Gruppe M- FIA GT Championship - Istanbul
FIA GT Championship Round 8
Racing For Thinkers - Best Race Of The Year In GT2

The first major race, the F1 GP, at the new circuit saw Istanbul Park hailed as “the world’s best track”, and drivers in Round 8 of the FIA GT Championship were going to be among the first to try it out in “our” type of cars. Designed by Hermann Tilke at a cost reputed to be in excess of £80 million, Turkey’s racetrack is a driver’s dream; challenging yet fast, with changes in elevation, blind apexes, high-speed corners and some of those rare “overtaking zones” that are just too elusive these days. So, it sorts out the men from the boys on track, but it also has character and spectator appeal, as well as some of the best facilities anywhere in motorsport. So what is it really like?

The Track
First of all, you’ve got to remember that this is an anticlockwise circuit. That alone is something of a revelation, since nearly every other track runs the other way round. Overlooking the start straight is a splendid white-fronted pit complex, designed in a characteristic middle-eastern style, with graceful arches, slender pillars, balconies and acres of plate glass.

The roofline is finished off by a series of tented peaks, somewhat reminiscent of a Bedouin encampment, broken here and there by white-bordered red brick buttressing. It’s impressive stuff. Directly opposite is a massive covered grandstand, lending credence to the claims that this track can accommodate 100,000 in comfort come raceday. For last weekend’s FIA GT meeting a gate of 21,000 has been claimed, although these spectators were so lost amongst the vast facilities that television viewers might have considered them less. Whatever the true figure, it was a good turnout for a country where motorsport is a relatively new attraction, and GT racing is a complete novelty. Hopefully November’s LMES race will attract more.

So that’s the pitlane, but what’s the track like to drive? We asked Mike Rockenfeller to talk us through a lap . . .

“From the start line you head down into Turn One. The braking area is over a slight crest, so you can’t really see it, and that makes judging your braking point a bit difficult,” he begins. That first corner is a ninety-degree left-hander. “You shift down to second, and then aim to get early on power for the long uphill right that follows.” It’s a progressive turn that starts quite sharply and then eases off as you move through it. “That’s easy flat,” he continues, “but because you’re going uphill, you don’t see the next corner either. You have to brake at the top of the rise, and the turn-in is not so easy.” It’s another ninety-degree left-hander, but not as acute as Turn One. As you come out of it, you’re straight into a much sharper right at Turn Four. “That’s a third-gear right, so you brake for that, and then there’s a very short straight into a sharp left. You’re down into second gear, but you have to be early on power for the long downhill straight that comes immediately after.” That left is actually a double-apex, at the moment identified as Turns Five and Six, but you can power out of Five, and stay with your foot to the floor as you change up through Six. You’re now one-and-a-half kilometers from the start, but it’s a short blast to the next corner. “At the end of the straight you have to brake hard and downshift quickly to second, and then you’re running steeply up the hill through a sharp right-hander.” This is almost a hairpin, since you’ll end up heading back in the opposite direction to where you started, rising higher all the time. “The next corner is Turn Eight. This is an amazing corner,” says Rockenfeller . . . and just about every other driver who’s ever made a comment on Istanbul Park. It’s the highlight of the driver’s lap, and hugely rewarding when you get it right, but it’s not easy. “It’s a four-time apex left-hander, taken in fourth gear. You arrive just over the crest of the hill, and then increase the throttle all the way through. Then, on the last corner, take the apex and go full on the power, into fifth and flat out down the hill.” Just how many apices there are seems open to some debate, since some drivers claim just three, but the consensus is that Turn Eight is one of the best corners in motor racing. Awesome!

With Turn 8 successfully negotiated, you’ve made it half way round the circuit, and you’re now heading back towards the pits through the fastest part of the track. “The next corner [Turn Nine] is a second gear left-hander, leading quickly into a right kink [Ten] that brings you onto the main straight. It’s important to be early on the power through here, because you need to carry that speed onto the next, much longer straight.” There’s actually a slight right-hand kink, Turn Eleven, in the middle, that the brave take flat. It marks three point five kilometers out of a total of 5.338. “We’re hitting maybe 260 clicks at the end, but then have to brake hard and shift down to second for a tiny left, right, left, that bring you back to the start again.” The pitlane entry heads off left between Turns Thirteen and Fourteen. “It’s very technical, but it’s great fun,” grins Rockenfeller. “I’d just love to try it in a prototype!” Ah, wouldn’t we all, although perhaps his chances of actually doing so are better than most.

Someone else who may yet get his hands on a prototype is Rockenfeller’s team-mate, Marc Lieb. He too found much to enjoy in the new track. “The circuit is truly fantastic,” he enthused. “For a brand new track, it is possibly the best. What Tilke has done here is quite brilliant. As a driver you really have to work to find the right lines – up and down, through the fast corners – but there are still good possibilities to pass, so that’s great. Turn 8 is also my favourite. It’s so challenging. There are four different apexes, but you have to get it right from the very beginning. Get it wrong at the entry and you screw it up all the way.”

Practice & Qualifying
So GruppeM arrived at this track after a busy three weeks, with a round of the LMES at the Nurburgring following straight on from the previous FIA GT meeting in Oschersleben. That had come in the middle of a very hectic period for the squad, but Tim Sugden and Emmanuel Collard picked up their third victory of the season, thanks largely to running lighter than their heavily ballasted team-mates, following a gallant but disappointing fourth at Spa and a non-finish at Brno. By contrast, a win at Spa had been followed by second at Osecherlseben for Mike Rockenfeller and Marc Lieb, narrowing the difference to just 30 kilos by the time they reached Turkey. The two youngsters were confident that their star was back in the ascendancy.

“We were really close in Oschersleben, even though we were carrying 70 kilos more than they were, so with just 30 kilos between us here we think there’s a good chance we can beat them,” said Rockenfeller after qualifying. “Marc and I really like the circuit and we were quickest in the practice. That gave us a good feeling for the qualifying. We knew we were quick, and I managed a good lap time.” Their dominance during Friday’s free practice had been evident, with a time of 1:56.811 being nearly a second ahead of the #88 in the first session, and then 1:55.790 achieving a similar, if slightly reduced margin in the second. Rockenfeller (for it was his “turn” in the #66 to qualify and start) then found a few more tenths in first qualifying on Saturday to clock 1:55.450 to set his mark on class pole, but Emmanuel Collard also found a keener edge, and his best of 1:55.858 suggested that the #88 would be closer in the race than practice might have suggested.

In the afternoon Rocky was quickest once again, but the track was not, leaving that morning time to stand proud as the benchmark for GT2. “At the beginning we were waiting to see what the 88 car would do," said Rockenfeller in the press conference afterwards. “We thought that they would be quicker [than us] because we are 30 kg heavier, but in fact we were first in all the sessions so far this weekend. The car is good, and we are expecting to do a good race.” Emmanuel Collard had another explanation, however: “Our car is oversteering too much, but during the second qualifying session we worked on the race set-up and we found a good compromise. So, we will see for the race - everything is possible.” The ever-improving Ebimotors Porsche of Busnelli and Moccia ended the day just over two seconds adrift to claim third, with Lambertini and Lemeret fourth in the GPC Sport Ferrari 360 Modena.

Race
With only nineteen starters this was one of the poorest grids for an FIA GT race in several years, with the frequency of events (both FIA and LMES) and the logistics of traveling to Turkey being cited by several teams as reason enough for missing out on the trip to Istanbul. Most of those that did make the journey trucked to Italy and then took a three-day ferry trip around Greece from Trieste – the alternative being a much longer and potentially difficult cross-country trek, with stringent customs examinations to contend with along the way. The net result was the decision to shorten the race to just two hours, instead of the usual 500 kilometers or three hours, but to broadcast the race live on Eurosport in compensation. Despite this, teams were still instructed that each car would have to complete two compulsory pitstops, at least one mandatory driver change, and no driver could complete less than 35 minutes at the wheel. This was largely to even out the score between those cars that habitually carried three drivers and the rest with just two, but it did open up the opportunity for some strategic thinking. How strange then, that just one team manager had the brains (and the daring) to try something completely different, and that man was Adam Deborre, running the GruppeM #88 for Tim Sugden and Emmanuel Collard.

The race had a lunchtime schedule, with cars lining up on the grid from just after midday for a 12:40 start. The two-hour time difference caught out a few back home, who forgot perhaps that Turkey is borderline Europe and the circuit is technically in Asia. The two GruppeM Porsches lined up side-by-side on the seventh row; Collard starting the #88, Rockenfeller in the #66. Manu had already received his instructions from Adam Deborre, and there were two parts to the plan. “We’d had a couple of ideas working through our heads,” admitted Adam, “but after warm-up they changed the regulations again, making my initial strategy impossible.” He wasn’t prepared to enlighten us on what that original plan might have been, but he was left with an alternative that was both audacious and cunning. To begin with, Collard was to go all-out at the start and see if he could put Rockenfeller under enough pressure that the German either made a mistake – unlikely, perhaps, considering his track record – or the Frenchman could get in ahead of the #66 and build on something from there. It didn’t happen. Rockenfeller made an excellent start, taking first call on the inside line as they made the run up to Turn One. Although Collard was tight on his tail as they streamed through, it was immediately apparent that the #66 was going to be the faster car, just as it had been in practice and qualifying. As they came through to complete the opening lap, Rockenfeller was already half a second to the good, and as Collard pedaled hard through the second lap, that gap began to grow. It was time for “Plan B”.

“Our first thought, that we might force Rocky into making a mistake on the first lap, hadn’t happened, so we decided to get one of our two stops done and out the way immediately.” At the end of lap two, much to the bemusement of everyone else, Collard dived into the pitlane. If anyone thought the car had a problem, they were quickly disabused of that notion, as Manu leapt athletically from the car and Sugden strapped himself in. With virtually a full tank of fuel, attaching the nozzle was almost a formality, and the tank brimmed once again long before the door was slammed shut for Sugden to depart. In less than sixteen seconds, they’d completed their first driver change and Sugden was back out on track.

A couple of significant factors bear consideration. By completing the driver change at this early stage the track was completely clear of all traffic by the time Sugden emerged from the pitlane. He was quickly up to racing speed and, thanks to a good starting position, only twenty seconds behind the tail-enders at the back of the pack. He was also a good fifty seconds clear of the GT1 leaders, who were coming through to complete lap three. It was perfect positioning for the isolated Yorkshireman, who was then able to run substantially quicker than everyone else in GT2 save Rockenfeller, who was leading the class comfortably but tagged onto the tail of the GT1 runners ahead of him.

By lap six Sugden had caught and passed the last-placed car, the #57 ARC Bratislava Porsche. On the following lap he overtook the Czech National team’s #56 Porsche. Lap eight saw him move ahead of the Proton Competition Porsche, #69, followed next time around by the #86 Ferrari 360 Modena of Lambertini and Lemeret. That left only the Ebimotors Porsche #74 standing between himself and Mike Rockenfeller, suggesting it would only be a matter of time before he had recovered all the positions his early pitstop had cost. “Tim found plenty of clean air, so he’s had a good run to begin with. Considering the pace of the #66 car we’re still looking good, and their first stop will have to be a lot longer while they took on more fuel,” said Deborre. It was lap twelve.

Part of Adam’s strategy had depended on at least one safety car period arising during the first half of the race, so that everyone would be slowed down enough for Sugden to recover not only the places he’d lost to Rockenfeller, but also the time. Although he was now lying third in GT2, the gap between Moccia in the #74, just ahead of Sugden on the track, and Rockenfeller leading GT2, was already a whopping fifty seconds. Even with a pitstop in hand, regaining that much ground was going to be a challenge simply on pace alone. “I had a huge lead,” admitted Rockenfeller. “We were so much quicker than the other car this weekend.” Then, on lap thirteen, misfortune for a Konrad Saleen opened the door for Sugden. The S7 had spun wildly off the track and into the barriers, leaving a trail of debris before coming to rest. Within moments the safety car was deployed, but having been just behind the Saleen when it went off, Rockenfeller had already anticipated its arrival and made straight for the pitlane to hand the #66 on to Marc Lieb.

Like many others who followed suit, this would be the first stop for the #66, but Rockenfeller would be coming back for the final stint, so the timing didn’t matter unduly. With only about 28 minutes of the race completed, and Sugden having completed just 25 of those, he and Collard faced a dilemma. Each driver had to complete a minimum of 35 minutes, and that meant Sugden would have to stay out for at least another ten minutes, but the Saleen looked likely to be cleared in probably half that time. If so, and racing resumed, then the tactical advantage might well swing back in favour of Lieb and Rockenfeller, especially as their stop, made at the very start of the safety car period, had been achieved relatively quickly and with no loss of position whatsoever. In fact, Lieb had got back out on track again just in time to slip into the newly-forming queue immediately in front of Sugden. However, luck, just for once, was smiling on the “older” guys in GruppeM. After a season that has been dogged by misfortune, perhaps they were due a rebate, and they certainly reaped a generous harvest in Istanbul. On this occasion it came courtesy of the recovery vehicle, sent out to assist with removing the Saleen.

The racecar itself had actually been removed to safety reasonably quickly, and the marshals had cleared the track after three or four laps. Unfortunately, no doubt much to the embarrassment of the driver, the tow truck sent out to pull the Konrad Saleen clear had then itself become stuck in the gravel. Instead of the lights going off on the roof of the safety car at the end of lap eighteen, the procession continued for another three more laps. “When Mike pitted the safety car had just come out. We were having problems communicating with Tim over the radio, so we couldn’t tell him to push, although he couldn’t have done much under the yellows anyway,” explained Adam. “That meant the #66 came out just ahead of us on track, but Tim closed to within half a second. Then we struck lucky, because that truck getting stuck meant the safety car stayed out longer.” It was borderline stuff, however, but thankfully the radio was working again. “I called Tim, and I said we needed another 35 seconds. I told him to hold right back until I said go!”

Sugden slowed right down until he was almost crawling. “We’d lost radio communication again, so I had to guess I’d eased back enough. When Adam had told me I had to find those 35 seconds there were just a handful of corners left to go. Under normal circumstances it wouldn’t have been possible. I was holding everybody up!” The GT1 cars immediately behind him were weaving from side to side, growing increasingly impatient as they could see the gap ahead getting larger by the moment, but it did the trick. At the end of lap twenty he steered wide and headed for the pitlane. It was perfect timing. “There was just one more lap to go before the racing started again,” said Adam, smiling with evident satisfaction. Sugden had been fourth in the train behind the leader, and after a quick and trouble-free stop, Emmanuel Collard emerged in good time to catch the tail of the queue. “We didn’t change tyres at all though the race,” said Deborre. “That saved us time.” There may have been a dozen cars between him and Lieb, but the stopwatch showed just thirteen seconds difference. On the very next lap, racing resumed. Sugden had completed his 35 minutes by just forty seconds or so, so it had been a close call, but the ploy appeared to have worked.

With the cork out of the bottle, Lieb was soon up to race pace once again, but Collard wasn’t hanging about either. So soon after the pitstop their relative weights and tyre conditions were the same, and so were their lap times. The #66 eased away at the lead of GT2, but Collard was still in second place and running strongly, weaving through the traffic and comfortable in the knowledge that there was nothing between him and the chequered flag – whereas Lieb would still have to make another pitstop. That came on lap thirty-eight and went without a hitch. Even so, when Rockenfeller came back out into the thick of the pack, Collard was nearly 23 seconds up the road. There was no denying that the #66 was still the faster car, but the difference was a matter of just half a second here and there, perhaps a second through traffic on a poor lap for Collard. A quick glance at the clock suggested twenty more laps to go. It would be very tight.

What could also become tight in those closing minutes would be Collard’s fuel reserves. In effect, the car only made one pitstop for fuel, and Sugden’s handover to Collard had really come far earlier than Deborre had planned. Expecting Collard to push on at full chat for the remainder of the race might well have left the #88 needing a splash and dash at the end, effectively rendering the whole strategy redundant. With twenty minutes to go the Frenchman was told to ease back a little and make the best of what he had left. “It was all a bit hairy,” admitted Adam. “We knew we were going to have to save fuel, so we were running on Map Two, telling Manu not to push and to change up early. We’d also not changed tyres, so he was tending to run a fair bit slower than the other car anyway, although once in a while he showed that he could still find the time when he needed to. Right up until the end he had to take it very easy, but we had track position, ands that was what mattered.”

With no such worries Rockenfeller had the hammer right down. “I was pushing really, really hard!” he said. His best lap of the race, a remarkable 1:55.658, would come just five laps from the end. It sat amid a succession of laps in the low fifty-sixes, and brought Collard within sight, a mere eight seconds ahead and tantalizingly close. Spurred on, Rockenfeller continued to push hard, eating into Collard’s advantage to the tune of three or four seconds each lap. Starting the fifty-eighth they were virtually nose to tail, and with the clock nearing the two-hour mark there might be time enough for one, or possibly two more. If it were two, then Rockenfeller had a chance. If not, then perhaps Collard could hold on. The chequered flag was being unfurled as they swept by to start the lap, but where was the leader? The (GT1) leading car was already half way round the circuit, and once more Lady Luck was going to smile on Collard and Sugden. The Maserati crossed the line to take the flag just two seconds beyond the hour. A fraction quicker and they’d have all had to complete another lap, but as it was Collard came through to record the #88’s fourth win of the season, by just 1.822 seconds. Rockenfeller’s final lap had been a 1:55.856, a full 3.38 seconds faster than Collard’s. It doesn’t take an Einstein to work out what an extra lap might have meant to the result, in GT2 at least.

There was jubilation among the #88’s pit crew, and congratulations all round for Adam Deborre (below), who’d had the foresight and nerve to try something that nobody else had considered.

“From my own point of view, it felt very good,” he admitted. “I was the only person to go out on a limb, and it worked. I was pleased when some people came up to me afterwards and congratulated us on the strategy.” There was grudging respect too from Rockenfeller and Lieb, as well as Steve Bunkhall, chief race engineer on the #66. They all had to concede that some courageous quick thinking from the Aussie had snatched an unlikely win. “We had a good strategy for the finish, but Adam took a gamble,” said ‘Doc’. “If you don’t gamble you don’t win, and he took it with both hands. Good for him!” he added generously. “He needed the safety car, and when it came it went on so long that Tim was able to get his stop in under the yellows and still have enough fuel for the finish. If the safety car had been a lap shorter, or the race a lap or two longer, it would have been a different story. We had the car to win the race, but there you go. Not this time.”

“They tried something different and they were lucky today,” said Rockenfeller. “I am only disappointed because we were so much quicker all weekend. In practice, in qualifying, and throughout the race. Our average was so much better than theirs, but it worked out for them, and that’s racing. It’s OK. The team did a great job on both cars. The only shame is that we really had it in our hands and then we lost it, but what can you do? Of course we want to win, but the cards didn’t play into our hands today, but I’m still happy for the others.” Marc Lieb was equally resigned to the result. “In a two-hour race tactics become very important. You can lose a lot, or win a lot, just on strategy, but if you get behind you can’t do much about it. For endurance racing you need at least three hours, and Tim probably got only eight or nine laps under the green, which is not what you want as a driver. Under a green race, we would have won. We dominated all weekend, and we were quicker every single racing lap. If the safety car had ended earlier, we would have won the race, I think. OK, it didn’t work out for us, but it did for the 88, and so I’m pleased for them. I have to say, though, Doc gave us a really good car. We had no mechanical problems, no bad pitstops, and we had the speed, but maybe that’s the disappointing thing. It’s a bit crazy. Maybe the other guys had bad luck earlier in the season, and that’s racing, long distance racing. We just had a lack of luck today! I am still happy to be second and we still have eight points for the championship.”

“After Spa, in the cool light of day, we realised that we only needed three more second places in these last races,” said Bunkhall. “We had the first of those at Oschersleben, and thought we had a good chance to pull it off here with a win, but we didn’t quite make it. No matter. We only need one more. As for the car, well, it’s always nice to hear Rocky and Mike say they like it, but my thanks go to Karl (Patman) and Paul (Stephens), the No 1 and No 2 mechanics, for making me look good. It was working well here this weekend, but it’s a team effort.”

The final words on the race go to Tim Sugden. “We knew we weren’t quick enough this weekend, for whatever reason, to beat them on sheer pace, so Adam needed to do something a bit special. The strategy was good, even without the safety car we thought we could be in a good position. It gave us a clear track, and if there was a safety car, then we’d be in a really strong position, and that’s what happened. We certainly had our share of good luck today! At the end we were marginal on fuel and tyres, but it made for an exciting finish. In fact, that was probably our best race of the year.”

The result leaves the door ajar once again for the title, albeit narrowly. A win at Istanbul would have sealed the championship for Lieb and Rockenfeller, but a close second still means they need a mere five more points to wrap it up. Another win for the #88 at Zhuhai, and perhaps a non-finish for the #66, and this could still go down to the wire, as unlikely as that seems. “We need the luck to fall our way a few more times,” grinned Adam. “Three more times to be exact! OK, in theory, they’ve just about got the championship wrapped up, which is good for them. They’ve finished every race first or second, and that’s an exceptional record. We’ve had a more normal season, with a few problems along the way, but without those we’d have been a lot closer. We’re equal on victories now, which feels better, and we’ve been faster, on average, but now all we can hope for is three more wins!” By contrast, as Rockenfeller so pointedly assessed, the others need “just five more points from the last three races.” Tough call.
Marcus Potts