WITHOUT BAD LUCK, THERE WOULD BE NO LUCK!
After a short break in the calendar Essex-based professional racing driver Michael Lyons was back in action in his Ferrari 458 GT3 in the Avon Tyres British GT Championship at Spa Francorchamps with team Scuderia Vittoria.
The 20-year-old was taking part in round five and six of the British Championship for Scuderia Vittoria in the Ferrari GT3 458 and both Michael and his team were looking forward to this away event, which was two, 1 hour races.
Uniquely these two rounds brought together the British and Dutch GT championship series as well as the debut of the McLaren GT car.
This made for a very challenging race due to the presence of 55 cars on the grid, the majority of which were slower GT4 cars.
Practice and qualifying bought opportunities to work around the set up for the challenge of tackling Spa and bring out the best in the Ferrari. This worked well for Lyons as in his qualifying session for race 1 (his team mate would qualify for race 2,) he qualified on Championship pole.
As race one got under way, Lyons made a solid start and was circulating in 3rd place. He then made a fantastic move on the number one Trackspeed Porsche and set about chasing down the new McLaren for the lead. As he got to Stavelot on lap 4 - a 140mph corner - a rear tow link broke spinning him towards the barriers. Fortunately Lyons managed to rescue the car and limp back to the pits for repair. The race though was over and no good result was salvageable.
Race two gave an opportunity to set the record straight and go for a win and in doing so replicating the win that he took in the first round of the year at Oulton Park.
Taking over from his teammate at half distance, it immediately clear that there was a set up problem, which was causing the tyres to degrade at a far higher rate than normal. Only through skill was Lyons able to nurse the car around the circuit and achieve a finish in 9th place.
On examination of the car afterwards, it was evident that a mistake in set up had been made. The tyres had been worn down to their metal structure below the rubber. This meant that lap times were up to 20 seconds slower than he had been earlier in the race.
After the race Michael said;
“After qualifying it looked like we were back on track and looking good for a potential win in race 1, and a solid result in race 2.”
“In race 1 though, I started - and after a good start, it was all shaping up nicely and I was managing my tyres to keep them in good shape for my team mate when he jumped in at the half way point, but unfortunately a tow link broke throwing me off track at a really high speed. I was lucky to keep it out of the wall.”
“Race 2 didn’t go much better and after a set up problem destroyed the tyres we only managed to finish 9th.”
“Today was just one of those days, and as hard as it is to accept, that is just how motor sport is sometimes. Even though the results weren’t there, there are still some positives to take from this weekend; such as getting back to the front in qualifying and racing hard.”
“We now have to look at the rest of the year, and hope for some luck, and try and win as many of the remaining races as possible.”
Team principal Piers Maserati commented “Today was disappointing, Race one was looking good until we had a parts failure which put us out of the lead and eventually out of the race. In race two we clearly had a serious issue with the dampers and Michael did an excellent job to bring the car home in one piece in the points”.
The British GT championship now moves into a summer break before resuming at Rockingham Circuit on September 4th. Michael will take advantage of this, by racing in the Silverstone Classic in the Formula 1 class where he will be on of the leading contenders.
