Mortimer/Bradley duo take GTC Win from 5th on grid, with GT3 win for Whight/Kershaw as four-day Pau event comes to a sticky close!
Round 5 of the 2006 Avon Tyres British GT Championship on the Streets of Pau, France
Alex Mortimer and Ellis Bradley took the GTC win in Round 5 of the Avon Tyres British GT Championship at a very hot Pau event, in front of an enthusiastic crowd estimated at over 50,000.
Steering their R P M Porsche 996 through the tricky street circuit with only minimal heart-stopping overtaking opportunities, the dynamic duo went from 5th on the grid, after technical problems in this morning’s early practice, to take a well deserved win, bringing huge grins across the faces of the team members who had been up most of the night, determined to get the cars in good order for that class win.
Danny Watts led the GTC grid from the start to the driver change at lap 23, when co-driver Ryan Hooker set about the final 17 laps. However, he was soon to find that the fuel-pump that had bugged the team in yesterday’s race, slowing the engine performance, was yet again providing frustration to the drivers. Danny and Ryan eventually took a podium slot with a 3rd place, when a charging Keith Ahlers and Oliver Bryant in the stunning Morgan Aero 8 slipped into 2nd in the closing stages despite starting 6th on the GTC grid and losing their left front section after a close encounter with one of the French team Porsche’s.
Car 5, the Trackspeed Porsche 996 pairing of Matt Alison and Jonny Lang, started 2nd on the grid and held that position for half of the race until a drive-shaft failure put them out of contention.
The Lotus trio, who were solely representing the GT3 Class had put on a great show throughout the weekend in true team spirit but unfortunately car 18, the pairing of Paul Whight and Chris Randall made contact with one of the many close walls, around the tight circuit on lap 4 bringing their overseas visit to an end, although they will be going home with the winners trophy from yesterday’s GT3 Class win.
With a DNF in yesterdays race the Lotus team of Barrie Whight and Gavin Kershaw made up for their disappointment with a well deserved class win, closely followed home by the remaining GT3 car of Lotus team mates Sam Blogg and George MacKintosh.
Shortly after the race Alex and Ellis were quick to thank the team “It was a combination of consistent strategy to just chip-away at the field, combined with a carefully planned pit-stop and an equal pace from both us” said Alex with Ellis adding “It was great and this is the best circuit I’ve raced on so far”
“It’s been a difficult weekend up to around 15 minutes ago” said Barrie after his GT3 win. “But that was a great race and a fantastic win for both of us. Despite people saying Pau is a difficult place to overtake we seemed to find 10 different places! The big cars don’t really stand a chance when our small Lotus is on form as we seem to find ways past them” said a smiling Gavin. On their first street race and first visit to Pau Barrie added “it was an intoxicating experience, difficult and challenging with a tremendous personal reward when you get the lap right”
The 28-car grid for the Master GT race, combining the British GTC and GT3 cars with the FFSA Coupe de France GT entries, started almost 40 minutes late but entertained the sun-drenched capacity crowd in what was regarded by many of the British teams as a stunning example of a well organised action packed City street race. The common comment from nearly all the British GT and F3 teams was “I hope we are coming back next year!”
Local heroes Laurent Cazenave and Eric Cayrolle took the overall win for the Master GT event in their Pouchelon Racing Dodge Viper GT3, closely followed home by the team’s second Viper co-piloted by BTCC star Anthony Reid and Ian Khan. Mortimer and Bradley’s performance placed them in a well deserved 4th place overall behind the Pouchelon trio.
With just eight British GTC and three GT3 cars having made the journey from the UK, their points tally for the long weekend has dramatically altered the 2006 Championship points chart. Ellis Bradley and Alex Mortimer are now in joint 1st place for GTC alongside Chris Beighton and Jon Finnemore. In the GTC team standings, RPM now share the top spot with Trackspeed. In British GT3, George MacKintosh and Sam Blogg now take the lead from joint 3rd place drivers; Leo Machitski, Piers Johnson, Paul Whight and Chris Randell and for the GT3 teams the strong weekend performance from Lotus Sport Cadena paid dividends with a 6 point lead.
Provisional results for Round 4 of the 2006 Avon Tyres British GT Championship:
Pos Car Drivers Team Car Time
GTC Class
1st 96 A Mortimer / E Bradley R P M Porsche 996 Cup 39 laps 58:23.144
2nd 11 K Ahlers / O Bryant Team Aero Morgan Aero 8 GT 39 laps 58:35.181
3rd 3 D Watts / R Hooker Trackspeed Porsche 996 Cup 39 laps 58:35.973
4th 17 P Glew / H Abbott R P M Porsche 996 Cup 39 laps 58:41.813
5th 4 M Hulford / M Harris Trackspeed Porsche 996 Cup 39 laps 59:18.987
6th 70 C Lockie / D Dove David Dove Racing Ferrari 360 Modena 37 laps 58:41.715
7th 12 A Wilcox / P Burton J M H Ferrari 360 Modena 33 laps 55:31.510
GT3 Class
1st 19 B Whight / G Kershaw Lotus Sport Cadena Lotus Sport Exige 39 laps 58:52.603
2nd 20 S Blogg / G Mackintosh Lotus Sport Cadena Lotus Sport Exige 37 laps 59:04.712
