FIGHTING 3RD FOR COCKER/DRAYSON AFTER GREAT TEAM PERFORMANCE |
Barwell Motorsport once again demonstrated how important slick team-work in the two-hour British GT races is, after some stunning pit-stops helped Paul Drayson and Jonny Cocker to their fifth podium of the year at Silverstone. Our Aston Martin DBRS9s struggled a little bit for outright pace around the Silverstone International track, where the mid-engined Ferrari, Lamborghini, Ascari and Mosler chassis certainly had an advantage. Whilst many of these rivals self-destructed, however, Paul and Jonny both put in very strong and safe driving performances, combined with huge savings in time during our tyre changes in the pits, which led to them claiming a great third place behind the two Ferrari 430s in the Bio-Ethanol Aston. Luck was unfortunately not on the side of our other two entries, however, with Tom Alexander/Michael Bentwood claiming ninth spot after Tom was hit and spun around early on, and Guy Harrington/Ben de Zille Butler retiring after the oil cooler was punctured on their DBRS9 after very slight contact with the back of Paul's car. DriversCar #1: Paul Drayson / Jonny Cocker (Chassis DBRS9 / 003 – Bio-Ethanol fuel) Race – 2 Hours / 80 laps Saturday's official Qualifying session demonstrated just how strong the mid-engined cars were around the very ‘stop-start' nature of Silverstone's International circuit. Two Ferraris, the Lambo and a Mosler filled the top four spots on the grid, but Jonny Cocker posted a scintillating lap to beat all the Ascaris and a Mosler and claim fifth position on the grid. Our cause wasn't helped by now having two extra Ascaris on the grid either, and neither Michael nor Guy could nail the perfect lap they had hoped for and would line up in 10 th and 12 th spots respectively. Apart from the Team Modena Lamborghini, most cars had opted for the same strategy of putting their amateur/slower drivers in to start the race first. The rolling start unfortunately became a bit messy as the front row cars accelerated and then slowed again before reaching the startline, and this had a knock-on effect of bunching up the three rows behind them. The cars on rows five to seven therefore had a really good run on those immediately ahead, and this produced an incredibly hair-raising start as the start-finish straight was filled by several rows of big GT cars four-abreast across the track at over 100mph! The main Barwell loser in this equation was Paul, who was getting severely squeezed by the cars on either side of him, and contact was made as they all blasted down towards Copse corner. He then made a brave attempt to regain lost ground by braking later than the cars alongside him, but unfortunately this pushed him wide on the exit of Copse and cost him two places. The big Barwell winner at the start was Tom, who put some super-aggressive moves on his rivals at the start and managed to pick his way through the mayhem superbly to climb up from 10 th on the grid to fifth place after the first corner! Ben, meanwhile, had also made up good ground, and as the field came into the tight ‘complex' section at the end of the first lap he had moved up to eighth spot and was right on Paul's rear bumper. As Tom exited Luffield Corner onto the start/finish straight, however, he got tagged from behind by the Ellis/Mortimer RPM Viper and turned into a spin across the track. This then had the knock-on effect of Paul having to lift off to avoid hitting Tom's car, and then poor Ben was powerless to do anything to stop giving Paul's car a nudge from behind as he was so close to the sister Barwell Aston. The contact was so light that Paul didn't even feel it, but by a fluke of bad luck the rear tow hook on Paul's car had made contact with the corner of the front grill of Ben's and the grill had been pushed back into the oil cooler. This had punctured the oil cooler and meant Ben had no option but to come into the pits and retire the car. A very unlucky end to his and Guy's day, and their combined pace would have seen them fight it out for a podium with Paul and Jonny. As Tom embarked on the long slog of trying to get his car back into contention after falling to the back of the field, Paul found himself in a real dogfight for positions after a very hectic opening few laps. During the first corner scuffle he lost a place to the Harris Porsche (now sporting the new upgrade kit), and then before he could catch his breath and settle into a rhythm he was passed by the Ascari of Oliver Bryant on lap five. The cooler conditions of Sunday's race were suiting the Dodge Vipers (after they had suffered in the heat of qualifying), and Paul soon then came under pressure from two big American V10 machines with very quick and experienced ‘pro' drivers on board. These being Neil Cunningham and Nigel Greensall, who were hauling their Vipers around and both muscled past Paul to demote him to ninth place on the sixth lap. Cunningham's car suffered a problem shortly after, however, leaving Paul to consolidate eighth position. This he managed extremely well, despite coming under further pressure from the Viper of another very rapid professional, Nick Padmore. Paul got into a very good rhythm during the remaining laps of his 30-lap stint, soaking up a lot of pressure for nearly half an hour, and was posting lap times competitive with the leading bunch of cars ahead of him. This was an essential performance in keeping the Bio-Ethanol Aston close enough to the leaders so that Jonny would have a fighting chance of a podium result when he took over the reigns. The front tyres underneath the DBRS9's big 6.0litre V12 were starting to complain quite severely, however, and we made the decision to bring Paul into the pits as soon as his re-fuel window was open. Although this was necessary due to the condition of Paul's left-front tyre, it meant that the car would have to be absolutely brimmed with 150 litres of Bio-Ethanol fuel in order to make it to the finish. This meant that Jonny would have to deal with a car that was around 40 kilos heavier than anything else, and be super smooth to look after the front tyres at the same time as going as quickly as possible to catch up the leaders! Easy really for a man of your talent, Mr.Cocker! The Barwell Motorsport crew really gave Jonny the springboard to get on terms with the leaders, with a stunning change of all four tyres which took a little over 17 seconds. Here again we were up against it, as many of the mid-engined cars didn't even need to change tyres, and thus every second we took was a second lost on track. We were able to gain significantly on our Viper and Porsche rivals, however, with some fantastic pit work. The many hours of practice on Saturday evening paid off once more, and both Paul and Tom's cars were re-fuelled and re-tyred with the minimum of fuss and time lost. Tom handed over to Michael having clawed his way back to 15 th place after 38 laps, but there was still a gargantuan task ahead of Michael if he was to try and get back up to eighth and score a championship point. The former F3 star rose to the challenge superbly, however, and never let his head drop in a flat-out charge that lasted for the entirety of his 41-lap stint. For some laps he was the fastest car on the circuit, even outpacing the Tim Mullen-driven Ferrari (which eventually won the race), as he desperately tried to keep his and Tom's 100% points-scoring record for the season. Michael revelled in his Barwell Aston Martin DBRS9, and with seven laps to go he hunted down and past both the Campbell/Cole Porsche and the Fletcher/Padmore Viper on the same lap, to move up to ninth place. The early-leading Lamborghini had slipped back to eighth, but it was just too far ahead of poor Michael for him to reach and he was forced to accept a Championship point-less ninth place finish. After all the pit stops had shaken out on lap 47, Jonny was in a charging fifth place with the leaders ahead of him featuring Greensall/Cole (Viper), Wilcox/Burton (Ferrari), Jones/Owen (Lambo) and Bryant/Keen (Ascari). Closing in on Jonny, however, was the Ferrari of Mullen, and Cocker had to accept that it made sense to let the faster Ferrari through and then try and follow him up through the order. By lap 54 Jonny had swept past the struggling Viper and the tardily-driven Lambo, and then started to reel in the Bryant/Keen Ascari for third. All the time, however, he and the Barwell engineers were worried about both the fuel consumption and front tyre wear of the Aston. The fuel consumption read-out on the dashboard indicated that the car should get to the finish, although there wasn't a huge margin to play with, but we had no accurate idea of how the left-front tyre was holding up (this is the one with the most load going through it). Jonny's smooth style was paying dividends, however, and as they started lap 61 he got a run on the Ascari as they blasted around Woodcote Bend on the start/finish straight and then managed to get inside his rival on the entry to Copse. Keen hung on around the outside, and both drivers drove well to enjoy a good scrap which Jonny managed to come out on top of to take third place. It was then a question of monitoring the lap times of our nearest rivals and making sure that Jonny could at least match them to ensure he finished at least third. Cocker kept up a very impressive pace, and was actually catching the Ferrari of Wilcox/Burton in the closing stages for second place. Third was a great result at a circuit which didn't suit our car, however, and puts Paul and Jonny up to second driver crew position in the championship standings. Barwell Motorsport continues to lead the Teams Championship by a considerable margin, with six races left to run. Top 10 Results – Avon Tyres British GT Championship Round Eight – Silverstone 1. Lester/Mullen Team C.I.M. Ferrari 430 GT3
Avon Tyres British GT Championship – Drivers Top 15 Points (after 8/14 races) 1. Bradley Ellis Team RPM 42 Avon Tyres British GT Championship* – Team Trophy Top 8 Points (after 8/14 races) 1. Barwell Motorsport Aston Martin DBRS9 66 * best scoring car in each race
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