Oli Basey-Fisher says his appetite for a future career in endurance racing has been sharpened after a fantastic class podium finish at Silverstone Grand Prix Circuit on Sunday, 22nd September, during the six-hour Britcar 1000 event.
Making his debut in the discipline at the wheel of a Ginetta G40, the Great Finborough 18-year-old produced an outstanding performance alongside team-mates Chris Webster, James Harrison and Matt Nicoll-Jones to end the encounter second in the P2 class, 16th overall.
Taking over the car from Webster for the second 90-minute stint, Oli helped the team climb into the class top three before the race reached mid-distance. Harrison and Nicoll-Jones then completed the second half of the race in a similarly competitive vein to secure the runner-up spot in the P2 class.
Impressively, the result was achieved against the odds when an administrative error incorrectly placed the team’s Ginetta in P2 rather than the P4 class. With the car originally running a 2.0-litre powerplant producing approximately 220bhp, after a highly unfortunate blow-up in testing a standard 150bhp engine had to be fitted – meaning the car was roughly five seconds per lap slower.
Rather than compete in P4, a class the squad would easily have won having finished the race four laps clear of the eventual P4 winners, Oli’s team had to battle in P2 against significantly faster cars such as SEATs and BMWs.
“I’m really happy with the way my first ever endurance race turned out in the end”, said the Suffolk One College student, “We should have been in class four of the production-based cars, which we would have won, but to still come away with a podium in class P2 after the problems with the engine is fantastic. There was a big difference in lap time between the engines, so the result was impressive.
“It was a phenomenal weekend really, especially considering what we were up against, and it really has given me an appetite for looking at trying to move into GT4 or something like that next year. In the future, I definitely want to look at top level endurance racing but that’s a little way off for now!”
Understandably delighted with his hugely consistent performance in the Britcar 1000, Oli’s attention now turns to the Protyre Motorsport Ginetta GT5 Challenge where he has a tremendous opportunity to win the championship in only his second season of car racing at any level.
The final three races of the season, rounds 19, 20 and 21, will take place at Donington Park Grand Prix Circuit in Leicestershire on 5th/6th October and Oli will go into the event in third position in the championship standings.
Following on from a sensational hat-trick of victories at Brands Hatch GP Circuit in mid-August, the Century Logistics-supported racer climbed to within just three points of the series lead. With over 100 points still up for grabs for any one driver, Oli has a very realistic chance of ending the season as Ginetta GT5 Challenge champion.
