TF Sport’s Derek Johnston and Jonny Adam made it two wins out of two in British GT 2016 when they won at Rockingham last Sunday.
The duo overcame a twenty second pit stop success penalty to take the victory and even with this, no one came close during the two hour race.
The second place finishers were Jon Minshaw and Phil Keen in the Barwell run Demon Tweeks Lamborghini Huracan, five seconds behind at the flag but with the third placed car, the Beachdean Aston Martin just a second behind them driven by Andrew Howard and Ross Gunn.
It was Derek Johnston’s faultless first stint which gave the TF Sport the advanatage they needed to stay in front even with the success penalty. In his first fifty minutes he pulled out a fifty second gap on the rest of the field.
But things were much closer in the rest of the field where there were a number of incidents. Lee Mowle, in the AMD Tuning BMW had started sixth and had a great start to run fourth only to spin and drop back down the order.
Jon Minshaw, in the Demon Tweeks Lamborghini closed on Alasdair McCaig in the Ecurie Ecosse Mclaren who had started on the front row but was now dropping down the order. Liam Griffin in the other Barwell Lamborghini was also on the Mclaren’s tail and it was Griffin who found a way past first at Tarzan.
Rick Parfitt Jnr in the Bentley was charging through the field after starting last when a practice crash forced them to miss qualifying. He caught up the the Lamborghini and Mclaren battle just as Minshaw passed McCaig’s Mclaren. Parfitt found a way past too and got into a battle for third with Minshaw’s Lamborghini. Both got a little carried away and ran wide at Deene allowing McCaig’s MClaren back into third. This was to be short lived as an electrical issue saw the Mclaren slow.
As the pit window opened the order was now Johnston’s Aston from Griffin and Minshaw.
Johnston putted to hand over to Adam and stop for their extra twenty seconds success penalty. You’d expect this to mean they would lose the lead but with the Lamborghni in second also having a ten second penalty to serve, the Aston’s lead meant they emerged ahead still with Adam Caroll still in second after he took over from Griffin.
Phil Keen was in the Demon Tweeks car taking over from Minshaw, escaping pressure from the Bentley, now with Seb Morris at the wheel as the Bentley had to serve a stop go penalty due to contact earlier in the race when it was fighting through the field.
But a safety car soon had to be scrambled as Graham Johnson leading GT4 in his Ginetta collied with Jody Fanin in the PFL Motorsport Aston putting both cars out.
This put the top three back into close formation. The two Lamborghini’s battled for position allowing Jonny Adam in the TF Sport Aston to pull away once more. A second safety car caused by a stationary GT4 Mclaren then triggered a race deciding moment.
Carroll had made an error on the restart in the second placed Barwell Lamborghini as he had overtaken some of the GT4 cars before the line and for this he served a stop go penalty, letting the Demon Tweeks car into second place. But things were not now straight forward for Keen as Ross Gunn in the Beechdean Aston Martin was now right behind him to battle for second. Gunn had taken over from Andrew Howard who had kept the car in the top six and now Gunn had used the safety car period to close up to the podium positions.
Gunn could not find a way pass Keen though and so it was Adam in the TF Sport Aston, from Keen in the Demon Tweeks Lamborghini and Gunn, impressing in the Beechdean Aston.
Johnston was thrilled to see his team mate take their second win of the year;
“We knew we’d need a gap to stand a chance of winning and being on pole gave us that opportunity. I had to lead into Deene – that was uppermost in my mind – so when I did that I just concentrated on getting my head down. The tyres weren’t quite up to temperature but I knew the first lap would really count. Fortunately that worked and I just kept pushing. I came in to hand over with a decent lead, which ultimately just cancelled out the success penalty.”
Keen in the Lamborghini wasn’t too disappointed to come away with second;
“Barwell have done a really good job with a new car over the winter and I feel like we had the pace to win this weekend. Finishing second is still a great result, though. I had a little bit more pace than Adam [Carroll] but it was very marginal. He’s a fantastic driver, makes no mistakes and hits all his marks, so getting past was virtually impossible. I just tried to look after my tyres and then, in the last five minutes, go for it. Obviously in the end I didn’t need to!”
Gunn was happy with his fighting drive in the Beechdean Aston;
“The two Safety Cars played into our hands but generally speaking the pace was pretty good. Over the stint we were possibly the fastest; obviously Jonny [Adam] was very quick but we might have been a little bit faster, which is testament to the car being set up so well. Andrew had a slight coming together at the start, which set him back a bit, but fortunately he was able to close a few of the Ams down towards the end, which gave me a chance on the second run. Then with Phil [Keen], I knew I had a bit more straight-line speed than him, but he covered the approach to Deene very well. The Lambo was then very good on the infield. But I’m happy with the podium and more solid points.”
Caroll managed to keep fourth in the second Barwell Lamborghini ahead of the Motorbase Aston Martin of Ross wylie and Phil Dryburgh which had been rebuilt after almost being destroyed in the Brands Hatch opening round.
Carroll recovered to bring his and Griffin’s Lamborghini home fourth ahead of Ross Wylie and Phil Dryburgh’s Motorbase Performance Aston Martin, which kept its nose clean to finish fifth and bounce back from a difficult opening weekend at Brands Hatch.
Will Moore and Ryan Ratcliffe took sixth with the Optimum Motorsport Audi R8 despite two instances of avoidable contact which they were penalised for.
Seventh was the Black Bull Ecurie Ecosse Mclaren of Alisair McCaig and Rob Bell, their race spoiled by their electrical issues.
TF Sport’s other Aston Martin of Mark Farmer and Jon Barnes took eighth, they may have finished higher if it wasn’t for a spin for Farmer. Having started from the back after missing all of Saturday with engine failure, eighth wasn’t a bad result although they were inevitably disappointed after the spin.
Lee Mowle in the AMD BMW Z4 GT3 had been caught up in Farmer’s spin causing a puncture. There may have been further damage as the BMW’s pace was slower after this leaving him and Joe Osbourne in ninth.
The Rollcentre run, Team Abba BMW Z3 of Martin Short and Richard Neary completed the top ten.
Tolman Motorsport had a difficult afternoon, David Pattison and Luke Davenport suffering a delaminated tyre which slowed them but worse was to come when they were judged to have passed under yellow and disqualified after the race.
Their team mates, Ian Stinton and Mike Simpson were hit on the opening lap, damaging their suspension and their slow crawl back to the pits was to have a dramatic effect on the GT4 class result. More on that in a minute.
Phil Keen took the fastest lap of the race in the Demon Tweeks Barwell Lamborghini winning the Sunoco fastest lap award as well as taking a new lap record on Rockingham’s International Super Sportscar layout with a 1:18.241.
The GT4 class was won on the track by Century Motorsports Ginetta G55 pairing of Anna Walewska and team boss Nathan Freke but they were disqualified post race after Anna was judged to have passed under yellow. The car she passed was believed to be the ailing Tolman Ginetta mentioned earlier and so Century appealed as the team believed they had little choice but to pass the barely moving Ginetta. Unfortunately the appeal failed and so their win was lost.
This handed the win to Beechdean’s Jack Bartholomew and Jordan Albert after a very eventful race full of issues, accidents and penalties.
Freke and Walewska had started last after car problems meant they missed the second half of qualifying. Up ahead the pole sitting Ginetta of Optimum Motorsport driven by Graham Johnson lead away at the start.
Johsnon looked like he was set for victory but before he could hand over to team mate Mike Robinson, he had the crash with Jody Fanin’s GT3 car we mentioned earlier. This handed the lead to the Mclaren 570S GT4 of Ecurie Ecosse driven by Sandy Mitchell and Ciaran Haggerty. But as Haggerty took over, their pitstop was judged to be under the minimum time and they received a stop go penalty.
This meant the Generation AMR car of Mathew George and Jamie Chadwick now was leading the GT4 field. But behind, Nathan Freke was closing on Jamie Chadwick after he had taken over from Walewkska in the pitstops. He passed Chadwick but her Aston was slowing and soon after she was in the pits.
The car had a brake problem and Chadwick was forced into a heart breaking retirement losing what looked to be a definite second place and with the disqualification of Freke and Walewska’s car, it would have been a win.
The Beechdean car also appeared to have brake problems as it ran far off track at the Deene hairpin but Bartholomew managed to recover quickly which was crucial to their later success.
Century Motorsport’s loss of the win after disqualification was also their gain as their second car driven by Aleksander Schjerpen and Sean Bryne inherited second place after taking third at the flag.
In third was the Lanan Racing Ginetta G55, taking their first ever British GT podium with Joey F Alex Reed took over taking fourth at the flag and third after the post race judgements.
The championship’s other female driver, Abbie Eaton took fourth in the Ebor GT Maserati with team mate Marcus Hoggarth, they are still getting used to the Maserati in only their second race but they actually could have won but for a too short pitstop earning them a thirty eight second stop go penalty.
The Mclaren 570S Gt4 of Haggerty and Mitchell came fifth despite stopping on track twice, the second time causing the second safety car period. It also had a stop go penalty.
Next up were two Aston Martin’s the Generation AMR Macmillan car of Matty Graham and Jack Mitchell ahead of the JW Bird Motorsport Aston of Kieran Griffin and Jake Giddings.
Completing the GT4 top eight was the RCIB Insurance Racing Ginetta of Jordan Stilp and William Phillips which had a steering issue for most of the race, less than ideal at a circuit with so many corners!
Freke received the Sunoco fastest lap of the race award despite the car being disqualified. His time of 1:23.957 was two seconds quicker than the previous GT4 lap record on this layout of Rockingham.
Jack Bartholomew was happy to take the win despite it being after the race had finished;
“I’m lost for words, really. We were getting excited when Jordan [Albert] got up to third, and then couldn’t believe it when Jamie [Chadwick] suffered her problem, which wasn’t dissimilar to our own, actually. I had a very long brake pedal for much of my stint which meant we couldn’t attack the braking areas. That’s what caused my off at Deene and why we looked down and out at half-distance. Perhaps we were a bit lucky but you’ve got to be there at the finish and a win’s a win, however it comes. And to be leading the championship after two rounds is also unbelievable.”
Aleksander Schjerpen was pleased with their third which became second with their team mate’s disqualification
“It was an interesting race! Sean did a really good job to avoid everything that was going on and bring the car back in good shape. I got on new tyres and the car felt brilliant, so I was able to push quite hard from the start of my stint. I think one Safety Car worked out for us and the other didn’t, but all in all I’m really happy. It’s nice to be back on the podium again and, of course, it’s also great for Sean. It’s only our second race together so that’s something we can take into the rest of the season.”
Disqualification was a huge blow to Walewska and Freke particularly as cars commiting the same offence at the previous round had only been given stop go penalties.
Full results of the race are on TSL timing
The next two rounds of the championship are at Oulton Park on the May Bank Holiday weekend on the 28th and the 30th (Saturday and Monday.) Tickets are available from the MSV or Oulton park websites or also on the gate.
By Marc Waller
