GruppeM - FIA GT Championship Round 9
Zhuhai, October 23 2005
1-2-4 And The Drivers' Title Confirmed

Zhuhai in China offered all the ingredients for a perfect weekend for GruppeM. A win for Marc Lieb and Mike Rockenfeller secured the driver’s championship for the German pairing, while a close second for Tim Sugden and Emmanuel Collard reinforced the team’s dominance of GT2 this season.

In many ways the Zhuhai track is the team’s “home” circuit, and on this occasion the normal two-car squad was bolstered by the arrival of the Hong Kong sponsored Noble Group-GruppeM entry of Matthew Marsh and Darryl O’Young. Hundreds of guests and friends had made the crossing to the mainland to support the Le Mans hopefuls, and were not disappointed to see the Porsche, bedecked with the Hong Kong flag, finish a highly creditable fourth. It could so nearly have been a clean sweep of the podium for the GruppeM trio, had not a braking problem for the #68 late in the race hampered their charge, but both O’Young and Marsh were still delighted with the result.

Practice and Qualifying
Everything went to form in Friday practice and qualifying. In many ways, it was a faultless and trouble-free performance from all three sets of drivers, with Lieb and Rockenfeller just having the advantage – most of the time. They were quickest on Friday morning, just edging out their team-mates from top slot in GT2 by nine-tenths. By the afternoon Sugden and Collard had found a bit more pace, and eased clear by less than a tenth, but the two cars have been so evenly matched throughout the year that only ballast has kept them apart. Marsh and O’Young were also mixing it well with the remaining FIA GT regulars, trading times with the likes of the Ebimotors Porsche and GPC Ferrari 360, to stand fifth quickest in each session.

Top speeds in the two qualifying sessions on Saturday were determined as much by air and track temperature as by set-up and traffic. As is so often the case in these hot climates, the morning session offered the better conditions and the quicker times, so it was doubly unfortunate for Sugden and Collard that the #88 chose the morning to ‘throw a slight wobbly’ in the brake department – plus “traffic”. While Marc Lieb was able to set an impressive best of 1:35.462 and lay claim to pole, Tim Sugden could ‘only’ manage 1:36.123. It doesn’t look much on paper, but it must have felt like light years to the Yorkshireman.

By the afternoon the braking issue had been sorted, and with the crew on the #66 believing pole to be secure and concentrating on race set-up, it was an opportunity for Emmanuel Collard (left) to show his Gallic determination by being the only GT2 runner to post an improvement. In that context, with the track much hotter and the car running on old tyres, his time of 1:35.898 was exceptional, and probably suggests that the #88 could have had pole this time around, if only the first period had been trouble-free (and traffic-free). “It was difficult today,” admitted the Frenchman. “The car was understeering a lot. Tim was supposed to set the time but he was stuck in traffic. The good point is that I did our best time with old tyres, after 15 laps, so it is good for the race.” His session had concluded somewhat ignominiously, when the #88 ended the day beached. “I braked too late,” he shrugged, “so I went off the track. With the kind of gravel used on this circuit, you’re stuck there. The car is not damaged and we are confident for tomorrow.” Marc Lieb, confirmed as pole-setter, was delighted. It was his second pole of the season. “The car is great and we are one-two again,” he said. “That is good for the team, since we have a very important race tomorrow, especially for our team owner, Kenny Chen.”

Third up came the Ebimotors Porsche; the team pleased to think they were getting closer to the factory squad race by race, although still nearly a second-and-a-half behind Lieb. The battle for fourth was hotly contested between the GPC Ferrari 360 and the Noble Group Porsche, with the Italian squad finally getting the edge by almost exactly a second. It all promised much for a tightly fought race (of two pairs.

The Race
Sunday’s race got off to a highly eventful start, certainly as far as Tim Sugden and Marc Lieb were concerned. With sights set firmly on wrapping up the championship, Lieb was in no mood for taking risks, and perhaps took the start just a little too conservatively. With everything to gain, Tim Sugden threw caution to the wind when those lights changed, and successfully got the jump on Lieb into the first corner. “That made for an exciting first lap,” grinned Steve Bunkhall. “I think Marc was perhaps being a little too careful, with a lot resting on this race.” Sugden came through to complete the opening lap with a healthy lead, and proceeded to pull away just a little over the next two of three laps, as he kept pace with the GT1 tail-enders around him.

Coming around for the fourth time, the unfortunate T. Sugden was not alone in being caught out by a patch of unmarked oil, and having extended enough of a lead in GT2 to leave clear air behind him, the chasing pack had a good view of what to avoid. Marc Lieb steered through the mélée successfully, but the #88 Porsche was one of several to be pitched into the gravel at Turn Three, including GT1 leaders Bouchut and Lamy. Luckily there was no damage, and Sugden was among the first to be pushed back out onto the track. It was a close call, and the Safety Car was hoving into sight as he scrambled clear, scattering dust and gravel in his wake. He sped off in hot pursuit of the end of the queue, and thought himself fortunate not to have lost a lap. “Tim had been leading by a second and a half when he came across that oil,” groaned Adam Deborre, chief race engineer on the #88. One moment Adam had enjoyed the delight at seeing his car leading, the next feeling despondent with Sugden in the gravel. “That dictated our race, I guess. Tim managed to get back out onto the track again before the safety car came round, so we were lucky not to lose a lap, but the tyres weren’t so good after that. All four had been flat-spotted.” Steve Bunkhall, his opposite number on the #66, was more favourably disposed. “That gave us the breather we needed to get away and build up a fairly good lead.”

In many ways, that single incident determined the outcome of the race. Although Sugden chased with characteristic verve and determination, the deficit was always going to be too much to make up. He did remarkably well, however, and had moved back through the pack to be lying second in GT2 once more after just ten laps, but Lieb was still twenty seconds up the road.

“That gap narrowed to about 12 after the first pitstop,” said DeBorre, “but the pace of the two cars was so equal that we neither gained nor lost. Had we been three seconds up the road still, things might have been very different.”

The first round of pitstops came and went without any obvious change in the relative standings. Mike Rockenfeller and Emmanuel Collard set-to where Lieb and Sugden had left off. It looked as though the only chance for the #88 to make up those lost seconds was to take a risk – and we know how good Adam DeBorre is at doing that! His masterstroke at Istanbul won the race for Collard and Sugden, but could he do it again? His strategy in the end was to try and save time in the second pitstop, by double-stinting the tyres on the #88. The Michelins are renowned for their longevity, and elsewhere this season they’ve done two stints without compromise. Under the intense heat of the Chinese sun, and with plenty of race still to run, how would they cope? Manfully, was the verdict, but not manfully enough. “I think perhaps sixty laps round here on such a hot day was asking bit much from the tyres,” suggested Bunkhall. “We changed ours (on the #66) and I think that gave us a definite edge during the final stages.”

In the end Mike Rockenfeller (right) held on for the win, assuring victory in the 2005 FIA GT Drivers’ Championship for himself and Marc Lieb. Collard crossed the line close, but not close enough.

Meanwhile, the ‘Chinese car’, as the team refers to the #68, had enjoyed a very competitive race, not too far distant from the leading GruppeM cars. A steadily consistent opening stint from Matthew Marsh saw the Porsche not only maintain its starting position, but then move ahead of the GPC Ferrari to take fourth place in GT2. “The big thing was the Michelin tyres,” he said enthusiastically. “They were just fantastic. All the way through the race, they were perfectly consistent. Perhaps there was half a second’s difference from the beginning to the end, maybe a bit more, but being able to run in the 39s nearly all the way was very nice.” What wasn’t so nice was being punted off the track by one of the GT1 cars. “I got whacked by Andrea Piccini in the (GPC Sport Ferrari) 575. They have the 360 in the race too, and we were battling against them in GT2 for much of the race. I lifted and gave him plenty of room to get by, and he got alongside and then drove into the side of me. Either he’s incompetent, which somehow I doubt, or it was deliberate. So maybe I’ll go and have a word with him later! Otherwise, it was a race without drama, for me at least.”

Darryl O’Young made the most of a positive speed differential in the middle stint to ease into third, ahead of the #74 Ebimotors Porsche, driven at that stage by Cristian Passutti. “After I took over from Matthew I caught back up to the Ebimotors car quite quickly and overtook, and then built up a small lead,” said O’Young. “I came into the pits for my last pitstop, and that put me back out again in fourth place. They came in as well a little later, and that gave third back to us.”

It was by far the best performance from the two Hong Kong drivers all season, and opened up the possibility of a clean sweep of the podium for GruppeM. Unfortunately, those wily FIA regulars in the Ebimotors camp clearly had no intention of allowing the newcomers a prize that they’d come to consider their own, after a string of thirds this year, and elected to put Luigi Moccia back into the car for the final half-stint. The image below shows Marc Lieb ahead of the three cars battling for third in class.

It was a clever ploy. “Putting their quick driver back into the car meant they were able to catch up,” said Steve Hagger. “We got caught up in some heavy traffic, and he got through,” added O’Young. “He was then able to extend his lead to eight or ten seconds. It was a bit frustrating, since we’d been equal to them throughout the race until those last few laps, but with the brakes fading we decided to back off a little.”

That braking problem became more acute as the race neared its conclusion. “Darryl suddenly had a spin on the second to last lap, and that put him into the gravel,” said Hagger. “There wasn’t a lot he could do about it. He got back out again and finished P4, and for them to do that in an FIA race is really good. Being a home event, I’m really pleased for them.” O’Young was apologetic, although he’d been little more than a passenger at the time. “I went into the corner and there was nothing there! One of the Maseratis was passing round the outside and I had to throw the car into a spin to avoid hitting him, and that sent me backwards into the gravel. Luckily we had a couple of laps in hand over the next car, so we were OK for fourth at the flag.” Steve Bunkhall gave credit where it was due. “The Ebimotors team has been quick every time, and Matthew and Darryl were having a good tussle with them all weekend. They just got pipped for third at the end. We were looking forward to a GruppeM podium, but it wasn’t to be.”

So it was one-two-four for GruppeM at Zhuhai. Having taken the lead after the oil incident, Lieb (left) and Rockenfeller led all the way to the flag, with Collard and Sugden having to be content to accept second, not only in the race, but also for the title. This made it five wins for Lieb and Rockenfeller in 2005, with the title decided two rounds from the end. "It is a great pleasure to win again and to win this Championship. It was always close with the other GruppeM Car. We have to thank the team as our car was competitive all season long,” said Marc Lieb afterwards. This is the second time Lieb has won the title, having collected the N-GT crown in 2003, co-driving a Freisinger Motorsport Porsche with Stephane Ortelli. At only 21 years of age, Mike Rockenfeller becomes the youngest ever FIA GT Champion. “They have been two very evenly matched cars all though the season,” commented Steve Bunkhall, masterminding the race strategy for the #66. “The luck swung our way this time, although I think we just had the edge anyway. Marc and Mike have secured the championship, which is really good, and from my point of view, they drove consistently and fast all season, so probably deserved it in every way. Carl and Paul (who engineer the #66 for the German pair) did a top job, as always, but let’s not forget that this is a GruppeM team effort and a great achievement for everyone. All the guys have done a super job all year.”

Had the team not had such a disastrous run in the Silverstone round of the LMES in early August, when the squad’s much-loved ex-EMKA Porsche suffered terminal damage to the chassis, GruppeM would now be facing the tough challenge of a race at Istanbul in a couple of weeks, followed swiftly by round ten of the FIA GT Championship in Dubai. That will not now happen, and there was certainly a degree of regret from team members. “It is certainly a shame that we’re not doing the LMES race in Turkey,” said Bunkhall. “We’d have enjoyed going back there again, but it is simply too tight a fit between this race, Istanbul and then getting over to Dubai for the next round of the FIA.” With the loss of the regular entry, Marsh and O’Young have also had to draw stumps on their LMES season, electing instead to make last weekend’s appearance in Zhuhai. “It has been great to have the Chinese car here,” continued Bunkhall. “It’s a pity they will have to miss another appearance in the LMES, but to get a fourth place here on their home ground is some compensation.”

Matthew Marsh was well pleased. “It was obvious from the outset who was going to come first and second,” he said, “but it was never clear until the very end who might finish third. Ultimately, Darryl and I couldn’t go quickly enough against the Italian Porsche. We’re a little disappointed not to be third, of course, but we’re still pleased to have come fourth. That was great for the many guests and friends we had over here from Hong Kong. Having a race like this right on the doorstep has generated a lot of interest in our Le Mans programme. It’s going to be so good for Hong Kong if we get an entry, but it also creates a lot of awareness every time we race. It will be interesting to see how many decide to make the journey to Le Mans next year if we’re racing there.”

The car heads back to Hong Kong now to help with further publicity, before being shipped back to the States at the end of the year. In the meantime, Marsh and O’Young have the final round of the Porsche Carrera Cup Asia to face in Macau. Former GruppeM driver Jonathan Cocker currently leads the championship, but by a mere five points. “Darryl and I will both go there looking for a win, but I think it’s unrealistic to think we can get the title now,” said Marsh.

So, our next GruppeM report will be from Dubai in mid-November.
Marcus Potts