Trackspeed – British GT Silverstone – 23 / 24 September 2006
Champions – Who Though?

A two hour race in the Silverstone sunshine completed Trackspeed’s first season of British GT racing – a stunningly successful season that would see either Ryan Hooker or Jonny Lang / Matt Allison crowned as British GT Cup Champions.

But along the way there was intrigue galore, including a Sunday morning twist, and a race full of ups and downs. Phil Keen was Ryan’s partner again, while the third entry was very different for the last race: team manager Piers Masarati had promised “someone interesting” to join Matt Harris in the #9 GT3 Porsche – and that turned out to be himself! Let’s get their story told first – because it’s a fairly straightforward (and very successful) one.

Car #9 – Piers Masarati / Matt Harris

The weather played a significant role in the build-up to Sunday afternoon’s race, not least because Friday’s test session was a wash-out, while Saturday morning’s free practice was delayed because of fog. The track was damp anyway once the session got going, and that left almost everyone heading into qualifying in the afternoon with a less than ideal set-up.

“Understeer,” said Matt Harris, “all three cars have got understeer.”

Matt would get in no more than 15 laps of dry running before the race, which he would start, but was full of praise for the 997 – which he was racing for the first time.

“It’s better than the 996 in lots of little ways, all of which add up to make a better car.”

Times weren’t really relevant in the drying practice session on Saturday morning, and times throughout the 29 car field were misleading. For everyone it would be straight into two 15 minute qualifying sessions after lunch: not really one session for each driver as there was to be only one race – more ‘whoever wants to drive can drive, whenever they like’.

Piers ended up going for the grid-setting time, and that was a 1:27.347, eighth fastest, third in GT3 behind the big Aston Martins.

“I could only do that time on that lap, my times drifted out after that,” said the 2005 Cup Class Champion – clearly revelling in being back behind the wheel again. He’s been in training recently, just in case.

A few tweaks for the warm-up on Sunday morning and the suggestion of understeer had gone away, leaving a relatively long wait until the start of the race, Matt Harris to take the wheel first.

He played this one really sensibly from the off: “The others (his rivals in GT3) were really lighting up their tyres, but I was keeping it smooth.”

The powerful Aston Martins are easily capable of “lighting up their tyres” – but they also use more fuel than the smaller, lighter Porsche, and that would be a significant factor in this race.

Matt was content to follow from the start – and didn’t object when Stanton’s Ascari and Whight’s Lotus briefly demoted him, because “they both ended up in the gravel”.

Keeping it smooth includes keeping it on the track, and as Matt Harris picked up his pace, he “passed both Aston Martins and took the lead”. This was going very well already.

Then the Safety Car appeared. The timing was crucial. Would the GT3 Porsche go through to the end of the race, if Matt stopped now? The decision was made that it would, and especially the way the rest of the race panned out, Matt Harris had no objection at all to pitting after about 40 minutes of the two hour event, at what turned out to be one-third distance.

“I decided to just change the left rear tyre,” explained Piers Masarati afterwards. “That was a bit of a gamble, but it paid off.”

The pit stop under the Safety Car meant that, with a mandatory 90 second halt, but laps taking well over two minutes, Piers was back on track, in the queue, on the same lap as his rivals – but they would all have to stop, probably under green flag racing.

And that’s exactly how it panned out. Ahead of him were the #33 Aston Martin, #18 Lotus and #88 Aston Martin, but Piers had been lapping quicker than them anyway, that fresh tyre helping. #88 had slipped behind Piers, so when the Lotus stopped on lap 34 and the #33 Aston Martin on lap 36, Piers led – by miles.

He was fourth on the road, overall, and when the #45 Ascari made its pit stop, he was third, with just two GT2 cars ahead.

“I looked after the rear tyres, paced myself – and basically just cruised to the end.”

It was as straightforward as that.

“We won, so I didn’t mind getting out during the Safety Car period,” summed up Matt Harris, all smiles. What a great way to finish the season.

But if the team’s GT3 effort turned out to be straightforward, the dramas in the Cup Class were anything but.

Car #3 – Ryan Hooker / Phil Keen

David Ashburn (twice), Danny Watts (at Pau), Damian Faulkner (at Mondello Park), Andreas Demetriou (at Snetterton) – and then Phil Keen at Rockingham, Brands Hatch and Silverstone: those were Ryan Hooker’s partners during a dramatic British GT season.

“I just want to help Ryan win the championship, that seems to be my job this season, helping people win titles,” suggested Phil Keen. That was a reference to helping Sean Edwards win the European GT3 Championship, settled in Italy just last week. Could he do the same for Ryan Hooker?

These two have scored three second places out of four outings: could they grab a win last time out, and grab a title for Ryan too?

With track conditions not helping anyone to find the right set-up, there was an unusual grid for the last race: the two Trackspeed cars lined up fourth (#3) and fifth (#5).

“Understeer, the balance isn’t right,” commented Phil Keen.

But in the race morning warm-up, Phil Keen “did one lap, and it was much better. You can tell whether it’s right, you can feel a car, even in the damp. We’re fully ballasted up (60 kg) for this one. Ryan is going to start.”

So that was the race plan all sorted out – but there was another matter to resolve: an appeal against the result at the second race at Brands Hatch, which was set for Sunday morning at Silverstone. The appeal went in favour of Phil Keen and a penalty applied after that Brands race was removed, which meant that that points were all level going into the last race.

What Ryan didn’t know was that Matt Allison hadn’t been invited to speak at the appeal, so he put in a counter appeal. Ryan would receive a nasty shock on the podium.

So the position was, at the moment, that Ryan Hooker and Jonny Lang / Matt Allison were all square on points, and whoever came home ahead of the other car at Silverstone would be the GTC Champion.

“I made a good start,” begins Ryan, “and Jonny had a good one too. I think he had to avoid someone else, and dropped back on the first lap.

“I settled in to a nice comfortable pace, but I couldn’t get past the #12 Ferrari, which Phil Burton was driving faster than ever before. That allowed Jonny to creep up on me, and he certainly had more grip in the complex. He got past me, but it was a long race ahead, and I decided to follow him, and let him do all the hard work.

“And then the safety car came out. My first thought was that it was too early to pit, that we wouldn’t have enough fuel to get through to the end. Jamie called us both in together, and with Jonny ahead of me, I had to wait while he was refuelled first. I just had to sit there, waiting – but it was definitely the right call, and with a 90 second stop under the rules, there was no rush. The #4 changed all four tyres, but I said ‘just refuel and go’."

Piers Masarati, maybe on information overload (?), had the call just right.

“And then I had to watch the rest of the race unfold. Phil found that he had a gearbox problem – and he slid off as he tried to get a gear. I think it was trying to get two gears at once. Then the #5 received a stop and go penalty: I think that one was for pit lane speeding.

“Phil was struggling with the gearbox, so we were talking him through it on the radio: he was using all his experience to keep it going. Meanwhile, I was texting my family out on the circuit, telling them what was happening – and generally pacing around, feeling very nervous, whittling the time away.

“And then the #5 got another stop and go. Phil was out ahead, and I think Matt must have cooked his tyres. He was caught for second by the RPM Porsche, and they finished third. So we’d won it, hadn’t we?

“That’s what I thought as I made my way to the podium, and it was only there that I found out that they’d appealed on a technicality. That put a bit of a flat one on it…. so it will go to the MSA. I find it hard to see the MSA overturning the decision of four officials, but for now, we’ll have to wait and see.”

Car #5 - Jonny Lang / Matt Allison

The problems with the sequential gearbox in #3 vindicated the decision of Jonny Lang and Matt Allison to go with an H-pattern gearbox for the last race.

“Up until the last race at Brands Hatch, we were leading the championship quite comfortably,” explained Jonny Lang. He and Matt Allison had had a great run of finishes in the middle of the season, which included wins at four consecutive meetings: at Pau, Mondello Park, Snetterton and Rockingham.

“It’s been a great dog-fight,” suggested Matt Allison (right), on race morning.

“To win a championship, you need a bit of luck. Whatever happens, I’ve loved my first year of GT racing. I definitely see it as my future. I love the cars, I like the team side of things. It’s been the first year for both of us, and we’ve had a great season.”

Matt was less sure that the set-up of the #5 car was spot-on than Phil Keen, but from the early going, Jonny Lang demonstrated that it was just about perfect.

“Maybe the championship will be decided on how well we’ve adjusted our cars for the race?” suggested Matt Allison.

Certainly early on, based on that explanation, the #5 looked like the favourite.

“One of the Lotuses spun,” began Jonny Lang, on his opening stint. “That lost me some ground, but I caught back up, Ryan seemed to be having trouble getting past the blue and white Ferrari, but I got past both of them. Then the safety car came out.”

And that’s where the race started to unravel. Poor Matt Allison, who initially took advantage of a gearbox problem for Phil Keen, was called in for a pit lane speeding penalty. The gearbox problem and the stop and go effectively cancelled each other out – but there was more bad news. Matt had fired up the #5’s flat six a fraction before the car was down off its jacks. After a long delay, the officials called him in for another stop and go, and that was that. Phil Keen was out of reach, and despite giving it everything, Matt was doomed to come home third.

The only chance he and Jonny Lang have of securing the title will be if their appeal (of the appeal) is upheld.

It’s been an extraordinarily successful Trackspeed season, with a drivers’ title and a teams’ title this season, plus 12 Cup Class pole positions and six victories.

Matt Harris ended his season on a high with the GT3 win, while for Ryan Hooker, Jonny Lang and Matt Allison – well, we’ll just have to wait and see.