British GT Championship – Snetterton - GTO Class Race Report
Double Top For #33

After arctic conditions at Snetterton for qualifying on Saturday there was bright sunshine to greet a large bank holiday crowd for Round 2 of the British GT Championship, the Snetterton Two Hours. This would be the longest race ever in the British Championship - an event that would bring true endurance racing to the series for the very first time.

15 cars took the start, with Tom Herridge and Shane Lynch populating the front row. But the front end of the grid was missing the presence of the second Mosler MT900R, the #33 Balfe Motorsport car having failed the airbox test after setting third fastest time yesterday: it was lined up at the the back. The round one winner would have to get by 14 cars if Derbyshire and Balfe were to win again.

With a cold breeze now beginning to sweep in again the field tracked round for the rolling start, Tom Herridge controlling the pace and keeping a weather eye on Lynch, the Irishman now making a name for himself for his demon starts.

When the lights went green it was Herridge who had the hammer down first, the Rollcentre Racing Mosler’s big V8 hurling it towards Riches and leaving Lynch to tuck in behind. In third spot Steven Brady had made an astonishing start in the #20 Master Motorsport Ultima and was chasing the leading duo hard. After this team’s woes at Donington, a good run here would be a real boost.

First time round and the order was Mosler, TVR, Ultima, with Shane Lynch right on the bootlid, (or rather engine cover!) of the Mosler, with Brady not far behind. The real threat to the leaders was back in seventh spot, where Jamie Derbyshire had already scythed through the ‘Cup’ class runners and was now bearing down on the GTO ‘pack’, after a wonderful first lap.

He hadn’t finished yet, of course. In a clinical display, he picked off the GTO cars ahead, the #50 Corvette and the refettled (and very rapid) #21 Marcos Mantis of Glenn Eagling Motorsport being first to be put to the Mosler sword. Graeme Mundy in the #23 Race Sports Salisbury TVR was the next victim, the Mosler ducking inside at Riches before bearing down on third placed Steven Brady - three mid-engined V8s in the top four.

Brady wasn’t going to give away a hard fought third slot easily though: the Ultima is a very quick and nimble little beast and through the slower corners appeared to have an edge over the bigger car. But on pace there was no contest, as Derbyshire was on the tail of the Ultima on the start / finish straight, took a peek up the inside into Riches and then out-dragged Brady into Sear. Third, back to its original grid position. More was still to come, and with a gap to the leading duo to close, Derbyshire really push on and was immediately into the 1:09s, pulling a two second gap over Brady and bearing down rapidly on the orange TVR ahead. Oh and by the way this was just lap seven!

Graeme Mundy had been busy too, hauling back time from Steven Brady and grabbing fourth slot, but Brady was not to be outdone and next time around reclaimed the place. An interesting battle was developing here, with these two being hauled in by the very rapid Dan Eagling in the Marcos Mantis GTO: he would soon be mixing it with the TVR . We had the #50 Xero Racing Corvette not too far behind either and the #7 CMS Girl Power Viper back in tenth slot, as Annie Templeton settled in for a long stint.

Shane Lynch was giving Tom Herridge no peace at all, less than a second behind the leader and trying very hard indeed to close the gap. Traffic at the tricky Russell complex would allow Herridge a little breathing space and Derbyshire closed up on the TVR more rapidly still. Lap 13 and the Mosler was right with him and by the following lap Lynch was having to defend his place with some vigour into Riches.

But soon enough the power advantage of the Mosler would tell and next time through it was a 1-2 for Blue #22 and Red #33. Jamie Derbyshire was lapping very consistently in the 1:09s and at the 18 minute mark was right on the tail of the leader, from the back of the grid! He still wasn’t finished: lap 19 and a great move up the inside into Russell saw him snatch the lead and then pull clear with a 1:09.264.

Lynch was trying all he could to hang onto the leaders, but was struggling with an ignition switch that kept popping out. On lap 19 it finally caught him out, cutting power and leaving him momentarily without power steering: the TVR took to the grass, no damage but losing more ground to the leaders. Worse was to come for #69, because the air intake of the TVR was blocked with grass and the engine temperature began to rise. At 26 minutes, Team Manager John Griffiths called Lynch in for a quick clean up job, but with no radio, possibly as a result of the same problem that had caused the original ‘off’, they were unable to remind Shane of the pit lane speed limit. A somewhat spirited exit from the stop was noted by the pit lane stewards and an inevitable 10 second stop go penalty board greeted Lynch next time around. The chase for the lead was over for Eclipse.

Lynch’s first stop had allowed Brady to grab third. As the TVR pitted again, with 2002 team mate Ben McLoughlin halfway up the pitlane making unmistakable “Slow Down!!” gestures, both Graeme Mundy and Dan Eagling powered by too.

The Mosler battle at the front was looking a little one-sided. Derbyshire was pulling away steadily as Herridge behind seemed to be struggling through Russell on every lap. Was #22 in trouble?

#33 certainly wasn’t. As Shane Lynch rejoined after taking the stop-go penalty, Derbyshire was right behind the TVR. With just 30 minutes gone, resistance was futile and Lynch let the leader by. The 1, 2, 3 at the half hour mark was Derbyshire, Herridge, Brady - the Ultima still pounding around, and Steven was now ducking into the 1:09s…..but did the sound of the odd missed gearchange herald a growing problem?

Activity in the Rollcentre Racing pit this early seemed to indicate that Herridge was in some difficulties, and the appearance of a spare wheel on pitlane seemed to confirm it. No stop yet though. With 75 minutes still to go, Derbyshire was consistently in the 1:09s, 13 seconds up on the (struggling a little) Rollcentre Mosler.

First of the frontrunners to make its scheduled pit stop was Graeme Mundy, a steady stint in the chasing pack and now handing over to Richard Stanton. The #23 car was listed with a three man squad but would regular pilot John Hartshorne drive today?

Ricky Cole was growing in confidence in the #50 Xero Racing Corvette, his lap times improving and the early race battle with the rapid Cup Class Porsches saw them slip behind him. Annie Templeton too was settling in nicely, consistent 1:13s were the order of the day for the #7 Viper, marking more progress for the team in a measured approach to the season. A quick and harmless spin on lap 47 would be the only punctuation in an otherwise very steady run – continued with similar aplomb by Amanda Stretton.

Tom Herridge was next to pit, and as Martin Short clambered aboard an unreal calm descended on the squad - the team were unable to perform any work other than fuelling or a driver change during the statutory two minute stop. At two minutes and a nanosecond though there was frantic activity, the left front tyre was changed and Short roared back out, now two laps down but with Derbyshire still to stop. The news from the pit confirmed the suspicion that Herridge had been struggling with a problem. The front left tyre had been softening and understeer was making the Mosler a big handful.

Shane Lynch hadn’t given up: he was closing up on the Eagling Marcos ahead but was himself being reeled in by Richard Stanton, the world’s most experienced TVR Tuscan R driver (he has raced all of the T400Rs so far in existence). Stanton’s lap times were very impressive indeed at this stage.

Bad news though for the Ultima, it went missing from second place and the news filtered back that it was indeed the gearbox that had cried “Enough”. Aaron Scott will have to wait once more for his debut in the car, but must be mightily encouraged by the pace the blue GTR showed for almost an hour.

At the halfway point the leader rumbled down pit road, tyres were laid out by the Balfe Motorsport team and again the eerie calm of a two minute fuel and driver change descended. But this time, no frantic activity. Shaun Balfe roared back out without a tyre change. Martin Short had grabbed back the two lap deficit and was lapping very rapidly, but he must have been dismayed to see the red Mosler emerge as he passed to unlap himself the second time. With under an hour of the race to run he would have to pull back almost a full lap on an almost identical car driven by a quick driver. That tyre problem had cost them dearly.

With the other leading runners now all stopping too, the order began to unwind into a true story of the race.

Balfe led Short by over a minute, with the two TVRs well behind in third and fourth, Stanton leading Piers Johnson in the #69 Eclipse car. Next up was the #21 Marcos, still running strongly and now driven by Tom Shrimpton, inheriting Simon Pullan’s mantle as the youngest ever starter of a British GT Championship race. With Peter Le Bas now in sixth place in the #50 Xero Corvette and Amanda Stretton back in ninth in the #7 CMS Viper there were chases still going on. An hour is a long time in GT racing!

Martin Short was clearly determined to see what he could do to reduce the 66 second gap to Shaun Balfe. A fascinating duel, with fastest lap times swopped back and forth between the two Moslers. Short was chipping away at the lead but only in tenths: he would have to do better or hope for a problem for #33 if any real headway could be made

The two hour format was ideally suited to the Moslers: the 75 minute Donington race had seen the big V8s having to conserve fuel but the necessity of a mid-race fuel stop effectively turned the Snetterton format into a double sprint race, and sprint they most certainly did!

The TVR battle meanwhile looked like going Richard Stanton’s way, the sight of John Hartshorne walking away from the pitlane seemed to confirm that he would not be driving today, so it was a straight battle between Stanton and Johnson. With the Eclipse car suffering with growing understeer and Stanton’s lap times improving all the time as the T400R responded well as the fuel load lightened, it looked as if it would be the #23 car’s day.

The battle for fifth place was beginning to hot up too, Tom Shrimpton was clearly struggling in the Marcos, the big V8 seemingly down on power and Peter Le Bas was reeling him in rapidly.

With 30 minutes to go, the appearance of the #21 Marcos coasting through Coram marked the end of that battle. A good comeback for Glenn Eagling Motorsport (after the disasters at Donington) was over, and the bright yellow Corvette, headlamps blazing, was up to fifth place.

The Marcos wasn’t the only car with a problem. Richard Stanton’s pace has dropped dramatically in the third placed #23 TVR. 1:09s had suddenly become 1:17 then 1:13. Johnson saw his chance and piled on the pressure. Stanton responded and the pace increased again but with 20 minutes to go the vibration that Stanton had detected finally told and something let go. “I’m not sure whether it was the diff. or the drive shaft,” he said straight afterwards. Either way the effect was the same, the TVR lost drive and pulled over to the side of the track, out of the race. Piers Johnson swept through into third place and Peter Le Bas would inherit fourth in the Corvette.

Up in the commentary booth, Rob Barff very wryly noted that “sadly Richard hasn’t parked the car in a dangerous enough position to warrant a safety car”.

That was the story of the latter part of the race. Only the appearance of the SEAT safety car or a problem for Shaun Balfe would have affected the final result. A typically gritty drive by Short would not be enough. He was certainly trying very hard indeed, the MT900R registering an astonishing 147 mph through the speed traps, but Balfe was firmly in control. He was cruising to the win, with Short pushing on and reducing the deficit purely for pride.

At the flag, after 101 laps of the circuit – could this race become the Snetterton 100 asked Dunlop’s Jock Simpson? – it was a win by 35 seconds by Driver of the Day Jamie Derbyshire and Shaun Balfe, two out of two for Red #22

Balfe was fullsome in his praise for his team mate. “He drove a brilliant first stint and gave the car back to me in fantastic shape, that won the race for us today.”

Jamie Derbyshire himself was modest: “We knew we could do it if we didn’t hit problems. Everything worked, the traffic didn’t cause us any problems and the fact that we didn’t have to change a tyre gave us a very handy edge.”

Martin Short’s face showed signs that he had been trying very hard. He was disappointed but realistic: “The tyre change cost us the chance to win the race. I think we had the pace to catch them otherwise, but they ran very well indeed.”

Tom Herridge too was disappointed: “The soft tyre made the car a real handful but Jamie drove really well, very consistently: we’ll be back for another go at them next time though.”

Piers Johnson was pleased with third but looking for what might have been: “The car wasn’t handling brilliantly today and the problem with the ignition switch effectively cost us any possible chance of challenging. Without the three stops we’d have been much closer, but realistically we’d still have been racing for third place today.”

So a touch of déjà vu about the podium, with only the appearance of Martin Short for Rob Barff spoiling the symmetry from Round 1.

All in all a good rather than great race, punctuated by eye catching drives from Balfe, Short and Stanton and an exceptional drive from Jamie Derbyshire. More of the same please for round three in three weeks time at Knockhill. Will the twisty little circuit and the two 40 minute sprints format allow the TVRs to get closer there? We’ll see.
Graham Goodwin