Four podiums for Team JWR
The Jordan Warnock Racing Team claimed no less than four podium finishes during rounds five and six of the British GT Championship at Snetterton over the weekend (5/6 June). Although gearbox problems cost Mike Jordan and Mark Sumpter any chance of overall victory at the Norfolk track, David Jones/Godfrey Jones and Peter Chambers/Graeme Langford both claimed double podiums to keep the team at the head of the action.The John Guest Porsche 911 GT3RS of Jordan/Sumpter encountered a handling problem on Saturday morning during free practice. With no time left to test the car they made a judgment at the suspension set-up for race one in the afternoon. It proved to be a good call and as the field stormed into the opening race, Jordan found that he had a good balance. He duly moved into second place, following the Ferrari 360 of race leader Nathan Kinch.However, just six laps later Jordan's run came to an end after a gear selector broke, leaving the car stuck in second gear. He had no choice but to tour into the pits, their race over before Sumpter even got into the car.“We had a general handling problem this morning and just couldn’t get to the bottom of it, so we guessed at the set-up and found that the car was lovely when the race started. I was quite content to sit behind Nathan for a few laps and see how everything went. Then I went for third and found I couldn’t get out of second,” said a disappointed Jordan.“We had the same part fail at Enna in the FIA Championship last year and Porsche built some stronger ones, but this is one of them. We've had to strip the spare gearbox down and take that piece off and fit it to the current gearbox as the ratios are better. Hopefully that will solve the problem."Things looked good as Sumpter started the second race, but another gearbox problem quickly developed. The Porsche lost fifth gear completely, meaning a shift from fourth to sixth on the long Snetterton straights. This left the car down on speed and effectively out of contention for a podium finish.However, Mark raced as hard as he could despite the handicap to keep the car in contention and when Mike took over at the pit-stop they were in with a chance of catching the Jones' 911GT3RS for third place. But Jordan knew that fourth was their likely result. “I was trying so hard but was never going to be able to get past Godfrey as he just had that extra power on the straight that I couldn't overcome,” added Jordan. A strong weekend for the Jones brothers netted third place in both races.In the JWR GT Cup class cars, Langford and Chambers were in contention for victory in race one on Saturday. However, a drive-through penalty for a pit infringement cost them time. But a great drive in the closing laps from Langford took them into second place for the first time this season. His recovery drive earned Langford the Sunoco Fuels Driver of the Meeting Award.On Sunday, Chambers was leading the class with a handful of laps to go. However, Jonathan Rowland in the Tech 9 Porsche was closing in and a fantastic three-lap battle for the Cup Class kept the crowd on the edge of its seat.Unfortunately, Chambers had to relinquish the lead with just three laps to go, but it had undoubtedly been their best weekend of the season to date. “We’ve had a really good weekend,” said Chambers. “The second race was great, Jonathan’s car is really good, but then the team did win the championship last season so it should be. But, we’re getting there. We went side by side for three laps and kept everything clean, not many drivers would manage that,” he said.Langford was equally delighted with their weekend. “JWR has done such a brilliant job this weekend, the car has been fantastic,” sad Langford. “It’s been a great weekend for us and hopefully we can carry on this form for the rest of the season,” he added.The fourth JWR Porsche of Stuart Scott and Steve Wood came home fifth in Saturday’s hour-long race and picked up seventh in race two on Sunday. Some spectacular overtaking by Wood in race two was negated when a spin dropped them down the order early in the race.The team will be back in action in the next pair of races at Castle Combe (Wiltshire) on 19/20 June.