The brand-new Scuderia Vittoria took a stunning victory on its debut in the British GT Championship at Oulton Park on Easter Monday.
Young talents Charlie Bateman and Michael Lyons, both of whom are newcomers to British GT, drove the team’s Ferrari 458 Italia to victory in the second of the day’s two races against an ultra-competitive field – despite only one day of testing between them.
What made the achievement all the more remarkable was that Bateman had started the race from the back of the grid. Lincolnshire racer Bateman, a 24-year-old graduate of the Porsche Carrera Cup, had qualified third fastest, with easily the fastest time set by a 458. But a broken damper meant that the Ferrari failed the ride-height test and was forced to start from the rear as a penalty.
Bateman was carving through the field when the safety car appeared on track. An inspired tactical call from Scuderia Vittoria brought the Ferrari in early for Lyons to take over. The 20-year-old from Essex, who has won races in Historic Formula 1 and competed last season in Formula Renault, moved to the front and won the race by 21.6 seconds to cap a dream debut.
Lyons had qualified on pole position for the first race, and had built up a cushion of almost seven seconds when the pitstops began. Unfortunately, Bateman stalled twice as he tried to get going after the driver change, costing the car 35 seconds, but he recovered to take sixth position. Together with the later win, this moves Bateman and Lyons into second place in the championship.
Team director Piers Masarati, who set Scuderia Vittoria up with fellow former racers Danny Buxton and Tom Ferrier, was delighted with the result. “Being realists, we didn’t expect to win first time out against teams that are established and teams with big-money backing. We’re a reasonably small team, but we’ve got the right people here.
“We were fortunate that we signed Mick and Charlie – they’re a good pairing. The car came out of the box well, and so did they. They’re a very closely-matched pair and, although they still have a little bit of work to do, they’re not too far away from the full professionals who are getting paid to do this.
“Anything above a top-five finish I’d have been over the moon with. Expectations were raised after qualifying, but then Charlie’s stall in race one was to be expected for a newcomer to this form of racing. In the second race we got a bit lucky with the safety car, but the boys still had to do the rest of it and they did it very well. And don’t forget, Charlie was only 10 seconds behind when the safety car came out but Mick won by more than double that.”
GT4 PODIUM FINISH FOR SCUDERIA VITTORIA’S GINETTA
Scuderia Vittoria also claimed a first-time-out second place in the GT4 class with its Ginetta G50, driven by two more newcomers to GT racing – David McDonald and Dan Denis.
The qualifying highlight was a class pole position for race two for Surrey man McDonald, another graduate of Formula Renault. West Sussex racer Denis, who has moved up from the Ginetta G50 Cup, claimed second on the grid for race one and the duo converted this to an excellent runner-up spot in the race.
In race two, McDonald was running strongly and was on course for a potential win when he was caught up in an accident at the fast Druids Bend. Two cars collided in front of him, and McDonald had nowhere to go.
Masarati said: “David was in the wrong place at the wrong time – he was very unlucky. In theory, without that unfortunate accident they would now be leading the GT4 championship.
“They’re a good pairing, as they showed in qualifying first and second, but the KTM X-Bow is too quick and the organisers have to do something about the balance of performance. We were worried about the Lotus Evora, but it’s well matched with the Ginetta and it’s the KTM that needs sorting out.
“Even so, David and Dan stand a very good chance in any race on pace, and especially in the longer races they can do very well.”
Scuderia Vittoria’s British GT team will next be in action at Snetterton in Norfolk on May 14/15, but before then the squad’s Renault Clio Cup team races at Thruxton in Hampshire this weekend, on April 30/May 1.
