Results D1GB and Time Attack: Round 4 !
This weekend saw the GT Battle Round 4 event return to Silverstone race circuit, Northants. With all toplay for in both the D1GB and Time Attack and the last Round prior to the finals, good results wereneeded for the top contenders to place themselves well for the finals……what happened?.....The familiar surrounding of Silverstone combined with the huge jump in skills required in Round 3 at Knockhill wasalways going to mean the boys would put on a fantastic show at Round 4 with some fears squashed by the couragerequired for Knockhill’s Seat corner and the boys didn’t disappoint!
Even with a wet start in the morning, only a couple of drivers managed to fall foul of the gravel trap at the first turn giving a clear indication that the cars and drivers have yet again moved the game for the better.
In qualifying it was Morrison, Luney and Marshall in the top 3 all showing great form and scoring consistent pointsthroughout the solo runs. Also making their first appearance was Tony Green in the MotorPoint Soarer, Pete Barber inhis PS13 Silvia and the man on the move, Mark Johnston in the Weston RPS13 Silvia, all showing good form in theirfirst professional drift event.
With qualifying finished and the Top 16 announced for the twin drift, the first man up was Morrison, who was leadingthe Championship with everything to play for, up against Ian Harrison. With Harrison putting up a fight which provednot enough for Morrison’s effort as Morrison moved on to face Autoglym’s Evans in the Top 8. The most remarkablebattle in the first runs was between Luney and new-comer Green. With Green over powering Luney down the straightsection, Luney was finding it hard to challenge with less power and fought with everything he had to allow hisexperience to take charge over Green.
As a close fought affair the pair went onto a run ‘ one more time ‘ and only with Green making what proved to be a fatal spin on his second run did it push Luney through to the Top 8 with a sigh of relief that Green made a simple mistake to push himself out. Also making good viewing was the drive between Polish contender Polody and the SVA Imports car of Crampton, with Crampton struggling to compete after a failing handbrake meant he had to fight without a good entry angle at the first transition, allowing Polody to take a clear win. With the Top 4 running order, it would show two of the most experienced drifters coming together for a close run, almost too close to call between Mulvey and Morrison, both hungry for the Championship points. With Morrison unable to show the small edge over Mulveys advantage, Mulvey went on to put himself into the final against the victor over Polody in the Top 4 of Luney.
As the final came, the anticipation of the crowd shone through, expecting to see these two putting an unforgettableshow and they didn’t disappoint. With the close pairing of the days best, who one by one picked off the other 14drivers, it was Mulvey who suffered defeat as his RPS13 suffered some serious mis-fire issues from his engine on their second pass, resulting in no power to challenge the might of D1GB favourite, Mark Luney who stormed ahead to use his experience and well prepared car to be crowned the winner of Round 4 of the D1GB – and well deserved it was,well done to Mark Luney and the WK Developments/Kerr Tyre Nissan Skyline R32!
As well as podium trophies, the HKS Hard Charger Award was awarded on the day to the driver showing the bestdetermination and ambition, this award was presented to Polish entry, Maciej Polody who has constantly improved hisskill and was able to demonstrate that with the right luck he could challenge the UK’s best and put on a fantasticshow for the crowd. Well done Maciej!
D1GB Qualifying drivers were:1 Phil Morrison 922 Mark Luney 923 Tim Marshall 904 Damien Mulvey 905 Ben Broke Smith 896 Maciej Polody 897 James Hudson 888 Steven Evans 889 James Grimsey 8810 Ralph Crampton 8811 Niall Gunn 8812 Paul Vlasblom 8713 Simon Russell 8714 Mark Johnston 8615 Tony Green 8516 Ian Harrison 8517 Garry Kennedy 8318 Declan Hicks 8019 Pete Barber 8020 Mark Coyne 8021 Keiran Cameron 8022 Mark Buckle 8023 Scott Armstrong 78
D1GB Round 4 Race Result
Mark Luney 20 PointsDamien Mulvey 18 PointsPhil Morrison 16 PointsMaciej Polody 14 PointsMark Johnston 12 PointsSteven Evans 10 PointsPaul Vlasblom 8 PointsRalph Crampton 6 PointsJames Hudson 4 PointsTony Green 2 PointsTim Marshall 1 PointBen Broke Smith 1 PointJames Grimsey 1 PointNiall Gunn 1 PointSimon Russell 1 PointIan Harrison 1 Point
D1GB National Championship Scoreboard after Round 4
Phil Morrison 60 Points Nissan 200SX S14 Works Driftworks carDamien Mulvey 54 Points Nissan S13Mark Luney 50 Points Nissan Skyline R32 GTR RWDBrett Castle 34 Points Nissan S14Tim Marshall 30 Points Nissan 350Z – Works Sumo Power carMaciej Polody 30 Points Nissan 200SXStephen Evans 29 Points Nissan Skyline R32 GTS – Team AutoglymRalph Crampton 27 Points Nissan 350Z – Works SVA Imports carJames Hudson 22 Points Nissan Skyline R32 GTS – Team AutoglymBen Broke Smith 21 Points Nissan Skyline R32 GTSPaul Vlasblom 21 Points BMW E36Darren McNamara 19 Points Toyota AE86Mark Johnston 12 Points Nissan RPS13Ian Harrison 8 Points Nissan S13Glen Maher 8 Points Nissan S13Niall Gunn 7 Points Nissan S13Declan Hicks 7 Points Toyota SoarerKieran Cameron 6 Points Nissan S13Mat Steele 3 Points Nissan 200SX S14Ian Coyne 3 Points Nissan S13James Grimsey 2 Points Nissan S13Tony Green 2 Points Toyota SoarerMike Deane 2 Points Nissan S13Simon Russell 1 Point Nissan S14Steven Shine 1 Point Nissan S13Mike Murphy 1 Point Nissan S13Mark Coyne 1 Point Nissan S14Mark Buckle 1 Point Nissan Skyline R32 GTSScott Armstrong 1 Point Ford Sierra V8
With an over subscribed field of cars for Round 4, the Time Attack finally touched down with the masses as the recordentry numbers and spectators came together to experience what Time Attack is and the pressure it creates for thedrivers. As well as the Pro and Club classes, introduced for the first time was the ‘ Open Wheeled Class ‘ , forlightweight sportcars of non saloon body type, such as Dax Rush/Caterham/Ariels.
With a wet start to the day in Practice, both the Pro and Club Challenge cars showed slower lap times that the previous meeting however as the second practice session began and dry racing line appeared around the circuit, the MST timing began to shoot out some spectacular times.
In the Pro class, Norris and Seddon were once again at locked in battle as their Evo’s laid down some terrific times in the 1.01min bracket with the Club Challenge front runners of Bly and Horsham knocking on the door of 1.05mins. In the all new Open Wheel Class, Duncan Cowper and Andrew Smith managed to sneak between the Pro and Club classes to lay some 1.02 and 1.03 lap times in their super light vehicles.
With a Grid of 29 cars making the Club Challenge, 4 in the Open Wheeled and 14 making the Pro class, the sight ontrack was phenomenal during the sessions with not one of them under 200bhp and some exceeding 800bhp.
The long awaited extra power in the Sumo Evo 8 promised some quick times but teething troubles with a brand newengine setup meant that Round 4 wasn’t the day for it to shine though and show its full potential as the final for the Pro class got underway. Also suffering mechanical problems was the Litchfield entry of Keen who was unable show the blistering performance of the Subaru as seen in previous rounds.
As the final of the Pro’s took shape, including Rocket Ronnie in the Abbey GTR and John Terzidis in the utoergonomics Evo 8, shipped inform Greece to participate at the event, the clear pattern from earlier in the day continued at Norris and Seddon clashed set very close times, with Norris being piped to 1st place with a 1.02.178, by Seddon in the RC Evo with a 1.01.140, enough to once again show the incredible pace of their machine and claim yet another 1st place trophy with Soothill in third with a 1.03.960.
In the Open Wheeled final, Cowper in the Dax Rush stormed ahead, laying a 1.02.679 over Andrew Smith in 2nd witha 1.03.368, followed by 3rd place Green in yet another Dax.
The Club Challenge was equally as intense and Bly in his GTR romped home with a win over Horsham in 2nd andWilson in his Evo 3 in 3rd, showing a mix for the top between the 4WD and RWD cars on the dry National Circuit.Running for the second time this year was the new SuperBattle addition to the line-up where the 10 top cars go headto head in an open pit lane to lay down the quickest lap within a set time.
Teams must stage their strategy to ensure they get a clean track without traffic to set the quickest time (normal Time Attack is just one hot lap with one chance). With the top 3 cars from the Pro class Time Attack going forward, once again Seddon in the RC Evo demonstrated great driving to take 1st place with Norris 2nd and Cowper 3rd.
Time Attack Results (Pro Class) Time Attack Results (Club Challenge)
Clive Seddon 1.01.140 Darren Bly 1.05.214Simon Norris 1.02.178 Jeremy Horhsam 1.05.641Darren Soothill 1.03.960 Nigel Wilson 1.07.010Adrian Smith 1.04.485 Jeff Stokes 1.07.075Rocket Ronnie 1.05.451 Joel English 1.07.152David Harrison 1.05.772 Steven Darley 1.07.914Robbie Thornton 1.06.368 Steve Fitzpatrick 1.08.050Spiros Zorbas 1.07.095 Dale Howard 1.08.106John Terzidis 1.07.167 Iain Litchfield 1.08.133Paul Blamire 1.07.295 Maxim Taylor 1.09.036Kevin Horsley 1.08.595 Neil Wells 1.09.329Phil Gooriah 1.09.011 Oliver Crawford 1.09.724Rob Barnes 1.09.881 George Gori 1.09.899Philip Keen DNF Neil Wrenn 1.10.339Tony Pearmain 1.10.859Shaun Harvey 1.11.018James Baring 1.11.608
Time Attack Open Wheeled Class
Stewart Andrew 1.11.650Nadine Geary 1.11.659Duncan Cowper 1.02.679 Dixon Cheng 1.11.699Andrew Smith 1.03.368 Phil England 1.12.858Robert Green 1.07.566 Buckley Skinner 1.12.980Richard Marler 1.11.659 John Wooton 1.13.145
Time Attack Super Battle Results
Ian Smith 1.14.932Clive Seddon 1.01.497 Julian Percy 1.15.617Simon Norris 1.01.841 Shaun Fennings 1.17.521Duncan Cowper 1.01.970 Simon Miskelly 1.18.845Andrew Smith 1.03.934 Richard Senter 1.22.964Adrian Smith 1.04.208Darren Soothill 1.04.656Rocket Ronnie 1.05.093Darren Bly 1.06.823
The Next GT Battle Events ( THE FINALS ) are:
Silverstone – Sept 3rd ( D1GB ONLY )Donington – Sept 30th ( TIME ATTACK ONLY )
Full information of GT Battle, D1GB and Time Attack are available on our dedicated websites:
