Gruppe M - Spa 1000 Kilometers
Weekend Review

On paper the bare facts are deceiving. Three difficult practice sessions, with barely a handful of laps completed at anything like racing speed, and then retirement from the race after just 39 laps. It could be interpreted as a disappointing weekend for Kenny Chen and his hard-working GruppeM squad, but standing out like a pair of golden beacons amid the gloom of the Spa fog are the singular achievements of GT2 pole and class leader. They’re hard facts to dismiss, and the rest of the teams in this highly competitive category would do well to take the GruppeM challenge seriously when the LMES arrives in Monza for round two.

GruppeM’s Spa weekend must be placed in the context of an enormously hectic period. As Steve Bunkhall, team manager at GruppeM explained, “We’ve been very busy these past few weeks, getting ready for Monza (FIA GT), so all credit to the guys, especially Adam (Deborre). They’ve worked especially hard to have all three cars ready.”

Obviously the team’s role as official factory representative for Porsche in the FIA GT Championship has meant that fettling the ex-EMKA car for LMES duties had, by necessity, taken back stage until Monza was out of the way. An emphatic one-two in Italy, seventh and eighth overall, proved the value of that commitment, and rest assured, Kenny Chen’s determination to do well in LMES means that it won’t be long before he bounces back, from what was undoubtedly a disappointing result at Spa.

Hidden in amongst that introduction is the fact that the car the team is using in the LMES is none other than the somewhat famous ex-EMKA Porsche, previously campaigned by Tim Sugden and the late Steve O’Rourke. Even though it is being run this season by GruppeM, Sugden himself now owns the car. Over the winter it has been totally rebuilt and upgraded, although the 911’s special, magnesium-casing, gearbox has had to be replaced by an aluminium unit, since the mag-alloy isn’t allowed under ACO regulations. There are other tweaks of course, except the team was understandably reluctant to reveal what they were. Significantly, GruppeM is running Pirelli rubber in the LMES, thanks to an offer from the Italian manufacturer, meaning that the team probably has more experience of the variety of rubber available in GT racing at the moment that almost anyone else. They ran Dunlop to the British GT title last year and have a relationship with Michelin in the FIA GT Championship.

And while we’re on the subject of significant differences, the highly experienced Tim Sugden is back in driving partnership with young Jonathan Cocker in the LMES. The two shared GruppeM’s Porsche in last season’s British GT Season when Cocker, still only eighteen, took the title. While Sugden partners Emmanuel Collard in the FIA GT Championship, Cocker is flying the flag in the 11-round Porsche Infineon Carrera Cup Asia 2005, where he races for Porsche Centre Qingdao of China. He made his debut in the series last season, as a one-off in the support race to the first ever Shanghai Grand Prix, and duly won. At the first round of this year’s championship, staged last month as support to the Malaysian Grand Prix, Cocker had to be satisfied with fifth, behind a guesting Danny Watts and race winner and defending champion, fellow Briton Matthew Marsh.

So, when did the team’s difficulties at Spa first manifest themselves? Right from day one, as it turns out. The GruppeM Porsche managed just six timed laps during Friday’s first free practice session, although 2:29.637 from his only true flyer was still enough to set Tim Sugden third in GT2 – that was a mark of class. “The car just stopped out on the circuit. We had no idea what the problem was at the time, but the lads started looking into it as soon as the car came back to the paddock,” he explained. Unfortunately, despite several hours’ diligent probing, the day’s second session ended in exactly the same way. Part way through the third lap, and just as the car was getting up to speed, the engine cut out, with what appeared to be a similar electrical problem. The car returned to the pits on the end of a tow-rope, for the second time in a day.

Baffled by what could be causing the problem, the team resorted to replacing the entire wiring loom. It was a late night stint for the mechanics, and the lights in GruppeM’s garage were blazing through into the early hours, but it clearly paid dividends. Free practice on Saturday morning saw Jonathan Cocker make most of the running, in a car that behaved impeccably, despite wet conditions, and completed a respectable sixteen laps, the last three with Sugden back at the wheel. That set the stage for a very close-fought qualifying later in the day, but one that saw Tim Sugden take top honours in GT2 with a best of 2:44.242. He was justifiably delighted. “Two pole positions in two races, not bad eh?” he said, that characteristic grin spreading broadly across his features. “I started on wets, like everyone else, and got out early. By the time I arrived at the Bus Stop I realised that I was in amongst a real gaggle of cars. I pulled over for a minute or so and put the car into neutral. That did the trick, and I got a good clear lap — my first decent lap of the weekend.”

That single lap would prove critical, because the on-track situation was changing by the second. If the surface was improving, visibility was not. “I realised immediately that it would be inters by the end of the session,” continued Sugden. “I got on the radio to tell the team that I wanted to come in straight away. I pitted before most of the rest of them, and so got one less flying lap than the others, but I was still on my out lap on the inters when the red flag came out.” The session had been abandoned due to thick fog, especially around Les Combes, where visibility had deteriorated to less than forty yards. “We’d only done two flying laps before then,” pointed out Steve Bunkhall, “but that was good enough to set us up for pole. You can’t ask for much more, can you? It was excellent.”

So GruppeM had bounced back from a disappointing two days of practice to claim pole. Everything suddenly looked very promising, and when Jonathan Cocker ran fourth quickest in Sunday’s fog-bound warm-up, the prospects certainly appeared good. The same could not be said of the weather, and there was the likelihood of starting the race under the safety car. In the end, however, this plan was abandoned for a conventional rolling start, which Cocker would take for GruppeM. Luckily for everyone, there was a general consensus of good behaviour throughout the grid, and the race got under way at mid-day without any serious mishap. Indeed, the first twenty minutes was relatively trouble-free, although Cocker was finding the Porsche’s handling a bit challenging during the first few laps. “I started on inters, and they just took forever to come in,” he explained. Most teams had started on full wets, but scattered through the field was a hardy bunch of about half a dozen drivers with the nerve to take a gamble. In some instances it would pay dividends later, but anyone making the start on inters faced an uphill struggle, and that wasn’t merely Eau Rouge.

By the time the cars reached Les Combes, Jonny had been forced to surrender three positions, with Vergers now leading the class in the In2Racing 911 RSR, followed by the first of the two LNT TVRs, Kirkaldy in the Scuderia Ecosse 360 - and then Cocker fourth. Babini, starting fifth in the GPC Ferrari 360, was tight under his tail and would deny the GruppeM youngster another slot before the lap was completed, followed some while later by the second LNT TVR. This time, and it was some indication of Cocker’s improving situation, the battle was hotly contested over several laps, but finally the TVR found the gap necessary and snicked ahead.

“It was awful,” admitted Cocker afterwards. “There was nothing I could do. I had shedloads of oversteer, and he just got ahead of me. After a few more laps the tyres came in, and they were fine, but I’d lost so much ground by then.” He now appeared able to set a reasonable pace and was running strongly, sixth in class. For the rest of his stint he was even holding off the attentions of one of the GT1 cars, the second Graham Nash Saleen, but that was all about to change when the first major incident of the race occurred at Les Combes. Four cars were involved in a serious-looking accident, and the safety car was rapidly deployed. Misfortune for some occasionally works to the advantage of others, and this was true in Cocker’s case. “The track had started to dry out a little, and there were a couple of stretches where, if I leaned on the tyres at all, they started to overheat. When I came to the next corner, I was faced by massive oversteer once again. It didn’t make it easy!”

The yellow flags and flashing lights would remain in evidence for the best part of forty-five minutes. Several of the other cars headed for the pitlane, and one or two were caught out by the fact that two safety cars were in operation.

Timing was critical if massive amounts of trackspace wasn’t going to be lost by coming back on circuit between trains. GruppeM worked it to perfection. “We brought Jonny in as soon as the track looked ready for slicks,” said Steve Bunkhall. “It was certainly the right decision – the inters were shot!” Tim Sugden leaped into the Porsche and headed back out, catching the slow-moving procession perfectly. Critically, it was the tail end of the same one he’d just left. “In a way, the Safety car played in our favour,” conceded Bunkhall. “Tim was well-placed for the restart.” Indeed he was. From sixth, and without even having to break into a sweat, he was leading the class!

The team’s euphoria was short-lived however. Two laps from the re-start, and Sugden was coasting gently down the pitlane. “The engine suddenly lost power,” he said. “It all happened just after the safety car period came to an end. Maybe the engine cooled down, I don’t know, but it went straight away, as soon as we started using the revs again.” It was a huge disappointment to everyone, of course. “If Tim had been able to double-stint, I can’t believe he wouldn’t have been pulling away. That’s what makes this all the more frustrating,” conceded Jonathan Cocker. Steve Bunkhall admitted there was no indication that anything was wrong, right up to the moment the engine let go. “We couldn’t see anything untoward on the data at all – temperatures and pressures all looked normal, right up to the point that he opened her up again. It’s a great shame.”

Even in situations like these it’s amazing how some people can still find a positive interpretation, and Bunkhall is one of those people who seems able to smile through adversity, although in his case it’s a thankfully rare necessity!

“On the up-side, we’ve had a lot of problems this weekend, so to put the car on pole after so few laps was very encouraging,” he said. “It proves we have the pace.” Sugden readily agreed. “It was all going so well, but at least we’ve proved we’re capable of winning in this championship. There are a lot of very good teams here this weekend, so the competition has been especially fierce. Under those circumstances, it was good to be so competitive.”

The team is back to FIA GT duties next, with five rounds of the championship to come before the next LMES race at Monza in early July. Plenty of time to have the old girl well sorted, and woe betide anyone who underestimates the determination of GruppeM to bounce back from this first-round disappointment.
Marcus Potts