JHL
Senior Member
Astons make an impressive debut in there first try in Europe in a close fought race, The Vette was up there with a chance running in third but failed to finish.
by Ollie Barstow
Proving their surprise win at Sebring was no fluke, Aston Martin made it two straight wins for the brand new DBR9 at Silverstone with Pedro Lamy triumphing in a dramatic RAC Tourist Trophy FIA GT race that saw a tight battle between Lamy and team-mate Darren Turner in the latter stages of the race.
Having disposed of Maserati and Chevrolet in America, Aston Martin have wasted no time in establishing themselves as the new force of sports car racing on their FIA GT debut and with the news that they will be represented by BMS Scuderia Italia team in next year's championship, the DBR9 is clearly here to stay.
Nonetheless, the race was far from easy not least for Lamy who fought back from a poor start to benefit from some superb pit stops by Prodrive and gradually haul in his team mate to clinch, along with Peter Kox, the Tourist Trophy.
From the start Turner led Lamy over the line but it was the third placed Maserati of Babini who streaked away from the rolling start best easing out the Portuguese?s DBR9 to slot into second place from Copse.
Lamy?s loss of momentum subsequently forced him wide at the first corner allowing through the fast starting Ferrari of Fabrizio Gollin, the Italian jumping from fifth to third. Lamy?s poor opening lap continued when he was out braked into Abbey by the Corvette of Kumpen, the Belgian going on to haul his GLPK-Carsport vehicle ahead of Gollin soon afterwards. Lamy?s recovering Aston Martin followed the Chevrolet through to drop the 550 Maranello back down in fifth place.
Highlighting the sheer diversity of the FIA GT championship this year, the race settled into a battle between Turner, Babini and Kumpen ? all in different vehicles - with the Maserati hustling the Aston Martin constantly in the opening laps looking for a mistake from the Brit. Yet beyond a feigned look down the inside at Abbey, the Italian maintained station in second place. Kumpen used his early pace and the luck of the traffic to close up to the back of the Biagi yet the top three remained steady throughout the opening stint allowing the majority of the action to take place further behind.
Behind Lamy, who appeared seemingly content with a lonely fourth place, the battle between Italian counterparts Ferrari and Maserati raged, not least when a recovering Justin Keen made his Lister rather wide as his rivals attempted to lap him. Eventually Bouchut in his Ferrari slipped past Gollin on the way to passing Keen, with the Frenchman easing away as the Ferrari and two Maserati of Timo Scheider and Karl Wendlinger behind him continued to struggle past the Lister.
From there on the three remained almost nose-to-tail for the majority of the first stint with the exception of a rather robust overtaking attempt by Wendlinger on Scheider at Abbey which resulted in the Austrian tackling the former DTM-driver perhaps harder than intended and losing a touch of bodywork in the process.
As the drivers neared their first pit stop Babini pushed his way up to the rear of the Aston Martin only to pit soon afterwards, along with Lamy, Bouchut, Gollin, Scheider and Wendlinger. With all teams electing to change drivers, it was a race for the pit crews with the Aston Martin Prodrive team putting in a superb change over for Peter Kox, the Dutchman replacing Lamy. Maserati by comparison were not so hasty with second driver Biagi having to slot in behind the British car. The Larbre Competition squad meanwhile managed to snatch back fifth place ahead of the two Maserati to leave Gabriele Gardel, Michael Bartels and Andrea Bertolini back in line astern.
Having managed to retain third place after the pit stops - albeit now behind Kox and ahead of Biagi - Bert Longin’s Chevrolet soon came under increasing pressure from the Maserati. However, what promised to be a scintiliating tussle for the final podium place was ruined when the Belgian’s Corvette ran wide coming out of Becketts on lap 60, subsequently losing his place to the Italian. Things only degenerated for Longin when he spun at Abbey, prompting a pit stop to replace the dirty tyres. Nonetheless, the Corvette’s issues were terminal and the following lap Longin returned to the pit lane to retire, quoting worn brakes as his reason.
The battle now for fourth place between Gardel, Bartels and Bertolini came to a head on lap 81 when several laps of harrying finally paid off for the latter’s Maserati. Having pressured his fellow MC12 driver by constantly following him after the first pit stop, Bertolini finally found a way down the inside at Abbey forcing the German wide but barely touching.
Reaching the two hour mark, the second round of pit stops saw all of the top teams revert back to the starting driver with Darren Turner assuming the lead once again ahead of his team mate Pedro Lamy. Further down the field Karl Wendlinger did the most of Bertolini’s impressive stint by emerging from the pits ahead of Gollin in fourth place, while Timo Scheider had to settle for sixth behind the Italian until the Ferrari was forced into the pits for a drive through penalty courtesy of speeding in the pit lane.
Still, all eyes were soon drawn to the front as Pedro Lamy began to dramatically reel in Turner’s lead, the Aston Martin driver punching in several quick laps to be on his team mate’s tail by lap 104. With a brief amount of contact coming out of Becketts, it was clear the battle from within the team was set to be just as fierce. Further close calls into Priory and Abbey eventually culminated in Lamy finally slipping past Turner outside at Maggots with just twenty minutes of the race left to run. Straight away the former Formula One star pulled away to establish a comfortable lead that he would never lose. Despite beginning to ail towards the end of the race, Darren Turner kept Lamy honest to hold onto second place and gift the Aston Martin DBR9 a superb one-two finish on their debut on British soil.
It was a popular with for the two British Racing Green Aston Martins, having held off the advances of Babini and Biagi in the Vitaphone Maserati, the Italian’s unable to repeat the feisty performance in the first stint that saw them latched on Turner’s rear. Magny-Cours winners Andrea Bertolini and Karl Wendlinger settled for fourth place after a hard-fought drive from eighth on the grid, while Maserati made it three MC12’s in the top five with Timo Scheider holding off the late challenge of Fabrizio Gollin’s Ferrari for fifth and sixth places.
Rounding out the top ten, Andrea Piccini brought his G.P.C Sport Ferrari across the line in seventh place, with Roman Rusinov shrugging off a drive-through penalty to secure eighth in the Maserati and Lieb getting his GT2 Porsche into ninth and the #8 Saleen of Ardizzone, Panzavuota and Hooker getting scraping into the top ten. The second G.P.C Ferrari of Jean-Phillipe Belloc and Jamie Melo retired early on with mechanical issues.
In the GT2 class, Marc Lieb and Mike Rockenfeller extended Gruppe M Racing’s prominence by taking an easy win ahead of the Embassy Racing Porsche of Neil Cunningham and Ben Collins and the TVR of Johnny Kane and Lawrence Tomlinson. It was a dominant victory for the Germans after their closest competitors, Tim Sugden and Emmanuelle Collard in the sister Gruppe M Racing car hit problems which dropped them out of the running. Cunningham and Collins second place was all the more impressive after enduring a drive-through penalty for restarting their engine before the wheels reached the ground during the pit stop. Breaking the Porsche’s stronghold, Team LNT recovered from an early puncture to grab third in class in the TVR 400.
Elsewhere in the field in the G2 class, the new Cadena GTC Mosler debut run was scuppered by a split water hose, yet returned to the track to finish, albeit well down on the rest of the field while the GT1 Lister Storm of Justin Keen returned to the pits with oil spilling from the front left of his car.
With Aston Martin unable to score points courtesy of their guest status, Maserati have strengthened their grip on the GT Championship but on a weekend where the legendary British name was looking to make their mark, their pace is an encouraging indication for the increasing competition the series is achieving.
by Ollie Barstow
Proving their surprise win at Sebring was no fluke, Aston Martin made it two straight wins for the brand new DBR9 at Silverstone with Pedro Lamy triumphing in a dramatic RAC Tourist Trophy FIA GT race that saw a tight battle between Lamy and team-mate Darren Turner in the latter stages of the race.
Having disposed of Maserati and Chevrolet in America, Aston Martin have wasted no time in establishing themselves as the new force of sports car racing on their FIA GT debut and with the news that they will be represented by BMS Scuderia Italia team in next year's championship, the DBR9 is clearly here to stay.
Nonetheless, the race was far from easy not least for Lamy who fought back from a poor start to benefit from some superb pit stops by Prodrive and gradually haul in his team mate to clinch, along with Peter Kox, the Tourist Trophy.
From the start Turner led Lamy over the line but it was the third placed Maserati of Babini who streaked away from the rolling start best easing out the Portuguese?s DBR9 to slot into second place from Copse.
Lamy?s loss of momentum subsequently forced him wide at the first corner allowing through the fast starting Ferrari of Fabrizio Gollin, the Italian jumping from fifth to third. Lamy?s poor opening lap continued when he was out braked into Abbey by the Corvette of Kumpen, the Belgian going on to haul his GLPK-Carsport vehicle ahead of Gollin soon afterwards. Lamy?s recovering Aston Martin followed the Chevrolet through to drop the 550 Maranello back down in fifth place.
Highlighting the sheer diversity of the FIA GT championship this year, the race settled into a battle between Turner, Babini and Kumpen ? all in different vehicles - with the Maserati hustling the Aston Martin constantly in the opening laps looking for a mistake from the Brit. Yet beyond a feigned look down the inside at Abbey, the Italian maintained station in second place. Kumpen used his early pace and the luck of the traffic to close up to the back of the Biagi yet the top three remained steady throughout the opening stint allowing the majority of the action to take place further behind.
Behind Lamy, who appeared seemingly content with a lonely fourth place, the battle between Italian counterparts Ferrari and Maserati raged, not least when a recovering Justin Keen made his Lister rather wide as his rivals attempted to lap him. Eventually Bouchut in his Ferrari slipped past Gollin on the way to passing Keen, with the Frenchman easing away as the Ferrari and two Maserati of Timo Scheider and Karl Wendlinger behind him continued to struggle past the Lister.
From there on the three remained almost nose-to-tail for the majority of the first stint with the exception of a rather robust overtaking attempt by Wendlinger on Scheider at Abbey which resulted in the Austrian tackling the former DTM-driver perhaps harder than intended and losing a touch of bodywork in the process.
As the drivers neared their first pit stop Babini pushed his way up to the rear of the Aston Martin only to pit soon afterwards, along with Lamy, Bouchut, Gollin, Scheider and Wendlinger. With all teams electing to change drivers, it was a race for the pit crews with the Aston Martin Prodrive team putting in a superb change over for Peter Kox, the Dutchman replacing Lamy. Maserati by comparison were not so hasty with second driver Biagi having to slot in behind the British car. The Larbre Competition squad meanwhile managed to snatch back fifth place ahead of the two Maserati to leave Gabriele Gardel, Michael Bartels and Andrea Bertolini back in line astern.
Having managed to retain third place after the pit stops - albeit now behind Kox and ahead of Biagi - Bert Longin’s Chevrolet soon came under increasing pressure from the Maserati. However, what promised to be a scintiliating tussle for the final podium place was ruined when the Belgian’s Corvette ran wide coming out of Becketts on lap 60, subsequently losing his place to the Italian. Things only degenerated for Longin when he spun at Abbey, prompting a pit stop to replace the dirty tyres. Nonetheless, the Corvette’s issues were terminal and the following lap Longin returned to the pit lane to retire, quoting worn brakes as his reason.
The battle now for fourth place between Gardel, Bartels and Bertolini came to a head on lap 81 when several laps of harrying finally paid off for the latter’s Maserati. Having pressured his fellow MC12 driver by constantly following him after the first pit stop, Bertolini finally found a way down the inside at Abbey forcing the German wide but barely touching.
Reaching the two hour mark, the second round of pit stops saw all of the top teams revert back to the starting driver with Darren Turner assuming the lead once again ahead of his team mate Pedro Lamy. Further down the field Karl Wendlinger did the most of Bertolini’s impressive stint by emerging from the pits ahead of Gollin in fourth place, while Timo Scheider had to settle for sixth behind the Italian until the Ferrari was forced into the pits for a drive through penalty courtesy of speeding in the pit lane.
Still, all eyes were soon drawn to the front as Pedro Lamy began to dramatically reel in Turner’s lead, the Aston Martin driver punching in several quick laps to be on his team mate’s tail by lap 104. With a brief amount of contact coming out of Becketts, it was clear the battle from within the team was set to be just as fierce. Further close calls into Priory and Abbey eventually culminated in Lamy finally slipping past Turner outside at Maggots with just twenty minutes of the race left to run. Straight away the former Formula One star pulled away to establish a comfortable lead that he would never lose. Despite beginning to ail towards the end of the race, Darren Turner kept Lamy honest to hold onto second place and gift the Aston Martin DBR9 a superb one-two finish on their debut on British soil.
It was a popular with for the two British Racing Green Aston Martins, having held off the advances of Babini and Biagi in the Vitaphone Maserati, the Italian’s unable to repeat the feisty performance in the first stint that saw them latched on Turner’s rear. Magny-Cours winners Andrea Bertolini and Karl Wendlinger settled for fourth place after a hard-fought drive from eighth on the grid, while Maserati made it three MC12’s in the top five with Timo Scheider holding off the late challenge of Fabrizio Gollin’s Ferrari for fifth and sixth places.
Rounding out the top ten, Andrea Piccini brought his G.P.C Sport Ferrari across the line in seventh place, with Roman Rusinov shrugging off a drive-through penalty to secure eighth in the Maserati and Lieb getting his GT2 Porsche into ninth and the #8 Saleen of Ardizzone, Panzavuota and Hooker getting scraping into the top ten. The second G.P.C Ferrari of Jean-Phillipe Belloc and Jamie Melo retired early on with mechanical issues.
In the GT2 class, Marc Lieb and Mike Rockenfeller extended Gruppe M Racing’s prominence by taking an easy win ahead of the Embassy Racing Porsche of Neil Cunningham and Ben Collins and the TVR of Johnny Kane and Lawrence Tomlinson. It was a dominant victory for the Germans after their closest competitors, Tim Sugden and Emmanuelle Collard in the sister Gruppe M Racing car hit problems which dropped them out of the running. Cunningham and Collins second place was all the more impressive after enduring a drive-through penalty for restarting their engine before the wheels reached the ground during the pit stop. Breaking the Porsche’s stronghold, Team LNT recovered from an early puncture to grab third in class in the TVR 400.
Elsewhere in the field in the G2 class, the new Cadena GTC Mosler debut run was scuppered by a split water hose, yet returned to the track to finish, albeit well down on the rest of the field while the GT1 Lister Storm of Justin Keen returned to the pits with oil spilling from the front left of his car.
With Aston Martin unable to score points courtesy of their guest status, Maserati have strengthened their grip on the GT Championship but on a weekend where the legendary British name was looking to make their mark, their pace is an encouraging indication for the increasing competition the series is achieving.
