GruppeM – Thruxton – August 29th – [Free Practice] [Qualifying]
Practice & Qualifying Report

If it’s Thruxton, then it’s rounds thirteen and fourteen of the 2004 British GT Championship. It’s also crunch time for GruppeM Racing, with Jonathan Cocker needing just a brace of good results this weekend to secure the title – either that, or Andrew Kirkaldy and Nathan Kinch need to have a disastrous Bank Holiday in the Scuderia Ecosse Ferrari #35. The first signs, after Sunday’s Free Practice session, suggested that it was going to be far closer than ‘those in the know’ had suggested. Informed opinion had singled out the Hampshire track as the one venue most likely to favour the Ferrari 360, even more so than Silverstone last time out. On that occasion the weather contrived to negate the Ferrari’s inherent fast-track advantage, giving Cocker and team-mate Tim Sugden a valuable second place, followed by another win. The forecast for Thruxton was equally unsettled, but the dry practice session showed that, even when the conditions were favourable, the GruppeM Racing Porsche GT3 RSR was never going to be far behind the Italian thoroughbreds.

Free Practice
With GruppeM having missed Friday’s testing session, Tim Sugden occupied the driver’s seat for the majority of the seventy-five minute period, starting at 10:45. Although technically an ‘untimed’ session, the screens were still keeping tabs on the track action and it was only a matter of moments before Sugden was topping the charts. His early times also turned out to be among his best, and he was rapidly knocking on the door of one-fifteens for the 2.36 mile circuit. It took Andrew Kirkaldy a little longer to match the Yorkshireman, and GruppeM had the satisfaction of seeing its car fastest overall for quite some while before the Ferrari finally got up to speed, posting a low one-fourteen. This wasn’t qualifying, of course, so Sugden was in and out of the pits on a regular basis as the team worked hard to find that elusive tweak that would ultimately benefit the Porsche’s set-up. His best, when it came, was a 1:14.778, and was within a second of Kirkaldy’s.

The Scot in the Ferrari hadn’t yet finished, however, and soon after Sugden handed over to Jonathan Cocker the #35 car came through with an unbeatable 1:12.507, followed soon afterwards by Tim Mullen’s improvement in the #34 of 1:14.499 – enough to secure second fastest. Finally, in the dying minutes, the Balfe Motorsport Mosler #42 clocked 1:14.719, a few hundredths quicker than Tim Sugden, to move third. A light smattering of rain suggested that times were unlikely to get any quicker, and many teams were using the final minutes to scrub in wet-weather tyres anyway, just in case.

Jonathan Cocker rounded off the session by continuing the team’s work on set-up. He was using well-worn old tyres and, in his own analysis, “trying a few more tweaks.” Thruxton is actually a track he knows better than some, although his memories carry mixed emotions. “My first ever proper drive in a Porsche was here, in the wet, in a car I’d never really driven before, and straight from T-Cars,” he explained. “That was quite an experience! I also did the first rounds of the Porsche Carrera Cup GB here earlier this year, but that ended up being a total nightmare. We had damper compression problems, and the car was excluded for a ride-height infringement.” The Porsche was subsequently sorted out, and has since been in regular employment as the car of choice for title contender Richard Westbrook, who stands five points shy of the championship lead. Clearly the dampers are working fine now!

As the chequered flag was being unfurled to signify the end of the practice session, Cocker was just coming through the Club Chicane. He swept across the line to begin another flyer, just missing a clear sighting of the flag as he sped by. He pushed on regardless, but saw the signal next time round – or did he? “You’ve got to go and see the Clerk of the Course,” he was told as he climbed out of the cockpit. “You passed the chequered flag three times.” Three times? The youngster, eighteen on Thursday, couldn’t believe it, but trudged up the pitlane to race Control just the same, prepared to face the wrath of the stewards. He didn’t see the gaggle of photographers gathered outside until he emerged once more, to be ushered onto the nearby podium and presented with a bottle of champagne by the SRO officials. “Many happy returns!” In truth, Jonathan had indeed passed the flag, but only twice, yet it had been the perfect excuse for a set-up.

Being eighteen won’t make a lot of difference to Jonathan Cocker, save that he can now buy bottles of champagne as well as win them. He is still one of the youngest racing drivers in the world, and his entries in the FIA history books will probably stand for many years to come. He may well have opportunity to add another achievement to his CV when he heads east in a few weeks’ time to compete in the Porsche support race for the Shanghai Grand Prix. “Porsche invited Kenny [Chen, owner of GruppeM Racing] to have one of his drivers in the VIP car for Shanghai, and it’s just grown from there,” confirmed Cocker. “It should be pretty exciting, racing so far from home and in a Formula One support race.” For the China Grand Prix the Porsche feature will come from the Porsche Carrera Cup Asia, not the usual Supercup, so Cocker will be up against the cream of drivers from the Far East. We’ll let you know how he fares.

Qualifying
An afternoon of heavy showers and low-lying cloud had been broken by periods of bright sunshine, and there was no clear indication of what conditions the GT teams would face as they prepared for the two back-to-back qualifying sessions. The cars had been called to the collecting area half an hour before the start and all arrived with slick tyres fitted, as befitted the prevailing conditions. By five to four, however, those conditions had changed. The darkening skies heralded a light drizzle, which intensified steadily until it became a serious downpour. These were the worst conditions of the day, and prompted a flurry of activity as engineers and mechanics, who had been taking up their positions in the pitlane, scurried back to their cars to fit wets – if they were lucky enough to have them. A handful elected to wait until they could drive round the circuit and into the pitlane, including Jonathan Cocker in the GruppeM Porsche. The team’s gas bottles for the jacks were down at the bottom end and, as Steve Bunkhall, chief engineer pointed out, “in those conditions, coming in to change the tyres in the pitlane was no real disadvantage.”

About ten minutes of the fifteen remained by the time Cocker headed round to complete his out-lap. Nigel Taylor in the Balfe Motorsport Mosler #42 had already topped the times with a first flying 1:25.065, followed by Mike Jordan on 1:27.766. Cocker’s first was a tentative 1:45.554, working to get some heat into the tyres, but each successive lap was getting quicker. With his third he posted 1:27.099 to leap into third, between Jordan and Niarchos, but he hadn’t finished yet. Gathering pace all the time, his fourth flyer was a 1:25.715, ousting Jordan from the front row, and then his fifth was a 1:24.065 to lay claim to provisional pole. Unfortunately, before the team had even had time to tell Cocker of his achievement, Nigel Taylor, five seconds behind the GruppeM Porsche on the track, swept through on 1:23.522 to snatch it back. No sooner had the spray settled from their passing than the chequered flag was waved to end the session, so it would be this last lap and no more.

Cocker was on one last flyer, and the telemetry suggested he’d be back on pole once more by the end of this lap, but it was not to be. “I got mega-blocked on my last lap,” he shrugged. “I was over a second up and then I got stuck behind one of the yellow Ferraris. I’d have had pole, for sure. Instead I missed out by half a second.” If Cocker couldn’t improve, Ricky Cole in the Xero Corvette could, and his final fling was a 1:24.313 to tuck in just behind Cocker. Significantly the GruppeM Porsche’s nearest championship rival, Nathan Kinch in the #35 Scuderia Ecosse Ferrari, had struggled to master the conditions and could do no better than eighth. Jonathan Cocker was delighted, and highly complimentary of the performance of the Porsche. “We were able to go so much quicker than nearly everyone else,” he said. “It meant it was difficult to find a clear lap, although once you’d passed someone, you were gone, but I couldn’t believe just how slow some people were going!”

A break of just five minutes separated the first qualifying session from the next, and with the cars no longer kicking up the spray it was evident that the rain had stopped, even if the track remained wet. Tim Sugden was one of the last drivers to take to the track, looking for some space perhaps, but also trying to establish a clearer understanding of what the conditions were like.

Andrew Kirkaldy, replacing Nathan Kinch at the wheel of the #35, was the first to show, and his opening gambit was a 1:23.590. That matched Taylor’s best from the first session, but would be bettered by half a second with his next. Sugden’s first flyer, at 1:25.44, placed him fourth, and reinforced the fact that times were going to be much quicker in this second session; not just due to improving conditions but also because these were the more experienced drivers from each squad. His second full flyer, at 1:23.176, was good enough for second – but that wasn’t good enough for Sugden. Convinced that a change of tyres was the way to go, and with just seven minutes remaining, he headed into the pitlane.

Rebooted with intermediates, Sugden headed back out onto the damp but drying track. He was not alone. A very select few had followed his example, including Shaun Balfe in the #42 Mosler. While Kirkaldy threw down a 1:21.709 to enhance his grasp on pole, Tim Mullen set 1:22.745 to demote Sugden to third. Then, while Sugden was still warming his fresh tyres, Le Bas managed 1:23.161 in the Xero Corvette to snatch third from Sugden. Would the Yorkshireman have enough time left to make good his faith in the intermediates? His first true flyer on the new tyres was a 1:21.832, but it was only enough for second, still behind Kirkaldy.

Time was running out, but Sugden’s never one to waste an opportunity. He blasted through the chicane to end his last lap before the flag to post a stunning time of 1:20.912, almost eight tenths clear of Kirkaldy. The change of tyres half-way through the session has worked, and he’d ousted the Ferrari from pole, but could he hold on to it though? Peter Le Bas had just moved into third ahead of Mullen, and Shaun Balfe, also on Intermediates, was on a flyer. Sugden’s final lap was no improvement, but Balfe’s was. His 1.21.395 from the Mosler couldn’t beat Sugden, but it was good enough for second. The Scuderia Ecosse Ferraris, still on full wets, have missed out on the chance of a front-row start. It could be a critical error.

“That was good, wannit?!” announced a delighted Tim Sugden, smiling broadly. Crediting Dunlop for the way their tyres had performed, he continued: “It was amazing how much grip there was out there. It’s a pity I never got a clear lap to make use of it!” Tim had been forced to make room for himself wherever he could find it, and had repeatedly taken to the kerbs in his efforts to get ahead of other cars. “There were some very slow people out there,” he suggested. “Most of them tested here for two hours on Friday in the wet, so it makes you wonder what they learned.”

Kenny Chen is always delighted when his team ends up top of the result sheet, and admitted at Silverstone last time out that he finds anything else a disappointment. Today he had reason to smile. “I feel good,” he declared. “I was only saying this morning that we’ve not had a pole so far this year, and now Tim goes and gets one. I’m delighted. Jonny also did very well, and was unlucky not to get pole in the first session. The rain came at just the right time for us. Now I’m just hoping for a wet race tomorrow.” The organisers and the Bank Holiday crowds might not agree with him, but you can see where he’s coming from. The rain helped GruppeM to a one-two at Silverstone, and their first pole here today. Could it help Jonathan Cocker to his first major title?