Trackspeed – FIA GT3 Silverstone

Having dominated British GTs in 2006 (in the GTC Class), David Ashburn now turned Trackspeed’s attention to doing a similar job in FIA GT3 for 2007. With the team owner himself being unavailable for the meeting due to prior commitments (although he was present on the Saturday), the driver line-up had a very different look to that of the previous year, and only two of those driving at Silverstone had raced with the team before. But the sextet brought with them a great deal of racing talent and experience; qualities that would be needed on what would turn out to be a very challenging weekend.

Car #4 – James Pickford / Ryan Hooker
With the 2006 British GT title having been cruelly snatched from his grasp long after the season had ended, Ryan Hooker returned to the team and looked forward to better fortune in 2007. Alongside him for the Silverstone races would be Porsche Carrera Cup driver James Pickford (right).

But the new season began in very trying circumstances for the Essex driver, as he completely missed the first practice session on the Friday due to bureaucracy; “The FIA scrutineers were very hard and wouldn’t let anything past them – there were quite a few drivers in there with me – and I didn’t have the correct sticker on my crash helmet. That took 50 minutes to sort out and I missed the first session as a result; never mind, I needed a new helmet anyway.”

This was a significant incident for Hooker as it meant that he would have a maximum of 30 minutes in the car before Saturday’s qualifying session.

As Hooker queued, Pickford got down to the business of setting the car up and managed a best time of 1:55.950 in the fourteen laps he completed; eleventh fastest time of the first session and only one tenth off the fastest Porsche time.

The second session saw both drivers take part, and a best time of 1:56.848, although Ryan Hooker was unable to find a clear lap and was still getting settled in.

The timetable for FIA GT3 was a brutal one, with the two free practice session of Friday being followed by qualifying and race one on Saturday (with a gap of less than four hours) and race two on Sunday. So no warm-up and no further opportunity to set the car up.

Ryan Hooker was the first to qualify, but the lack of seat-time held him back and he finished 24th of the 41 runners after a best time of 1:57.215; “I found 2.8 seconds on my Friday best, but the time in the car and the traffic (40 other cars on track at the same time makes for a busy circuit) meant that I couldn’t go quicker. The Porsche doesn’t have ABS like a lot of the others and it was a case of braking later and trusting the cars around me.

“I was really up against it; 25 minutes on Friday and then straight into qualifying. My best lap was my last one, and we’re really in the thick of it for the race.”

After a gap of ten minutes, it was James Pickford’s turn to qualify; and this time everything went right for the #4 Porsche as the former BTCC driver found that elusive clear lap and banged in a 1:53.215 – good enough to qualify an excellent seventh and a full second ahead of the next Porsche, that of 2006 race-winner Phil Keen.

Pickford’s qualifying time was exactly four seconds faster than Hooker’s and illustrated perfectly the difficulties that the latter had encountered so far this weekend.

Just under four hours later, Ryan Hooker found himself sitting on the grid and awaiting the start of the race. But as the ‘minutes to go’ boards counted down the last few to the start, they were suddenly replaced by a ‘start delayed’ board. The #34 Ferrari had been demoted to the back of the grid after a ride-height infringement during qualifying, but having lodged an appeal was allowed to start the race from its qualifying position of 16th. As a result, all the cars behind the Ferrari were now out of place and each had to be pushed across the track by marshals. This took 15 minutes to sort out and conditions inside the Porsche were getting uncomfortable in the warm weather.

But eventually the pace car set off and we would soon have a race, although Ryan Hooker’s account of the start is not what you normally hear from a racing driver; describing it as; “peaceful – I just stayed out of trouble.”

His aim was to give the car to James Pickford in the best condition possible and had settled in to a private battle with the Damax Ascari of Howard Spooner; first losing a place to the #29, but then closing back up to the white car.

But another Damax car had a coming together with a Gallardo in the complex on lap seven and the safety car was scrambled. The clean up would take a long time, and the pit window opened while the safety car was still circulating. Hooker pitted along with all but two of the surviving field. When Pickford returned to the track, he found himself in an amazing eighth place.

Alas, it soon became clear that the stop had been too good and the car had been released prematurely. A stop / go penalty was issued for the car and the driver took it on lap 15, demoting the Porsche to 25th.

But James Pickford’s only reaction was to put his foot down and reclaim lost territory. He dropped the car’s pace into the 1:56s and only let it rise above 1:57 once in his remaining eleven laps. This consistency allowed him to make up places on almost every lap, and on lap 25 he caught and passed Alex Buncombe in the #5 Trackspeed car; in the process claiming 13th place and the top Porsche position.

“Other than a fuel surge problem shortly after I joined in, the car was fantastic,” said James afterwards. “We had stunning pace and would have finished in the top six without the penalty; we just can’t match the aero of the Lambos and the 430s.

“But we’re there, though; top Porsche!”

For the second race, Pickford would be starting nearer to the front and hopes were high for a good result. The expected rain had not materialised, so conditions would be similar to Saturday’s, if a little cooler.

Things started well for the #4, with Pickford making up a place on the first lap at the expense of Jurgen von Gartzen’s Corvette. But almost immediately, it became apparent that things weren’t right with the car; a misfire and a sticking throttle combining to make the driver’s job very difficult. The previous day’s times would prove to be out of reach and the car started to slip back down the placings. When Pickford pitted on lap 13, the car was in 12th place.

Another good stop by the team meant that the car gained a few places when Ryan Hooker rejoined, but with the same issues affecting the handling of the car it would be an immense struggle for the driver.

Somehow, Ryan Hooker managed to stay at a consistent pace throughout his stint and he brought the car home in a highly commendable tenth place, with James Pickford describing it as “a bloody amazing job by Ryan.”

Car #5 - Richard Williams / Alex Buncombe
In the first two rounds of the British GT Championship at Oulton Park, Richard Williams had demonstrated just why he will be racing in the Super Cup this year, and hinted at what we were likely to see in the FIA GT3 series. On that occasion, the Porsche ace had partnered David Ashburn, but now he had former Maserati Trofeo race-winner Alex Buncombe alongside him.

Both free practice sessions saw Richard Williams having a private battle with James Pickford to see who would set the fastest Trackspeed times, with Williams winning round one by a tenth of a second and only losing out in round two by a couple of hundredths. Unfortunately for the spectators (or perhaps fortunately for the team) these two drivers would not be racing against each other this weekend.

Despite his lack of experience in a Porsche, Buncombe was settling in impressively quickly and qualifying would illustrate this perfectly.

Williams was the driver for the first of the two sessions and posted a best of 1:54.321, just over a second off pole and good enough for seventh on the grid. The time was also a full second faster than the next Porsche, the #1 Tech 9 Porsche of Tom Ferrier; a driver who can in no way be considered a slouch.

When Buncombe tried his hand at qualifying, a final starting position of 20th suggested that his lack of experience was showing. But a closer look at the times revealed something else; namely that his fastest time was just a tenth of a second slower than Williams’ had been, and only two tenths slower than Phil Keen. This was very impressive indeed.

If anything, Buncombe’s starting position highlighted more just what a mountain the Porsche entrants were having to climb this weekend.

Later that afternoon, Richard Williams’ start in the first race was nothing short of sensational; “Most of the others were asleep, so I took advantage while they sorted themselves out,” was his modest explanation of how he went from seventh to second in just over a lap.

But as those other cars – Lamborghini Gallardos, Ferrari 430s, Aston Martin DBRS9s and Ford GTs – did get their act together, even Williams was unable to stay on the pace being set. He held out until lap four before beginning to slip back.

By the time of the safety car period, the #5 Porsche was holding station in a healthy sixth place and Buncombe took over at the stop just ahead of James Pickford in the #4. He lost that position to Pickford and the #19 Riverside Corvette on the next lap, but regained one place when the #4 Porsche took its stop / go penalty.

But just as Buncombe was finding a consistent pace, disaster struck as he was tagged into a spin, losing him a dozen seconds and several places. The rest of the race involved the young driver pressing on as best as he could, and he only yielded top Porsche honours to Pickford with three laps remaining; finally finishing in 15th place.

Having gained valuable experience on the Saturday, Buncombe was ready for the second race on Sunday afternoon. This time he would be taking the rolling start and would be surrounded by an awful lot of horsepower. But he wasn’t phased in the least and quickly settled in to a very respectable pace, just a few tenths off James Pickford’s times and quick enough to catch and demote Adrian Willmott’s #29 Damax Ascari.

When he pitted on lap 14, he was effectively in 16th position.

Richard Williams now began an excellent stint. He caught and passed Ryan Hooker in the #4 sister car before latching on to the coat-tails of Toni Seiler’s BMS Aston. Although not quite able to catch the Swiss driver, he was in an excellent position to challenge the #25 BMS Aston of Clement Mateu when Seiler caught and passed him. Williams was past the DBRS9 on lap 27.

The Porsche was now in the points, but Williams wasn’t finished yet. David Tuchbant’s #11 Gallardo was now ahead and Williams was faster. The gap came down rapidly, and with just seconds left on the clock, seventh place changed hands.

“It’s been a fantastic weekend and that was a great race,” beamed Williams afterwards. “All credit to SRO; GT3 is a fantastic success.

“The car wasn’t perfect and we had to fight a lot in order to go fast; we weren’t fast enough to fight for the first position, but we did what we could. We have to work in order to improve our performances, but in Bucharest it could allbe different. We’ll work hard to come back on top and we’re looking forward to getting the upgrade kit ahead of Monza.”

Car #6 – Chris Hyman / Paul Warren
The third of the trio of Trackspeed 997s could (perhaps uncharitably) be described as ‘the rookie car’, being piloted as it was by a pair of Porsche virgins.

Chris Hyman and Paul Warren are, like David Ashburn, successful businessmen (Hyman CEO of Serco PLC and Warren a property developer) who enjoy their racing. But several seasons each of Formula Palmer Audi (racing against Ryan Hooker, amongst other GT graduates) shows that both men are very serious about their racing, too.

With the Trackspeed deal having come together only a few days before the Silverstone meeting, this was very much a case of being thrown in at the deep end for the two drivers.

“I had a Porsche Carrera Cup race about a year ago, and a track day in a Porsche last week, but other than that all my experience is with FPA,” explained Warren.

“The biggest challenge is getting used to the weight and dynamics of the Porsche; very different to the single seater. So our main priority for the weekend is to get to know the car better and finish the races.”

In the circumstances, free practice was going to be exactly that and the two drivers took advantage of the time available to get acquainted with the car rather than looking for fast times.

It was a similar story in both of the qualifying sessions, with Warren qualifying 38th for round one and Hyman 39th for round two. But while the times weren’t setting the world alight, the two drivers were (like the #5 pairing) separated by just a tenth of a second; something that augured well for later in the season.

Considering his lack of Porsche experience, Paul Warren’s first race was notable for his remarkably consistent pace, with his second to seventh laps all being within half a second of each other. Unfortunately, the safety car period denied him the opportunity to continue that consistency and he pitted along with the rest of the pack.

Chris Hyman spent most of his stint hot on the heels of Freddy Kremer’s Ferrari 430, and did everything but pass him; finally running out of time and coming home 28th.

Having achieved their first objective, the two drivers set out to repeat the feat on Sunday.

This time, they had a more prominent role in proceedings as Chris Hyman stayed out while the majority of the field pitted and at one point leading the two sister cars on track as they ran 17th, 18th and 19th mid-race.

But when Hyman did pit, an infringement was spotted by the officials and the dreaded stop / go penalty was signalled. However, Paul Warren failed to notice the signal and eventually a black flag was shown to the car. He immediately responded to this and pitted, being perhaps fortunate to incur no further penalty.

Despite this second stop, Warren brought the car home in 23rd place and would undoubtedly have been higher still but for the penalty.

While the Porsche 997 was clearly at a major disadvantage at Silverstone, the Trackspeed team could take heart from the fact that they had achieved a 100% finishing record (a feat matched only by the two Aston Martin teams), taken top Porsche for both races, and come away with some championship points. Not only that, and to the relief of the mechanics, barely any damage had been suffered on any car, thus making the pre-Bucharest preparations a lot easier. Just five days later, the trucks would be setting off for Romania, and battle will be joined once more on the new street circuit.