Round 7 – Mondello Park - 25th June 2006
Team LNT Take Second Win at Mondello while GTC Chargers Providing the Race Action
Weather – Sunny Track - Dry
Luke Hines and Tom Kimber-Smith took their second win of the weekend, unopposed after the Scuderia Ecosse Ferrari failed to make it to the grid. The Lotus Sport Cadena team celebrated another overall podium after a driver through the field by Gavan Kershaw. The racing action was provided by the GTC class runners, with Team Tiger returning to winning ways in the sunshine and 3rd overall, while Oliver Bryant confirmed the Team Aero Morgan’s pace in race 1 to pip the Trackspeed Porsche of Ryan Hooker on the line by 27 Thousandths of a second to take the teams first podium of 2006.
As the green flag waved Luke Hines in the 57 Panoz shot off the line, with the no 3 Trackspeed Porsche of Damien Faulkner alongside as the 15 car grid headed for the first corner. Hines came out in the lead followed by Faulkner and then the No 5 Trackspeed Porsche of Matt Allison in 3rd but under pressure from Jon Finnemore in the Team Tiger Marcos. Finnemore pulled alongside Allison at Ireland.ie but was unable to make the move stick as Keith Ahlers in the Team Aero Morgan put pressure on him in turn.
As the squabbling continued behind, Hines continued to steadily increase his lead over Faulkner, who in turn opened a gap to Allison, who had to defend his position from Finnemore and Ahlers. Barrie Whight in the GT3 Lotus Exige joined in this battle, tracking the big Morgan Aero 8 for lap after lap.
Behind this train another battle was forming as Miles Hulford in the No 4 Trackspeed Porsche had Alex Mortimer (#96 RPM Porsche) filling his mirrors, with Phil Glew (#17 RPM Porsche) and Mark Cole (#16 Motorbase Performance Porsche) joining in as they all tried to find a way around the 996 GTC Porsche at the front of the train. As the cars crossed the line to start lap 8 Mortimer got alongside Hulford with Glew just behind. As they braked for the first corner the cars touched and mayhem ensued, with Hulford and Glew beached in the gravel trap and Mortimer manages to stay out of trouble.
The Safety Car was deployed to recover the two cars. For the next 4 laps the cars circulated behind the Volvo Safety Car with the pit window opening at the end of lap 13. All the cars bar the no 16 and no 8 Porsches headed into the pitlane, taking advantage of the slow pace behind the safety car.
On lap 16 the race went green with Gavan Kershaw now at the wheel of the No 19 Lotus Exige was the man on the move. He picked off Oliver Bryant (Team Aero) and then Chris Beighton (Team Tiger) but contact with Jonny Lang at 7B undid all his good work, finishing the lap where he began in 6th place. However it wasn't long before Kershaw was on the move again and by lap 23 he moved ahead of Chris Beighton and set off after the second place Ryan Hooker.
Meanwhile in GTC Ryan Hooker was out in front but lapping slower than Beighton and Bryant in 2nd and 3rd respectively.
On lap 26 Kershaw overtook Hooker to move into second overall and then Beighton saw his chance to score another class win for Team Tiger. Reeling in the Trackspeed Porsche 996, the big Marcos Mantis caught and passed the yellow Porsche on the penultimate lap, with Bryant also sensing a chance to steal 2nd place in class.
The Morgan tracked the Porsche on the last lap and Bryant was right behind Hooker as they headed towards the last corner. Bryant braked late and got the better line out of the final corner as the Porsche struggled to put the power down. The Morgan and the Porsche were side by side as they headed to the line, with Bryant taking the chequered flag by 0.027 seconds, a breathtaking finish.
Team LNT celebrated their second win of the weekend and they moved into the lead in the GT2 championship. Lotus Sport Cadena were overjoyed with their second overall podium at Mondello and are looking forward to the next races on their home circuit at Snetterton. However the greatest applause was reserved for the GTC competitors, wit Chris Beighton and Jon Finnemore taking their 4th class win of the year. Team Aero's Keith Ahlers and Oliver Bryant celebrated another British GT podium after taking two on the streets of Pau three weeks earlier, with Damien Faulkner and Ryan Hooker in third for Trackspeed after the disappointments of retiring from the first race yesterday.
Gavan Kershaw (Lotus Sport Cadena)(GT3 winner and 2nd Overall): "I made a storming run from the safety car, got past them when I needed to and just as I got past the last guy he snatched rear brake and spun me. Unfortunately for him he hit the wheel so hard he spun in the right direction, so it was grab a gear and have another go. It's brilliant for the team, we need these results and Snetterton is our home turf and we've got to make a good showing there. For us, Lotus and the brand it's just beating the cars we try and compete with on the high street and spectators can see that. It's a great result."
Chris Beighton (Team Tiger) (Class GTC Winner and 3rd Overall): "Disappointed with the result yesterday, to be honest we weren't on the pace and we were a little out of sync with the tyres. We had wet at Donington, then wet and a bit of dry here and we really lost the thread with the tyres. We put a new set of tyres on the car, scrubbed them in and we were starting from where we normally start and the race went as we expected. Yesterday was a weird race for us. Today, back on it and a fantastic job."
Oliver Bryant (Team Aero) (2nd in Class GTC): "It was great, a good finish and we managed to pip him at the line. The guys worked so hard on the car yesterday after the oil leak problem and they got up and running. The car was perfect today. It was very, very slippery out there, but it was great racing. Keith did a good stint and the safety car played into our favour when it bunched the field up and when I got out there it was a really good race. I was surprised we caught Ryan actually, I thought he'd got away."
