COCKER & DRAYSON RE-TAKE CHAMPIONSHIP LEAD AT THRUXTON |
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These results were the result of great performances by the driver crews and the Barwell team alike, as we had to contend with extreme tyre wear and fuel consumption issues at the super-fast and abrasive Hampshire circuit. The Barwell engineers made many changes to the Aston Martin DBRS9s during the course of the weekend in their quest for the best set-up, and worked out very detailed tyre and fuel strategies to ensure that all of our cars made it to the finish in a competitive state. The third Barwell entry of Tom Alexander/Michael Bentwood scored a 10th and a 7th place after some heated battles, but had their first race severely compromised by an extremely unhelpful backmarker which cost the car at least three places. DriversCar #1: Paul Drayson / Jonny Cocker (Chassis DBRS9 / 003 – Bio-Ethanol fuel) Race 1 – 1 Hour (45 laps) - Jonny Cocker & Paul Drayson 1st The other problem with Thruxton is that you can’t test there prior to the pre-event two hour test on Friday, so in terms of the tyre wear and fuel consumption issues, it’s all a step into the relative unknown. Testing and qualifying showed that both tyre wear and fuel would be marginal on the Astons over a full one-hour distance (with no safety cars), and thus the first race of the weekend was not going to be a straightforward blast to the finish line. Ben led the Barwell charge at the start of Saturday’s encounter, maintaining his fifth spot on the grid during the opening few laps with Paul not far behind in seventh position. The de Zille Butler machine moved ahead of the Lamborghini (suffering from a dying engine) on lap three, and immediately latched onto the tail of the rival Cadena Motorsport Aston, which was being driven very well by Barrie Whight. These two cars shadowed the second-placed Viper of Foster/Redwood, but the sister Viper of Ellis/Mortimer was establishing a lead up front. Paul, meanwhile moved up a place into sixth at the expense of another Viper, whilst Tom was having a great battle over ninth place with yet another Viper! They both claimed another spot on lap 12 when the Lambo’s engine finally cried enough and it disappeared from the scene altogether. A status quo then prevailed at the front as Ben was frustrated in his efforts to move up by the Cadena Aston and the Foster/Redwood Viper, although he clearly had more pace in his car than both of them. By lap 14 Tom was now dicing for eighth with the Lester/Simonsen Ferrari, and again had much better pace, but an unsuccessful overtaking attempt cost him precious time and a place to the Keen/Bryant Ascari. At the same time Paul was putting in some impressive lap times as he gamely clung onto fifth spot ahead of the Jones’ twins Ascari. Having been initially been in awe of Thruxton’s challenges on Friday, Paul was now absolutely loving the high-speed stuff and was one of the fastest Aston drivers through the daunting 135mph Church corner! Ben was clearly in no mood to be messed around this weekend, and on lap 17 he swept past the Whight Aston on the exit of Church, and two laps later repeated that manoeuvre on the Redwood/Foster Viper to claim second place. The gap to the leading Viper was now 7.4 seconds, but Ben chipped away at that and brought it down to 5.9 as the two cars came into the pits for their driver changes on lap 24. A few laps earlier Paul had come in to hand over to Jonny after a great stint, where he used the car’s high-speed grip to keep the Jones Ascari at bay and ward off any potential lunge. So, moving into the second half of the race, after the driver-change stops, we now had the Ellis/Mortimer Viper hanging on to a slim lead from Guy and a charging Jonny. Guy was driving superbly on his debut at Thruxton, and was really attacking the circuit with confidence. Michael had taken over from Tom, and was also on a charge as he reveled in the handling of his DBRS9. He looked set to move the car up to at least sixth place, before encountering a back marking Viper which held him up terribly for three laps and led to a grassy excursion that tore up his front bumper and splitter. Unfortunately this cost him dearly and he was forced to settle for 10th at the finish. By lap 30 we started to get concerned about the fuel consumption readouts on the dashboards, which were indicating that at their current pace the Astons would be very tight on fuel at the finish. The engineers then radioed to all drivers that they needed to back their pace off, but unfortunately Jonny’s in-car radio had gone down and he wasn’t getting the messages! With the petrol-fuelled cars slightly more at risk than the Bio-Ethanol car, we were especially worried about Guy and called him to back off considerably. At this stage Jonny had slipped past him, and third place was in the bag without any problems. The leading Viper clearly had fuel and tyre wear worries of its own, and by lap 33 Jonny had reeled him in and slammed through at the fast Goodwood bend to take the lead. This was a great move at a point on the circuit where Jonny was especially strong, and despite the Viper making slight contact as they ran side-by-side through the corner Jonny was undaunted as he took the lead. He then romped off into the distance, unaware that he was being told on the radio each lap to slow down in case of late-race problems! Guy and the Viper were now both playing a very conservative game, and it was frustrating for Guy and the team not to be able to take the fight to our rival for second place. A non-finish would have been much, much more frustrating, however, and we therefore shadowed the Viper home with Guy’s car to claim a secure third. It was Jonny and Paul’s race on the day, and both of them had driven supremely well to deliver the result. It was also the day of Jonny’s 21st Birthday, and his performance clearly demonstrated to the opposition that he has come of age as the Man of Thruxton! Top 5 Results – Avon Tyres British GT Championship Round 9 1. Paul Drayson/Jonny Cocker Barwell Motorsport Aston Martin DBRS9 Race 2 – 1 Hour (45 laps) - Jonny Cocker & Paul Drayson 2nd Jonny made the most of his pole position from the second qualifying session to lead the field away around the opening lap, and after only a couple more tours his Aston and the Simonsen Ferrari were pulling out a significant gap over the chasing pack. The Ferrari of Wilcox was at the head of this but was clearly holding up the cars behind, which were closely bunched up in the order of Mortimer (Viper), Michael and then Guy. Up front Jonny kept on hammering in incredibly quick laps, with Simonsen keeping him honest, as they pulled further and further away. This was another top drawer drive from Cocker, as he put everything into trying to build up as big a gap as possible to hand over to Paul at the driver change. Michael and Guy were also putting in great performances, and were clearly able to go faster if they had been in clear air. Unfortunately Michael was suffering from steering problems, but was gamely keeping his car well in the hunt for a strong points-scoring finish again. Like Michael, Guy was driving very intelligently, realizing that he would struggle to overtake the cars ahead easily and was looking after both his tyre wear and fuel consumption. Whilst Jonny and Michael were both committed to long stints to give Paul and Tom the best chances respectively, Guy and Ben’s similar pace meant that they could run a more flexible strategy with the driver stints. With Guy unable to use his maximum pace and still stuck in the second pack of cars, we called him in as early as possible from 6th place to change over to Ben, and give him the best chance of posting some quick lap times in a good track position. After the slight frustrations of the Saturday race, we were confident that we could release Guy and Ben to drive a much faster pace without running into fuel problems now that we had more exact data at our disposal. They were both really fired up to go for the win, and Ben immediately got stuck into what was going to be an epic drive. Meanwhile Jonny had managed to build up a small lead over Simonsen, but had thrashed out a 20-second gap to the rest of the field as he approached his pit stop window to hand to Paul. This had taken its toll on the left front tyre, however, and Jonny reported that this tyre could well need changing at the stop. This proved to be the case, but the six seconds it took was nothing compared to the lead he had managed to build up. Paul duly took over with the car still in the lead, and the initial Ferrari opposition was now out of the equation after a starting problem in the pits had dropped the Simonsen/Lester 430 down the order. The strategy with Ben and Guy had worked out very well as they jumped ahead of both the Wilcox/Burton Ferrari and the Michael/Tom Aston after some consistently quick lappery from Ben. It was going to be close as to whether they would also be able to usurp the Mortimer/Ellis Viper as well, but a slow driver change from the Viper crew cost them time in the pits and Ben was able to sweep past into second place after all the stops had shaken out. Tom was by this time hanging on gamely to fifth place, but struggling with intermittent steering problems that were costing him large chunks of time. Unfortunately by the chequered flag this had also cost him two places, but at least seventh was back in the points after a recent run of bad luck. Although he and Michael have lost ground in the championship points standings, they are still in the hunt if they can score some strong finishes in the remaining four races. The fight for the lead was now a three-way affair, between Paul, Ben and the Ellis Viper. As the race wore on, however, Ellis didn’t have the pace of the Barwell Aston drivers and slipped away from contention. The last 10 laps were therefore very nerve-wracking ones for the Barwell crew on the pit wall, as we watched two of our cars duel it out for the race victory. Ben was seriously on a mission and was reeling off extremely rapid laps in succession as he closed in on Paul. Paul meanwhile was pushing hard and keeping up a strong pace, as he had done all weekend. For his first ever visit to Thruxton this was an exceptional performance from Drayson, and he had really taken the track by the scruff of the neck. With five laps to go the gap was still around five seconds, but traffic was playing a significant part as both cars carved their way through the lapped backmarkers and both gained and lost in turn. Ben was still closing, but it looked like he might just run out of time before he was able to get onto the tail of the Bio-Ethanol car. With Paul now in sight, however, the Caterham Eurocup champion dug even deeper to produce two stunning laps on very worn tyres. With two laps to go he was on Paul’s rear bumper as they blasted down towards the first Complex section. Paul was having to try and pick his way through two backmarkers, and as they braked for the Complex he went for the inside line to try and get past the traffic. Unfortunately for him, this gap was soon filled by another car and he was trapped just as Ben took full advantage and lunged around the outside of both the back marker and Paul as they went through the first right-hander. The two Astons then came out side by side, but it was Ben who had the inside line for the left-hand section and he took the lead with a superbly committed pass. Paul wasn’t finished, however, and immediately swarmed over the back of Ben’s car as they accelerated out into the country and the fast Thruxton sweepers. Ben then just managed to squeeze past another lapped car, however, putting this between him and Paul and allowing him to get away. Ben then got his head down and held sway over the final lap to score a great victory, with Paul completing the team’s joy in second. This had been a great performance from all the drivers and Barwell crew, at a track where we knew we had to maximize the strong high-speed pace of the Aston as the championship heads back to some slower, twistier circuits for the final two events. Top 5 Results – Avon tyres British GT Championship Round 10
Drivers Championship Top 5 (after 10/14 races)
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