GruppeM – Mondello Park – Saturday May 8th [Official Practice] [Qualifying] [Brief Race Report] [Full Race Report] Official Practice
GruppeM has done a considerable amount of work to the car since Donington. A two-day exclusive test at Pembrey a fortnight ago paid dividends, with the squad making significant improvements in handling and performance. “We found an excellent basic setting during those two days,” confirmed Kenny. “The overall balance in now very good, and we’re in the strong position of being able to fine-tune the car for each circuit relatively quickly. I’m now really looking forward to winning the race!” He smiles broadly, and he could be joking, but he’s actually deadly serious. Since Donington the team has fitted a new damper system. This gives a broader range of adjustments than the previous system, and seems better suited to the characteristics of the car. “It’s not night-and-day different,” insisted Tim Sugden, whose feedback as a driver is invaluable to the team, “but it has made it very much easier for us to establish a set-up for the car. There’s still more to learn and more to do,” he added, “but we’re so much nearer than we were. If you could quantify it, you’d say we still had about 10% to go.”
GruppeM, in common with several other teams at Mondello, has never tested at the Irish track. “Yesterday (Friday) we had just a fifteen- minute session,” said Kenny Chen. “Today is really our first time on the track, and it’s also the first time here for both our drivers as well, so this practice session is very important to us. We’ve already discovered that the key issues here are temperature and grip. The circuit gives less grip, compared to other circuits, so we may try some different tyre compounds. Hopefully we can find some miracle setting!” Early in the session Tim Sugden was black flagged and brought in by the race officials when the car failed the stringent 118 decibel noise limit, as were the two Scuderia Ecosse Ferrari 360s and one of the JWR Porsches. While Sugden visited the Clerk of the Course to help resolve the issue, Jonathan Cocker was strapped into the car and the GruppeM mechanics replaced the exhaust system. By the time Sugden returned to the garage the car was ready for a retest, and Cocker allowed out onto the track. This time the Porsche passed, although such an easy solution was not available to the Scuderia Ecosse team, facing the prospect of major surgery on a brand new exhaust system or withdrawing from the weekend’s racing.
The chequered flag dropped to end the session with the two Scuderia Ecosse Ferraris standing one and two, with the best time of 1:42.316 falling to Kirkaldy. The GruppeM Porsche was showing on the screens as third quickest, with Sugden credited with a best of 1:43.589, but the Yorkshireman had other ideas. “We’re quickest so far,” he insisted, referring to an unofficial lap chart. “I did a 41.8, but the time didn’t register because the red flag came out,” he explained. “In that respect, we’re very pleased, but it’s probably flattering. We don’t believe they’ve been running new tyres either (referring to the Ferraris), and from what we’ve seen there’s a reasonable benefit in new tyres. We’ll have a damn good go at it, but we may just get beaten to pole.” He goes on to explain the quandary over tyre choice, highlighting that soft tyres may give that extra bit of grip in qualifying, but won’t be much use in the race, while a medium compound would improve their chances when it really matters. The same tyres must be used in both qualifying and race. A handful of red flags were scattered throughout the ninety-minutes, but excellent conditions gave most of the fifty-odd drivers a good chance to come to grips with the twisty and challenging Mondello circuit. “It’s like playing a video game that you’re not very good at,” said Tim Sugden. “Any minute now some kid’s going to come along, take the controller away from you and show you how it’s done.” He grins at Jonathan Cocker, although it’s not clear whether this is a deliberate dig at the seventeen-year-old.
The general consensus from several drivers is that Mondello is the type of track that grows on you. The surface is a bit irregular at times, and there are a few dips and hollows that can unsettle a car’s balance, especially on the exit of a bend, but the combination of short straights, progressive curves and tight hairpins makes for good overtaking opportunities and a real challenge to a driver’s skill. “I’m really enjoying it,” insisted Jonathan Cocker. “When I was out there I was the quickest on the track, and I was pleased with that, especially to be a good bit quicker than Nathan (Kinch), and I was on old tyres too. Qualifying is going to be especially important here though. Finding the space will be difficult, with so many cars out there.” Jonny will be completing the first qualifying session, reserved for the “second string” driver in each pairing, and will be qualifying for race one. While on the subject of Jonathan Cocker, there has been some debate in the press of late concerning his plans for the rest of the season, with a press release emerging from the Porsche Carrera Cup office to say he’d be competing there when it didn’t conflict with his BGT duties. Not so, apparently. “No, I’m not doing the Carrera Cup,” he insisted. “The car I raced at Brands Hatch is actually being rented by Richard Westbrook this weekend (at Silverstone, where the Cup is primary support to the BTCC).” Westbrook, who is probably favourite for the title this season, is keen to improve his chances by getting into the latest spec Porsche, and Cocker’s ex is an ’04 car. Jonathan, however, will be concentrating on the British GT this year, and no room for Carrera Cup. The British
GT Championship is also crucial to GruppeM, with Kenny Chen seeing
this as a
staging post on the team’s road towards
international competition. Excursions into the FIA GT Championship
are already planned for the second half of the year, while the
appeal of Le Mans can never be denied. In the meantime, all the
team’s efforts are being used to help GruppeM develop greater
technical understanding and a new range of products. These include
braking and suspension components that have road car applications
as well as advantages in motorsport. “We’re not only
keen on winning races, but also working on new technology to develop
and improve our range,” explained Kenny. “We are able
to offer a range of special products for the road cars, and these
have been developed through our technical and racing partnerships.
All these products can be supplied to our own customers, of course,
but we also supply some of our competitors - if they’re prepared
to pay for it!” Good results in the BGT may see GruppeM products
fitted to other cars on the grid. “We welcome all the challenges – that’s
the fun thing about racing,” says the jovial Chen. “We’re
here to show that we’re top of the league in technology,
as well as being able to win races with our strong line-up.” Perhaps
this weekend may see the fruit of those beliefs. Qualifying
Heading down into the tight right-hander at turn three, Cocker went for the brakes, and initially slowed as normal, but part way into the corner the pedal went soft. The car began to run wide. “One of the rear tyres just caught the grass,” he explained. “If that hadn’t happened, I’d have been fine, but when it touched, the back end spun away.” He ended up backwards into the gravel, but unable to drive out in the knowledge that to do so would merely dig him in deeper. “I was stuck for, like, five minutes,” he shrugs. “There was a guy there where I was stopped, and he just watched me! One guy could have pushed me out, but he waited for others to come and help, and by then it was saying it was hot.” Worried that the engine temperature was rising too high Cocker headed back into the pitlane. The spin had cost Cocker the best part of eight minutes, waiting to be coaxed back onto the black stuff. He then lost a couple more while he sensibly made that brief pitstop to gain assurance that the engine was OK. The engineers also swarmed quickly over the front of the car, checking for damage, but found none. Cocker was waved back out with just five minutes of the session remaining. “When I came back out I had to spend the first lap clearing my tyres, and they weren’t hot enough any more either,” said Cocker afterwards, but for those watching and unaware of his predicament, the next two laps were hugely impressive. His first flyer was a 1:46.031, and from nowhere at all, the #38 Porsche was suddenly thrown in at third quickest. His next lap was better still, with 1:44.329 coming within a gnats whisker of Mike Jordan’s fastest lap. Just one hundredth of a second separated Cocker from pole, and there’s no doubt he’d have made up that difference on his next lap, but that last flyer had also taken the chequered flag and the session was over. “I did the best I could,” he said. “One more lap and I’d have had pole I reckon, by a long way. Still, it’s the front row, so I can’t complain, but I know I could have gone a lot quicker. It’s a bit disappointing.”
With only ten minutes between the two qualifying sessions there was no time for the team to do much at all about the braking issue before Tim Sugden would go out. They checked the easy and obvious, but a disk problem was the ultimate diagnosis, and Sugden would have to qualify as best he could. His best turned out to be pretty good. To begin with it was evident that Sugden was taking it gently, trying to find the new limits set by the car. “There was a bad vibration,” he admitted. “It made the car very difficult to drive, and you couldn’t lean on the brakes at all.” While Tim Mullen was setting times in the low 1:43s, Tim Sugden was cruising round in the mid 1:50s. Half the fifteen-minute session had gone before Kirkaldy in Mullen’s sister Ferrari clocked provisional pole with a time of 1:41.709, followed almost immediately by a best of 1:43.215 from Sugden. It was sufficient to set the GruppeM Porsche second, yet still a second and a half down. Tim followed this with a succession of laps in the forty-threes, but was unable to make an improvement. Recognising that he wasn’t going to be able to better his time, Sugden pulled off into the pitlane just as the chequered flag brought qualifying to an end. Second in both sessions assured GruppeM of two front-row starts, but there was still an air of disappointment in the team’s garage. “We should easily have been on pole,” said GruppeM team principal Kenny Chen. “The tyre compound was not what we wanted, perhaps, but it’s still the front row, although pole would have been very satisfying.” Tim Sugden clarified this comment. “We tried a different tyre compound for qualifying, and it may have been a mistake, but we were thinking about the race. Doing well in qualifying is nice, but it’s the race that matters. Even so, we’re still on the front row for both, and I did that 41.8 this morning, so I know pole was possible, but I still have a feeling of underachievement.” The GruppeM Tech9 dailysportscar Cup category Porsche, #76, driven this weekend by Jonathan Rowland and Adam Sharpe, had a frustrating qualifying. In the first session Adam Sharpe was able to set a best of 1:48.497 to stand fourth in class, but had a driveshaft fail on the 911 GT3 just as the period was coming to an end. The team set to work straight away, but ten minutes between sessions was not enough to complete the repair. Indeed, the car was only ready to run again moments before the second session came to a close, so never even got out onto the track. With no time set by Rowland, the car will start race two from the back of the grid. The GruppM Racing Porsche #38, however, will start from the first
row in both races. The first of those comes up on the schedule
later today. Brief Race
Report A sensational run to overcome a deficit of nearly forty seconds saw Tim Sugden surge through into the lead on the penultimate lap, and then have to complete an extra lap when he crossed the line less than one second shy of the hour. He went on to take the chequered flag almost five seconds clear of Godfrey Jones in the JWR Porsche #44. In the dailysportscar.com Cup class, Adam Sharpe took advantage of a late spin by long-time leader Barry Whight to take a third successive victory for the GruppeM Tech9 dailysportscar.com Cup class Porsche GT3. The race was a tumultuous mix of high drama and, at times, total farce, with a succession of safety car periods altering the whole complexion of the race, and very nearly denying GruppeM a richly deserved win. Jonathan Cocker made an excellent start, and was harrying pole-setter Mike Jordan for the lead from the moment they nosed into the first corner. Despite racing for the same piece of track for much of the first couple of laps the two still managed to eke out a slender advantage over Nathan Kinch in the first of the chasing Ferraris. Two Corvette moments in quick succession then upset the applecart, with the #63 Corvette bursting into flames out of the last corner, trailing oil as it went, and being followed swiftly by the #51, which spun on the oil and beached on the apex at Dunlop Corner. Both incidents warranted the safety car, and this was duly deployed. For the next six laps the field processed behind the course car, but within two laps of the restart Jordan was coasting into the pits with a broken gearbox. With Cocker leading – and pulling away – the team was already viewing the next forty minutes with some optimism. The driver change went smoothly and, with no time penalties, Sugden should have emerged in a comfortable position to take back the lead when the driver changes unravelled. A major accident between the #60 TVR and the #67 Ferrari put paid to that, bringing out the safety car once again. Initially it picked up a lowly-placed Lotus Elise, with Sugden one place back in the queue, but when the Jones twin’s Porsche pitted and then emerged again before the safety car had passed, their #44 Porsche suddenly became the leader. In a bizarre twist, the safety car then started to allow the whole field by in order to collect the leader. It took a while to filter back to Godfrey Jones, now at the wheel, but once he’d taken up his station behind the flashing lights, they went out! With the best part of half a lap’s lead, Jones was gifted a huge advantage. Racing resumed
with Sugden, acknowledged now in second place, almost forty seconds
behind Jones and with only fifteen minutes
remaining. The chase was on, and nothing seems to encourage the
Yorkshireman better than impossible odds. He set off in pursuit,
and cut great chunks out of the leader’s margin. Lap after
lap the advantage dwindled; 39 seconds, 33 seconds, 28, 23. It
was inexorable, and with five minutes to go the gap stood at a
mere four seconds. Catching would be one thing, but passing a Jones – either
of them – is never easy. Sugden knew this, and played the
game wisely. “I went for him round the outside, when he was
least expecting it,” said Sugden. Indeed, he went the long
way round through turn seven and emerged a clear leader. “Epic!
A characteristic Sugden drive!” was the verdict. “I’m
really happy,” declared an evidently delighted Kenny Chen. “When
the car crosses the finishing line to win, you forget everything
that’s gone before; all the hard work and the disappointments.
This is the best – in all the time I’ve been motor
racing, this is the one that really matters.”
Full Race Report GruppeM came through the debacle, much against the odds, with a clean sweep in both classes; outright victory falling to the #38 car after an heroic recovery by Tim Sugden, and a third consecutive class win for the dailysportscar Cup class Porsche GT3 #76, this time co-driven by Jonathan Rowland and Adam Sharpe. Jonathan Cocker, having qualified the #38 on the front row, took the rolling start. Perhaps, with hindsight, the way this panned out was some indication of just how eccentric the race was going to become. As the pack rounded Dunlop, freed by the course car which had peeled off into the pitlane, Mike Jordan slowed down to a crawl. Cocker, on the outside of the bend, found himself edging in front. He tried to ease back, but had a Ferrari tight on his tail. The strange situation then developed that the GruppeM car was heading towards the start line a good two car’s lengths in front of the pole-setter. “I was going really, really slowly,” insisted Cocker, “but he obviously expected me to make a mistake.” The youngster didn’t. In this game of chicken he was a match for the wily Jordan, and as they neared the lights Jordan had to make the first move. Just yards short of the line he floored the throttle, but so did Cocker. They both leaped away like jackrabbits and headed for the first corner side-by-side. “I think I got the jump on him in the end,” suggested Cocker, “but I couldn’t find the space round the outside.”
With Jordan heading Cocker by a nose, the two Porsches lead the rest of the field away towards Turn 3. In what was to become a very physical race, all twenty-six cars jostled through the opening seconds without any significant incidents. Even so, it was exceptionally tight at the front, and Cocker was coming under intense pressure from Kinch in the Scuderia Ecosse Ferrari. Mid-way through the lap, as the two braked at the end of Daly’s Drift for Turn 7, Kinch muscled his way through. There was brief contact, but almost as brief was the Scots’ advantage. As they came through the second part of the complex, Cocker powered back into second. “The Porsche has loads more grunt out of the slow speed corners,” he said, by way of explanation. “He also made a bit of a mistake, I think and I just floored it.” That mistake also cost Kinch another place as Cunningham, in the Embassy Racing Corvette, pounced on the opportunity to snatch third. It was passing glory in every respect, and Kinch had the position back again before the final corner.
Jordan and Cocker crossed the line to complete an eventful opening lap a couple of seconds clear of the recovering Kinch, with Cunningham fourth and Niarchos fifth. The second lap saw no change at the front, but significant developments a little further back. The leaders were well into their third lap by the time the tail enders were rounding Dunlop, and bringing up the rear was the Jensen Racing Corvette. Anchors out for the final corner a brake line must have split, and fluid spilled across the track. Worse still, the fluid spilled onto a hot exhaust and caught fire. The Corvette arrived at the start of the pit straight engulfed in thick white smoke. The marshals were conveniently close, but attempts to quench the spreading flames were reputedly hampered by a combination of too much fuel and a less than effective on-board extinguisher. The net result was a badly barbecued Corvette. The leaders came by and managed to negotiate the spillage and the stationery car, but the #51 Corvette caught the slick and spun clean across the apex of the corner, where it came to rest with its nose perched upon the grass and unable to move. With two cars stuck on the same corner, and a recovery vehicle already despatched for the #63, it was inevitable that the safety car would be deployed, although it took the best part of three more laps before it arrived to pick up Jordan in the lead car. The #51 Corvette was rapidly pushed back into the race, largely by members of its own pitcrew, but it would be some while before the Land Rover was able to tow the stricken #63 to safety. Racing resumed with lap eight, and as before Mike Jordan bunched everyone up through Dunlop before pressing his foot to the floor. Once again, Cocker was his equal, and the GruppeM car followed the JWR Porsche closely for the rest of that lap, before starting to close noticeably as they came through to complete lap nine. “He got away for a short while,” said Cocker, “but then I was catching him again. I’d seen the oil and played safe – I didn’t want a repeat of Donington! – but after the safety car I seemed to keep up with him more easily, and I could start to pressurise him. Coming into turn eight something must have happened, though. I was following closely, and he locked up quite badly at the back. It looked strange, but I saw the opening and came up alongside. Then, on the exit, he slowed right down. I thought I’d passed him fair and square, but I then realised he’d got a problem.” Indeed, Jordan had. The Porsche’s gearbox had given up the ghost, and the erstwhile leader was left to coast slowly to the pitlane and retirement.
With ten laps completed Cocker now lead, but not by much. Kinch was still pushing hard in the Scuderia Ecosse 360, and Neil Cunningham wasn’t far adrift in the #55 Corvette either. Cocker would undoubtedly have kept Kinch at bay with little difficulty, but he’d have been forever checking his mirrors and losing pace. His lucky break was Kinch’s error at turn nine, strangely called “Bike World”, when the Ferrari ran wide over the dirt and lost a good second or more to the GruppeM Porsche. Gifted that extra buffer, Cocker was able to consolidate his lead, but another major incident was just around the corner – that same corner, in fact. The Prosport #69 spun backwards out of Bike World and into the Armco of an emergency gateway. It was a hard impact, and enough to ensure the car wouldn’t move again, but it was well enough out of the way that waved yellows would suffice. At the end of the next lap Jonathan Cocker, followed closely now by Nathan Kinch, dived into the pitlane to make their driver changes. Here was GruppeM’s trump card. While the Kinch/Kirkaldy combo earned a 25 second time penalty for having such a high-ranked pairing, no such delay faced Tim Sugden. Belted in and ready to go, Sugden headed back out onto the track with the best part of a quarter-lap advantage. He would resume in tenth overall. There was a hairy moment for Sugden on his first lap. Heading down into the long left-hander at turn four, one of the yellow DRM Ferraris spun, directly in front of the GM Monaro. The big Aussie V8 jinked to the side, directly into Sugden’s path. Taking two wheels to the grass, Sugden neatly side-stepped the obstruction, and was in front of both cars within a heartbeat.
Neil Cunningham had inherited the lead when Cocker and Kinch pitted and would stay there for several more laps. Sugden was soon up to speed, and was significantly quicker than his next logical rival; Kirkaldy in the Ferrari, largely thanks to finding himself in a clear section of track. He’d picked up two more places when Steve Hyde, driving the Eclipse TVR, came round the exit of Bike World (seemingly the genesis of all significant moments today) carrying more pace, perhaps, than he’d anticipated. The extra turn of speed brought him up onto the tail of Lourenco De Veiga’s DRM Ferrari, and he made to pass up the left hand side, despite the yellows still being shown for the stricken Prosport. The two touched as De Veiga moved left, anticipating the racing line for Dunlop, and both spun off heavily into the adjacent tyre wall. They ended up just a few yards from the Prosport, and three cars in such an exposed position now assured a second safety car period, but this was to be one like no other. Somehow, and even seasoned minds can’t fathom out why, the safety car picked up the Lanzante Lotus and not the leader. For over two laps the situation persisted, much to the bewilderment of those watching and the drivers on the track. Meanwhile, somewhere near the middle of the field, David Jones had pitted in the #44 JWR Porsche and handed over to twin brother Godfrey. He emerged just ahead of the safety car’s next lap, and was able to push on round a clear lap to cross the line for the start of his next lap with the procession still on the previous lap. In effect, Godfrey Jones had suddenly become race leader, and the timing screens said as much, despite the strain on reasoned logic this posed. With a new race leader the safety car, having ignored accepted protocol for three laps, decided to follow the rule book, and proceeded to wave everyone by in some hope of picking up the new leader. The cars started to file by, picking up speed as they went. The tale then became even more twisted, as the green flag was waved from the starting gantry and half the cars on the track started racing again, ignorant of the presence of a safety car with flashing yellow lights on the other side of the track. It was hopelessly confusing, and no less so for those in the midst. A gaggle of cars, Tim Sugden to the fore, headed three and four abreast through the first few corners, only to encounter SC boards and yellow flags in evidence at turn three where they expected more green flags, yet those self same green flags were being waved at turn five. It was as near total chaos as many have seen in years. It took the best part of another lap before unanimity had been restored and a full course yellow was back in effect, although the safety car had only just made contact with the Jones Porsche. No sooner had it done so but the roof lights were extinguished, signalling an imminent return to racing, yet the #44 Porsche was the only car in tow! The rest of the field was desperately trying to play catch-up, but with no hope of doing so.
Godfrey Jones must have praised his luck. Leading the race – from nowhere – and gifted a forty-second lead. By any stretch of the imagination, his was a win in the bag, whether deserved or not. If fate had a sense of humour, it was a cruel jest. Back on the pit wall the rest of the GruppeM team could hardly believe what was happening. “It was absolutely terrible!” proclaimed Jonathan Cocker. “I thought, flippin’ell, what’s going on? I knew we’d done everything right, and here was the race being taken away from us because someone else couldn’t.” Kenny Chen was able to be charitable later, although even he must have been nonplussed by the situation as it actually unfurled. “I didn’t know where they were coming from,” he admitted, referring to the race officials. “The Jones brothers didn’t do anything wrong – it wasn’t their fault.” At least the officials got the green flags right this time, and as Jones crossed the line there was racing right around the track. Meanwhile, back at Biker World, all three stranded cars had not moved an inch. Make of that what you will. When second-placed Tim Sugden finally crossed the line to start his next lap the margin to Jones was 39 seconds, and so began a sensational recovery. Nothing seems to encourage the Yorkshireman better than impossible odds. He set off in pursuit, and cut great chunks out of the Jones’s lead. For lap after lap the advantage dwindled; from that initial 39 seconds to 33, then to 28 and 23. It was inexorable, and by lap 28 the darkly-coloured JWR Porsche was tantalisingly within Sugden’s view as they sped down the longer straights. An error by Jones on the exit of turn four that sent the car skipping wide and over the grass cost a few extra seconds, and with five minutes to go the gap stood at a mere four seconds. “It was amazing,” enthused Kenny Chen. “Over those last few laps he was averaging 1:43, and that wasn’t much slower than he’d done in qualifying. Normally Tim talks on the radio, but he said nothing at all for the last ten minutes, he was concentrating so hard.” An additional factor was thrown into the melting pot at this point, when the dicing duo started to gain on two tailenders; Langford and Wood in the two remaining JWR Porsches. Would Sugden catch Jones before he was able to get in among his team-mates, and if he did, would they complicate the chase? In the end it became an academic consideration, for Sugden was on Jones’ tail in good time to follow him through as they both passed the first of these. Catching Godfrey was one thing, but passing a Jones – either of them – is never easy. Sugden knew this, and played the game wisely and caught him totally unawares by passing him in a place that seemed the most unlikely. “I went for him round the outside, when he was least expecting it,” said Sugden. Indeed, he went the long way round through turn seven and emerged on the other side a clear leader. Throughout this entertaining duel Mullen had been maintaining his advantage over Kirkaldy in the newer of Scuderia Ecosse’s two Ferrari 360s, although an error at turn five nearly cost him dear. More importantly for Sugden, these potential threats were not making inroads on his own pace, and with both Jones and the ABG Motorsport Porsche, lapped but behind him, he had the safety net he needed. Not that he appeared to ease off, although the race might have been a couple of minutes shorter if he had. The official on the gantry had actually unfurled the chequered flag when Tim came through to complete lap 31, but so intent was the Yorkshireman at maintaining his pace to the bitter end that he blasted over the line just one second short of the hour, and so had to complete another full lap. It made no difference, although there were some nervous spectators watching that final tour.
There was equally good news in the dailysportscar.com Cup Class, with another win for the GruppeM Tech9 Porsche 911 GT3. Two victories at Donington had fallen to team manager Phil Hindley, co driving with Jonathan Rowlands. This weekend Rowlands has been sharing the car with Adam Sharpe, but it made no difference to the result. Adam Sharpe, driving the second stint, took advantage of a late spin by long-time leader Barry Whight to make it three in a row for Rowlands, and thereby assure his partner’s lead in the class championship. “I’m really happy,” declared an evidently delighted Kenny Chen as the team gathered round the podium truck to witness the presentations. “Pembrey was worth it after all,” he added, referring to the costly two day test staged at the Welsh track a fortnight ago. “Tim did a truly brilliant job, although I never knew if he’d have done it at all without luck.” Any other spectator watching the race would have been more likely to wonder how, without such bad luck and mismanagement, he’d not been assured an easier win, but there you go. “It’s so rewarding, after all the hard work and everything we’ve done to the car, but then to get the Cup win as well. I don’t know what to say.” The #76 car almost missed the race completely. The team had struggled against the clock to have the car ready for the race after the mechanical problems of morning qualifying, and there had even been a point when the two drivers had contemplated a drink in the bar to drown their sorrows. Fortunately the work was finished just in time, and the car pushed out onto the grid with mere seconds to spare. “When the car crosses the finishing line to win, you forget everything that’s gone before; all the hard work and the disappointments. This is the best – in all the time I’ve been motor racing, this is the one that really matters.”
With Saturday’s race complete the team allowed them some
moments of celebration before knuckling down to thoughts of Sunday’s
round four race. “Tomorrow’s going to be difficult,” declared
Cocker. “We may be starting on pole, but we’ll have
maximum ballast after today’s result, and Kirkaldy in the
Ferrari will have none.” Tim Sugden starts on the front row
this time, and it will be a close-fought battle from the moment
the lights change. Watch this space.
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