after thrilling Silverstone battle
Gregor Fisken clinched a podium finish in the Jaguar E-Type he shares with its owner John Clark after a thrilling battle in the GT & Sports Car Cup race at the Silverstone International Trophy Meeting at the weekend.
The Scottish driver, who combines his racing activities in modern and historic motorsport with his role as owner of London’s foremost historic automobile dealership, Fiskens, put the E-Type on pole position on the 50-car grid on the full Silverstone Historic Grand Prix circuit and fought tooth-and-nail for victory in the second half of the one-hour race.
After qualifying, Fisken handed the car to Clark for the start of the race but an issue with the brake bias dropped him to fifth in the early stages. After finding a way to drive around the problem, Clark raced strongly and was quickly closing on the top four as the race approached mid-distance when a Safety Car was deployed after a sizeable accident for a Triumph TR4.
In the confusion, Clark pulled into the pits to make the driver change, but did so just before the halfway point of race, meaning Fisken re-joined the track knowing he would receive a penalty for breaching the rule mandating that the car’s owner/entrant must complete more than 50% of the race.
Undaunted, Fisken proceeded to produce a succession of impressive flying laps that left him eight seconds clear at the front of the field when the pit stops shook out.
Chased by Martin Stretton in the E-Type which had led the first half of the race in the hands of Jon Minshaw, that gap was whittled down to nothing due to a succession of yellow flags and traffic, prompting a momentous battle for the lead that unfolded over the final 20 minutes of the race. Several times the stunning Jaguars ran side-by-side, only for Fisken to defend, while both drivers set lap times much faster than the rest of the field.
The decisive moment of the fight finally arrived on the penultimate tour as Fisken and Stretton caught a lapped car and all three went side-by-side into the tricky Becketts. As Fisken squeezed through he was lightly tagged by the slower Corvette causing a quick 360 degree spin and leaving Stretton in the lead.
Fisken chased hard for what was left of the race, crossing the line just 2.5 seconds behind Stretton and, even after the addition of a one-minute penalty for the pitstop misdemeanour, was still classified in second place ahead of the Andy Newall / Ross Warburton E-Type which rounded out a Jaguar 1-2-3.
Gregor Fisken: “Full credit to Martin Stretton and Jon Minshaw who both drove a splendid race. My battle with Martin was real crowd pleasing stuff and we were lapping cars to the left and right and setting very quick lap times as good as our qualifying laps.
“I’d like to thank Flavien and Vanessa Marcais for putting on the GT & Sports Car Cup, which is an excellent, well run series. I’m thoroughly enjoying sharing the E-Type with John, who is a very strong team-mate, and I’m looking forward to the next race at Monza in June.”
