A battling final stint ultimately helped Tim Bridgman seal second place in the penultimate round of the Avon Tyres British GT Championship at Donington Park on Sunday even though he was left slightly disappointed to miss out on a second victory of the year.
Although he and Trackspeed team-mate Gregor Fisken had seen their title chances end at the previous round through mechanical failure, the pair returned to the rostrum in Leicestershire following a polished performance, tinged with bad luck, during the three-hour enduro into dusk.
Having set the pace in practice Bridgman was frustrated not to produce a cleaner qualifying lap even though his best effort was still only 0.040 seconds shy of pole. Happily Fisken, behind the wheel for the opening stint, made his customary fast getaway to leap-frog from third to second.
With the initial wet surface giving way to a dry a line, Bridgman switched to slick tyres at the team’s first scheduled stop and almost immediately inherited the lead when the Aston Martin ahead spun away its advantage. The Englishman made no such error in the changing conditions to open up a sizeable advantage at the head of the field before taking advantage of a Safety Car period by pitting early.
Fisken returned to the circuit still out front but was powerless to prevent his lead from disappearing while stuck behind a hobbled GT4 Aston Martin as the chasing MTECH Ferrari made up ground.
What had initially cost valuable time then almost became a race-ending incident at the restart when the backmarker swerved suddenly into the pits just as Fisken was sizing up a pass. Forced to brake hard in avoidance, the Scot was powerless to prevent Duncan Cameron from breezing into the lead while the race remained under Safety Car conditions.
By the time Bridgman climbed back aboard an alternative strategy had helped the Scuderia Vittoria Ferrari also move ahead. Now third, Bridgman pushed hard over the final 40 minutes – setting fastest lap in the process – to remain glued to the MTECH 458’s bumper all-but certain that it would pick up a post-race penalty.
And despite a late Safety Car period again seeing Bridgman compromised by GT4 machinery, he was able to take the chequered flag just six seconds behind the winner.
Sure enough, word soon came through that Cameron’s pass on Fisken had indeed warranted a time penalty which promoted the Trackspeed pairing to second place, albeit by just 0.046 seconds.
Tim Bridgman: “I’m delighted with the podium but can’t deny my frustration with all the little elements that conspired against us throughout the race. The car was great this weekend, especially in the changing conditions, which allowed me to open up a decent gap during my first stint. That it was negated behind a Safety Car isn’t the problem – that’s endurance racing – it was the way in which Gregor, who was fantastic in those tricky early conditions, was held up by the stricken Aston Martin during the caution period, which helped others catch up, that really cost us.
“We know the Ferrari 458 is a faster package in the dry over a stint but on sheer one-lap pace we were right there, as proven by the fastest lap. I was pretty certain the MTECH car would be penalised so it was just a case of sticking with him and picking up the pieces post-race. It was a great result that sets us up nicely for the final round.”
Silverstone plays host to the British GT Championship finale on October 8/9.
