Silverstone
Britcar
Five weeks after Brands Hatch, the Britcar
series moved on to Silverstone for the second of
its three visits this season; for a race that many
would be using as a test session for the 24 hour
race in September.
For CBT/Apex Motorsport, this would be a
chance to get its championship challenge back on
track after the trials of the previous rounds,
with the Jaguar XKR GT3 well suited to the
International Circuit. Brands Hatch had proven yet
again the tenacity of the team and now it was time
to prove the car’s pace on home soil.
With this now being a three-hour race,
Stuart Scott once again invited Mark Sumpter to
join him and Chris Ryan in the #11. After
achieving a podium finish at Spa-Francorchamps in
May, there existed a very real possibility of a
similar result in July.
With qualifying and the race both taking
place on the Saturday, Friday was given over to
testing and CBT made full use of the time
available to it. “The Jaguar ran flawlessly,” said
a contented Scott. “The times are where we
expected them to be and we’re looking forward to
tomorrow.”
Race day began with a half-hour warm-up
session, which ended with the Jaguar setting the
ninth fastest time having focused on set-up for
the qualifying that would follow shortly
afterwards. As was the case at Spa, both Scott and
Ryan did short stints in the 45 minute qualifying
session before handing over to the more rapid
Sumpter for the final 20 minutes.
After a
couple of exploratory laps, the Porsche specialist
saw his opportunity for a fast one and went for
it; completing the lap with a 1:25.294. He
recorded three more laps in the 25s before the
flag flew, but none beat his earlier time and the
Jaguar would start the race in seventh place (of
35), to the delight of the team.
In contrast to the previous round, the time
between qualifying ending and the race starting
would not be filled with repairing damage and
anxiously awaiting urgently required spare parts;
but would instead find the team making final
adjustments and discussing tactics.
Chris Ryan was given the job of starting
the race and he got it absolutely right as the
lights turned green, making up two places
immediately at the expense of Matt Griffin’s
invitation Chad Ferrari 430 and Witt Gamski’s MJC
Ferrari 360.
With the four cars ahead of him being
virtually unrestricted (three Moslers and a
Prosport), Ryan would have had no chance of
keeping up even without pressure; but as it was,
Griffin was clearly very keen to move
ahead.
Despite the gap being almost non-existent,
Ryan resisted the challenge of the Ferrari for the
first four laps before yielding on lap five; the
Jaguar losing two more places in the same instant
as Ryan sought to regain his lost momentum. Damage
to the rear of the XKR illustrated just how
intense the fight for fifth had been.
Undeterred, Ryan gathered his thoughts and
stabilized the gap to John Gaw’s Kinfaun Porsche
997 at about five seconds; and was a more than
comfortable distance ahead of the next
car.
However, on lap 12, Gaw had a suspension
failure at the exit to Beckett’s that pitched him
into a spin. Ryan had his foot down at the time
and saw the danger too late to take avoiding
action; the resulting collision causing
race-ending damage for both cars.
This was a crushing disappointment for the
team, with the fact that the retirement was
entirely out of their hands being of no
consolation whatsoever.
“That’s screwed our championship,” said
Scott. “It’s hard to see the car going out after
barely 20 minutes, but we can take some positives
from today. The boys gave us a great car; testing
and qualifying went well; and it was great to have
Mark back with us – it’s just a huge shame that he
wasn’t able to race. Chris had a fantastic
start and was just very unlucky.”
As the car headed to the workshop for
repairs, its owner was heading to California for a
well-earned holiday. Both would be back at
Snetterton in August, however, for the Cambridge
Business Travel-sponsored Britcar meeting and its
four-hour race.
