Liz Halliday was looking forward to a strong weekend for the 8th round of the 2005 FIA GT Championship. The GT circus had gone east and was racing for the first time on the new Formula 1 circuit built in Turkey, the mighty Istanbul Park. The FIA GT event was only the second ever international race meeting held on the track, following the Grand Prix in the middle of August. Liz was excited to be one of the first females to race on the circuit and could not wait to sample the new track in the Lister Storm GT.
The weekend started well and she was setting competitive lap times during the practice sessions on Saturday, as well the warm-up on Sunday morning.
Liz Halliday said: “I enjoyed this new track a lot and I had a great time with the Lister during the practice sessions and the warm-up I felt that I had made progress since the start of the season and I was really getting to grips with the car. I was driving well on slick tyres in dry conditions and the hard work by the Lister team was about to pay off. I was looking forward to a strong race with Justin.”
Unfortunately, new and difficult race conditions were ahead of Liz. The 26-year old explained: “Justin made a great start despite loosing the bonnet of the car in the first lap! – we were looking good for a strong result. After only 35 minutes of the race, one of the Saleens had a big accident and the Safety Car came out. The team read the race perfectly and called Justin into the pits. I took over and rejoined the race in third place, which was fantastic. I pushed to catch the Safety Car and the Lister felt extremely good and I was confident for my stint.”
The Safety Car transpired to be out for an extended period. The local marshals were trying to remove the Saleen from the gravel trap when their recovery truck itself also became stuck in the same gravel trap and had to be rescued by a Land Rover! When the Safety Car returned to the pits, all of the cars had been at a slow pace for a long time and the tyres had cooled off - something Liz had little experience with.
“I have not had this type of extended safety car period in the Lister before,” explained Halliday. “My lack of experience meant that I did not maintain the tyres at the right temperature and when the race restarted I was driving on much cooler tyres. I had no grip and was overtaken by several cars. As I was trying to get the tyres back to temperature, a Ferrari hit me from behind as I was entering turn 1. As it spun, I was pushed off line but I managed to recover and finish my stint.”
Liz was back in the pits after her mandatory 35-minute stint and Justin Keen took over with fresh Dunlop rubber. Unfortunately, with 20 minutes to go, Justin was forced out of the race when the car’s rear suspension failed.
Liz summed up a difficult weekend: “We know that the suspension failure is due to the impact from the Ferrari. I am really sorry for Justin and the team. My mistake with the tyres when I was behind the Safety Car is down to my lack of experience and we now know what I need to work on for the next race. I really enjoyed the Istanbul Park circuit, however, and feel that there were many positive things to take from the weekend. I am now looking forward to Petit Le Mans in two weeks with Intersport Racing and then Zhuhai in China with Lister in October.”
