The British motor racing season kicked off its 2013 in style over the Easter weekend. With previous events being cancelled as a result of lingering snow, it was heartening to see so many spectators lining the banks of Oulton Park on Bank Holiday Monday. They must be congratulated for their persistence as it was a bitterly cold day but the trackside remained busy right until the final race of the day.
The Easter weekend has long been a cornerstone of the Oulton calendar and in recent seasons the combination of thundering GTs has juxtaposed the more subtle machinery of British F3. With the nation’s premier single seater series on the ropes, reduced to just four rounds this year, it was left to the GT contenders to put on a show. And well they did, with a fine supporting cast of VWs, Sports/Saloons and the club-level F3 Cup.
British GT has enjoyed something of a renaissance over the last couple of seasons, following its nadir of 2009 when grids were painfully thin. An enormous field descended on the swoops of Oulton Park with a brace of fiercely-contended qualifying sessions on Friday offering only clues as to the genuine state of the formbook.
The bedrock of British GT in 2013 is its pro-am format: drivers are rated according to ability: gold; silver; and bronze. A two-driver line-up can contain either two silver drivers or one bronze and one gold. With both drivers taking the wheel during the race this creates intriguing battling with hot-shoe pros making good any deficit from their invariably wealthier but less able co-pilots.
Race 1
The opening bout saw the amateur drivers completing the opening stints in a 60 minute slug-fest over the dipping, diving, parkland circuit. There was drama at the first corner away from the rolling start as Andrew Howard’s Aston Martin V12 Vantage was speared by Gregor Fisken’s gregariously liveried tartan Porsche 997 GT3 R and hence made heavy contact with Jason Minshaw’s Mercedes-Benz SLS. Howard carried on with damage but former FFord star Minshaw had retired by Cascades.
Meanwhile Benji Hetherington was performing acrobatics hustling his own SLS at the front of the pack. The big car looked a handful around Oulton, bucking over bumps and lifting an inside wheel whenever it could. Still, the SLS is the reigning FIA GT1 World Champion and its prodigious pace was evident as Hetherington held an early advantage.
Behind Hetherington it was Porsches to the fore as Jon Minshaw kept a close watching brief with reigning champion Michael Caine’s co-pilot Ahmad Al Harthy behind in a brace of 997s. Suddenly there was drama as the pitstop window approached. The Ginetta G55 of Richard Sykes gave a spit of flame from the over-run as it entered Druids. Almost immediately a spit of flame was a serious conflagration as fire licked both sides of the car. It was a frightening moment but Sykes emerged uninjured adjacent the Warwick Bridge, but not without spraying oil over Druids which led to an accident for soloist Mark Cole’s Nissan GT-R.
With the race well and truly alive, the arrival of the driver changes immediately changed the complexion of the race. Now we had towering talents Tandy, Westbrook and Simonsen up and on a charge. Olly Hancock battled valiantly in the SLS he inherited from Hetherington but was powerless in defence as first Phil Keen and then Nick Tandy elbowed past; Tandy diving inside at Druids – an unlikely overtaking spot if ever there was one. Glynn Geddie made the most of his one-off race in United Autosport’s McLaren MP4-12C to climb up to a fine third before gearbox woes sidelined him.
The fastest driver on track, though, was Allan Simenson, who seems only to become faster with time. He was flying; dancing the 458 in the way seemingly only he can. Sadly he could climb no further than fifth, but it was – as always – a masterful display. At the front, Phil Keen held on to win by a second from Tandy, while Hancock inherited a podium after Geddie’s transmission transgression. It was a breathless affair and promised more good news for the second round of the day.
Race 2
Race two saw the pro drivers up first and this allowed the genuine competitive order to display itself. Up front it was Simonsen who headed Tandy into Old Hall on the opening lap, with the braying pack scuffling behind them. Jonny Adam, who was so quick in qualifying in the Beechdean Aston, settled in to third. This order remained up front until the pitstops. If this sounds boring, it was anything but. Watching these three pros dancing their cars into Old Hall was the most tremendous privilege. With mid-engined V8 heading rear-engined flat-6 and mellifluous front-engined V12, the miscellany of sights and sounds was enough to raise the hairs on the neck.
The three leaders were driving beautifully and each car looked compliant and friendly. Behind them Matteo Bobbi and Richard Westbrook went to war over fifth place – FIA GT Champions both. Come the stops the pitlane was alive and Trackspeed used it to their advantage with Tandy handing over to former champion David Ashburn and snatching the lead, while Simonsen’s team mate Hector Lester emerged fourth.
Suddenly there was drama further down the field. Andrew Howard was collected by a Porsche for the second race in succession. His V12 Vantage, which had starred early on in Jonny Adam’s hands, was lampooned by an out-of-control Jon Minshaw as they entered the Hislops chicane. A shower of expensive carbon fibre and another race ruined for Howard. Marco Attard was fortunate to avoid the mêlée in his glorious Z4 GT3.
Meanwhile, the crowd over at Lodge winced as a Ginetta combusted for the second time. This time Colin White was behind the wheel, managing to bring the car to a safe halt out of Deer Leap before he made his own leap to safety. Most concerning of all was the sheer longevity of the blaze. Thick palls of smoke poured from the Ginetta for five minutes while marshals valiantly tried to bring the fire under control. In my 25 years at the trackside I do not recall a burning car remaining alight for so long.
It was comforting to know driver White was safe but perhaps more concerning was the attitude of the crowd. Rather than retreating to safety, hundreds of spectators ran towards the scene in a voyeuristic frenzy. The consequences of exploding fluids do not bear thinking about. It was a sorry scene and one can only hope that the incident will focus the minds of the car builders.
As the automotive inferno was brought under control the pack circulated behind the Nissan Juke safety car – the entire field concertinaing together for a mad dash to the flag. A two lap joust featured Ashburn desperately defending from Patterson’s Audi R8, while Attard took the final step of the podium after using up one of his nine lives avoiding the Minshaw / Howard collision a few laps previously.
It’d been another fierce encounter and both races bode well for a seriously competitive season. That the second race podium featured three different manufacturers points to a closely-fought battle. With teams of the quality of AF Corse, M Sport and Fortec joining the party, the level of professionalism steps up a notch as well. If the championship can bring even a fraction of last year’s dramatic finale it’ll be some year.
