but don’t get to sip the champagne

Triple Eight Race Engineering put on an impressive showing in the second round of the 2014 Avon Tyres British GT Championship at Rockingham Motor Speedway (5 May), firmly getting its second year in the top national GT series underway with four spirited drives.This was the first weekend in British GT where both drivers best times would be combined, placing a bigger emphasis on the performances of both drivers. Luke Hines and Derek Johnston qualified an impressive fifth, while Joe Osborne and Lee Mowle had to settle for twelfth following some decidedly Sunday driving from their rivals.Bank Holiday Monday brought spring sunshine and a big audience to the Corby circuit, teeing up a mouth-watering afternoon of GT action. Following the usual chaos at the Deene hairpin on the opening lap which saw five of the top ten over shoot the corner and take to the grass, both Z4 GT3s emerged unscathed from the mayhem although the #8 car did make contact with Jody Firth’s Trackspeed Porsche in what was seen by Lee as a racing incident.At the end of the first lap, the Triple Eight pair were sitting pretty with Derek now third and Lee sitting ninth. Lap two saw Derek pass the United Autosports Audi R8 LMS for second and impressively post the fastest lap of the first half of the race, a blistering 1:25.918.Lee in the #8 BMW gained when the PGF Kinfaun Aston Martin went off at Deene on lap 15, moving up to eighth, but both drivers looked like they would advance further, Lee delivering again, firstly when the United Autosports Audi went into the pits, and once more on the road when he got past talented Omani racer, Ahmad Al Harthy.Thirty laps in and a safety car was deployed briefly to pick up a stranded GT4 car, this bunched up the pack considerably, eradicating Derek’s considerable lead over the third placed FF Corse Ferrari 458. On the restart Derek kept his nerve and a composed drive ensured he would pit from second place, just half a second off the race leader.With both mandatory pit stops complete and another safety car period complete, the pair of Triple Eight-run BMWs looked likely to trouble the podium, however an unfortunate racing incident between Luke and Joe saw the BRDC Super Star take evasive action to avoid serious contact, sensibly opting for a brief moment on the grass instead.Luke continued to hassle the Ferrari 458 of Richard Lyons to the flag, eventually finishing fourth as the pair crossed the line. After a quick visit to the pit lane to clear grass from the air intakes, Joe resumed in ninth place, and battled maturely with the AF Corse Ferrari 458 of Aaron Scott and the Aston Martin of newcomers Horsepower Racing, to hold that position until the end of the race.Several hours after the race finished, Triple Eight received a mix bag of news from the Race Director. While the #888 Z4 had been promoted to third following the demotion of Lyons’ Ferrari for an infringement in the race, the #8 had ten seconds added to it’s race time following the opening lap incident with Firth; relegating Joe and Lee to eleventh and just outside the points paying positions.As a further bonus to Derek’s weekend, he was awarded the Blancpain Gentleman Driver of the Weekend trophy, a super-size replica Blancpain wall-clock for his efforts throughout Sunday and Monday. Luke and Derek now sit third in the drivers’ standings with 38.5 points.Next up is the one that all drivers want to win, the three-hour marathon of speed at the home of British motor racing, Silverstone (31 May/1 June). With the grid predicted to swell further and a good crowd guaranteed, the third round of the 2014 season also marks the home race for the Greatworth-based team.Television coverage of the eventful Rockingham race will go live this weekend on Channel 4 at approximately 7am, with further showing on BT Sport and Motors TV across Europe. Please check your listings for specific times.QuotesLee Mowle, Driver #8“Rockingham is my bogey circuit. Last year I got hit at turn three, so I was hoping this year to stay out of trouble for the first two or three laps. Unfortunately half the top ten carried too much speed in to turn 2 with four or five I think having to take to the grass. Jody Firth and I made contact as we both were left going for the same piece of track; my car was fine the impact was not significant. Whilst the Safety Car helped close the gap to the top three it didn’t really help me close in on sixth as I was stuck behind the GT4 Porsche and unable to overtake before the line, so I lost ground at the restart. Overall I was happy, it was a good first race of the season for me, the car ran great throughout, and I did what I had hoped; hand the car over to Joe, it’s his favourite circuit, with a sniff of a podium which I did. It’s unfortunate he didn’t ultimately get to take it to Lyons or Sims.”Joe Osborne, Driver #8“We had a really good car today. I had a really good scrap with Sims (Alexander) and we got past three cars in the process, and next up was Luke. I spent three or four laps behind him, but when I went to make a move I must of been in his blind spot. We had a little touch; I soon realised I’d picked up gravel and grass, and that was my race run. I continued and tried to eek out the best result possible, but couldn’t get beyond ninth. I think Lee did everything we could’ve asked of him. It was good to see him deliver a performance like that in his first race of the year, especially after Oulton; it was a big crash and it’s amazing he’s come back so strong, so soon.”

Derek Johnston, Driver #888“It was a super race, and my stint felt like it was split into three. The first third I was definitely quicker than Marco, but I didn’t push him too hard, as I knew he had a 20 second success penalty. The middle stint went more his way, and the final third I think I edged. It was a shame we didn’t get to actually go on the podium, that’s the second race on the trot, but we’ll take the points and hopefully it’ll be third time lucky at Silverstone.”Luke Hines, Driver #888“I was good in sector two and three, put Lyons had sector one every time. It was cat and mouse. I worked hard to catch-up and he just drove away again. I could see he was pushing hard too, and you could see we both were trying to manage our tyres and then we’d go for it. Derek did a great job, another top drive. It was unfortunate with Joe; everyone was bunched up and Joe was keen to pass me, but as a driver when you lose one place, the others get you. I race to move forwards not back. We got good points today and hopefull