – will have to serve success penalties, meaning championship leader Marco Attard and Alexander Sims will have their work cut out starting from eighth and with a 20-second penalty looming over them following their victory at Spa.

Sims and Attard are on a damage limitation mission this weekend (SRO Media)

“It’s going to be a very difficult race,” Sims admitted after qualifying. “It’s top-ten to score points and if we can do that then that would be good. I’d love to say that we can come through and fight for a podium but the Astons and the Porsche’s look very strong and with a car that’s maybe not the easiest to race with in terms of overtaking on the straights, it’s going to be tough.

“Hopefully Marco can have a decent first few laps and get into a good rhythm early on, or even consolidate our position and bring the car in around 7^th or 8^th position. I imagine there will be some making up to do because we’ll be sitting in the pits for 20 seconds, so I’m going to have to race hard and then see what we can do. This has turned out to be one of the weaker rounds for us when we thought might be quite a strong one, but hopefully we can bounce back at Donington. We’ll just have to do our best, that’s all you can ask for.”

The Brands Hatch Grand Prix circuit is a rollercoaster thrill ride, with lots of fast corners and limited run off – a real “old-school” circuit, as Sims put it – where the speed difference between the GT3 and aerodynamically limited GT4 cars becomes truly apparent.  Traffic – already a problem in qualifying – could again play a decisive role in the outcome of the race and at this stage in the season, the championship too.

“There could be a fair bit of carnage,” warns Triple 8 BMW driver Joe Osborne, who will start 11th with new team-mate Derek Johnstone after a team reshuffle. “Now the championship is coming to a conclusion that’s always going to be on people’s minds. You’re going to see bigger moves on people, more risks with the GT4 cars, who are going for their own championship too, so they won’t want to let people past as easily. There’s a few factors conspiring that could produce a mad race.

“Derek can’t win the championship and neither can I, so my job is to do the best possible job for Derek, so he can prove to himself that he can get decent results if the package comes together. The car is a really good race car and Derek’s got good pace, so I think we can get a good result. We just have to stay out of trouble.”

Osborne hopes to stay out of trouble as no. 888 comes from 11th on the grid. (SRO Media)

Safety cars would suit some better than others. Championship returnee Matt Griffin was left to rue a 75 kilo weight penalty that limited the AF Corse 458 he shares with silver-ranked Pasin Lathouras to 13^th on the grid, but believes a clean race will be the team's best chance of making up for lost time.

“We don’t really want safety cars because it will negate the advantage that Pasin has over the other amateur drivers,” said the Irishman. “A top six is definitely realistic, if we’re lucky maybe a bit better than that. The race should hopefully even itself out. It’s just frustrating; it’s like you’re carrying a whole extra person around. I genuinely believe that if you take the ballast out then we’d be right there.”

For Beechdean’s junior team, Ross Wylie and Jake Giddings, the main concern is survival as they look to consolidate their GT4 championship lead over TF Sport’s Andrew Jarman and Devon Modell. Starting from class pole ahead of Rick Parfitt Jr. and Tom Oliphant – fresh from his ALS Ice Bucket Challenge in the paddock – will give them the best possible chance, but like Sims, as much as the championship weighs heavy on their minds, they can’t afford to drive too cautiously.

Oliphant was rewarded with a post-qualifying shower (Own photo)

“It helps that we’ve now got the gap, because if there are any risks, then we can just take it a bit easy and not risk too much – the hard work we’ve done to get the gap, we don’t want get knocked off and loose it,” Giddings said. “Around the back it’s so narrow, it’s going to be a real struggle to let [the GT3 cars] past. On the Indy bit it’s quite easy because you can let them by on the brakes, but round the back where we’re not slowing down, that’s the difficult part. It’s really about finishing, but we’re starting on pole so it would obviously be nice to win it.”

“You’ve almost got to put yourself in their shoes and think ‘where can I lose the least amount of time?’ There’s no point in waiting until they catch you and then thinking ‘what do I do’, you’ve got to think about whether you might be better off lifting somewhere,” adds Wylie. “That’s what separates the good drivers, you’ve got to think.”

Elsewhere, Dan Cammish’s qualifying lap in the GT4 Team Parker Racing Porsche was the essence of commitment as the Yorkshireman set the third fastest lap among the pros - “I’m pretty confident that I got everything out of my lap, I was on the verge of an accident most corners!” – while despite not racing this weekend, Jade Edwards was also in attendance supporting Strata 21 Aston Martin’s Tom Onslow-Cole. The 23-year-old from Maidenhead is aiming to return to the championship next year on a full-time basis, but in the meantime will be joined by sister Chloe in the Aston Martin GT4 Challenge at Donington next month. 

This article also appeared on Racing.GT