The Checkered Flag’s – British GT Review

The guys at The Checkered Flag have put together a great review of the British GT season, analysing all of the new teams and how the championship was won. We have put the article here, for you all to read over the Christmas week.

“Only a few years ago the Avon Tyres British GT Championship looked like a series in terminal decline, falling grid numbers under pressure from other series.

2011 could not have been further away from that low point.

2011’s bumper grid brought new teams and new cars into the premier GT3 class. Speedworks Motorsport brought the Corvette Z06 for its British debut, 2009 champions the Jones twins – Godfrey and David – traded in their Ascari for the brutal Mercedes SLS, teams brought the new Ginetta G55 in the championship, United Autosports returned with the Audi R8 LMS for a full season with a two car effort, a two teams opened the year with brand new Ferrari 458 – four more examples would be seen by the end of the year with Hector Lester the last to convert to the new car, leaving just Predator CCTV with the old car by season’s end.

That CRS Racing men Jim and Glynn Geddie won the title without winning a race is a statistical anomaly, but one that shows the terrific level of competition over a season where seven different duos did score victory and six pairings started the Silverstone finale with a mathematical chance at lifting the title.

The winners rightly stole the attention.

David Ashburn – thrice a victor – a brace each of Beechdean Motorsport duo Jonny Adam and Andrew Howard and series newcomers Scuderia Vittoria with Michael Lyons and Charles Bateman and single successes for MTECH, United Autosports, Gregor Fisken and Tim Bridgman in the second TrackspeedPorsche and Alex Mortimer and Andrew Tate in the sister Ferrari to the Geddies’ example.

But 2011 was title decided, almost be stealth, by reliability and consistency.

Glynn and Jim Geddie made a stuttering start at Oulton Park on the Easter Weekend, forced to start the year in the older Ferrari 430 Scuderia, powerless as Lyons and Bateman showed the potential of the latest Ferrari by winning one of the two races. Winners in the other race where David Ashburn and Richard Westbrook, the latter assisting the defending champion whenever his international commitments allowed.

However, ahead of the two race winners, it was United Autosports’ Matt Bell and Michael Guasch who led the championship out of Cheshire after being the only team to end both of the races on the podium.

Bell and Guasch’s championship lead grew again after their victory at Snetterton – the first of three two-hour races in a calendar nearly as varied as the cars contesting it. If the Geddies’ championship win is one rare oddity in the season, then Bell and Guasch’s win at Snetterton is another.

When Bell crossed the finish line under the checkered flag it was the only lap the no.23 Audi had led all afternoon and formed a fitting end to a topsy-turvy race – a race where too many of the title contenders to be ended as spectators

Ashburn crashed out in an embarrassing incident at Williams, spinning out of the right hander leaving Gregor Fisken in the second Trackspeed entry with way to avoid the no.1 car broadside ahead. The accident prompted a lengthy safety car to recover two heavily damages Porsches and effect repairs to the barriers Fisken had clouted after the initial contact.

Lyons was the next to retire with suspension damage, leaving Glynn Geddie and Matt Griffin to battle for the lead, then what had been a Ferrari 1-2-3 was reduced to a Ferrari 1 when Griffin retired after contact with Tom Black while lapping the Aston Martin driver at Riches.

The same incident had forced Geddie wide, and the front bodywork of the 458 was chattering alarmingly along the faster sections of the 300 circuit and the time lost on each lap meant Bell was two, even three seconds, a lap faster until being lumbered with a second penalty of the race– this time for passing under yellow flags.

Then, in a final late twist, Geddie was called into the pits to fix the wobbling front end. The most cursory of repairs – a few squares of race tape that spent only seconds on the car – Geddie returned to the track with only seconds of the race remaining, but the one lap of racing that remained was enough for Bell to take the lead and the victory.

It was to be Bell and Guasch’s only win of the year, and as close as the Geddies got to taking the checkered flag first.

The victory in May gave Bell and Guasch the championship lead they would hold until September, though their grip was never as strong as the longevity of that lead might suggest.

Guasch ended the Brands race in the Druids gravel while the Geddies and MTECH drivers Duncan Cameron and Matt Griffin both picked up podiums behind victors Bridgman and Fisken.

Both Ferrari teams repeated their podium feats at Spa-Francorchamps before the series’ summer break, Cameron and Griffin hitting the kind of form that was expected from them pre-season by winning the second race in Belgium after Ashburn and Westbrook had picked up their second win of the year. Bell and Guasch meanwhile took only a fifth and sixth place away from the Ardennes, their points lead further chipped away and making them vulnerable when the series returned to action at Rockingham.

If it is possible to pick out one weekend as a turning point in a season of racing then the damp weekend at the Northants roval would be it. In changeable conditions none of the lead teams truly excelled – that honour went to Beechdean Motorsport who were untouchable in the first race, romping to a simple victory after guessing right on tyre choice – but Bell and Guasch could easily look back on the weekend as an opportunity lost.

American Guasch – one of the faster of the ‘second’ drivers in the championship – had claimed pole for the first race but a technical problem left him stranded on the grid as the rest of field started their formation lap before the rolling start.

Rockingham saw the points lead swap hands after Jonny Adam and Andrew Howard had joined the growing list of winners with a superlative wet performance

Treacherous conditions minimised the damage – both MTECH and Geddie crews failed to score after being forced to change onto wet tyres early in the race, but the United Autosports crew themselves only scored a single point from pole position after having to make the same stop.

That missed chance was made all the more costly be the second race, when, late in the race Guasch dropped from third to fifth after challenging Jim Geddie for second – the CRS team had already lost time by serving a penalty for running outside the track limits.

The faster of the two Guasch followed Geddie around for several laps but was unable to pass the Scot armed with the Ferrari’s better handling through Rockingham’s twisting infield section.

Behind winners Mortimer and Tate Geddie took second place and the championship lead away from the Audi duo who lost out Cameron – the MTECH team another to have served a drive through – and Lyons when the pair caught up the battle for second. The points lost in those two late moves dropped Bell and Guasch back into the chasing pack behind the Geddies, who having been title chasers all season were no presented with an improbable opportunity to wrap up the championship with one race weekend to spare.

Of course, central to that possibility was the need to win the Donington 500 three hour enduro, where – in keeping with the season to that point the Apex Tubulars backed pair scored solid points while their title rivals hit further setbacks.

Early race contact with Duncan Cameron at the Melbourne hairpin forced a lengthy pitstop for Guasch as he and Bell lost more ground to the points leaders. With the race starting in damp conditions it was Jonny Adam and the Beechdean Aston who shone again, building a big lead during the opening stint.

Also making the best of the difficult conditions was Tom Sharp in the Rollcentre entered Ginetta G55. The newest Ginetta had been a constant presence through the season but had always struggled for raw pace against the bigger GT3 cars, but with rain always the great equalizer the Ginetta GT Supercup front runner was able to slice up the field during his race opening stint.

Though well supported by a number of teams the GT3 variant of the Ginetta G55 struggled for pace against the more established British GT brands

Unfortunately both fell back as the race progressed Adam’s teammate Andrew Howard leaving the Aston in a gravel trap leaving the pair of Trackspeed cars to score a 1-2 with Ashburn picking up his third win of year, and his first with Jelley.

Still, with additional points awarded for the longer race, Ashburn was part of the six way battle for the title that arrived at Silverstone for the final round of the season.

Family Geddie still led the way, but with Cameron and Griffin, Lyons and Bateman, Bell and Guasch, Fisken and Bridgman and Ashburn – all capable of ending the season ahead.

Jonny Adam and Andrew Howard won their second race of the season – the pair in irresistible form in both qualifying and the race – giving the venerable DBRS9 a final win in its last race before Aston’s new GT3 racer takes its place in 2012.

Meanwhile the title was being decided further back in the top ten. Geddie, Cameron and Guasch all racing each other while Ashburn, Fisken and Bateman – comparative outsiders in terms of their title chances – ran further up the order in the early running.

The race ended early for Bell and Guasch – the American spinning out at Club before Bell retired the car later in the race – a disappointing end for the team that had been the championship benchmark for so much of the season.

There was also disappointment for Micheal Lyons and Matt Griffin who were taken out of title contention by penalties.

Suddenly David Ashburn – despite three retirements over the season – was the main threat to the Geddies’ title hopes. Richard Westbrook, returning to the British GT fold, took second away from United Autosports co-owner Zak Brown in the team’s third Audi for a one-off appearance, and started to chase down Adam in the leading Aston.

For Ashburn to retain the title for a second year he needed the points for a with the Geddies off the podium would. And for a time that looked very, very possible.

After three wins, and despite three retirements, Richard Westbrook almost delivered an unlikely second title for teammate David Ashburn

Pulse rates at CRS were settled when Glynn Geddie fought past Brown to take third place, but then rose steadily as he caught Westbrook, harassing the Englishman through the final laps despite the team telling Geddie over the radio to back off.

Geddie ultimately followed Westbrook across the line to become half of the first father and son duo to win the championship – and to give the new Ferrari a title in its first season and another accolade to CRS Racing in what will sadly be a fleeting return to British GT action as the outfit pull out of racing to focus on their role with the McLaren MP4-12C.”

Article courtesy of James Broomhead. Please follow him on twitter. Don’t forget to follow Michael Lyons too!