The Scuderia Ecosse team achieved its ambition to win the
British GT Team's Championship at Silverstone yesterday.
Second position for Nathan Kinch and Andrew Kirkaldy in the
two-hour race sealed the Championship title for the team.
Team-mates Chris Niarchos and Tim Mullen both drove a
spirited race, finishing in eighth spot in the GT2 class.
The team is also in the fortunate position of having won the
Driver's Championship but as Niarchos and Mullen can still
catch Kinch and Kirkaldy it won't be decided until at least
the next event.
The race itself got off to a slow start with the field doing
two warm up laps as it had started to rain when they formed
up on the grid. Once the race got underway the rain had
stopped and Kirkaldy was quick to pull away from the chasing
Mosler of Phil Keen but just a lap later the safety car was
dispatched whilst oil was cleared from the track. It wasn't
until half an hour into the two-hour race that the safety
car pulled in and racing recommenced. Again Kirkaldy began
to pull away from Keen's Mosler whilst Chris Niarchos had a
fight on his hands against the fourth-placed Porsche of Ben
Collins. The Embassy driver managed to get past Niarchos but
not for long as Chris re-took third position and set about
pulling away.
Towards the end of the first half the rain showers returned
to Silverstone. The slippery track caught out Niarchos at
Abbey which put him in the gravel. He recovered and returned
to the pits, albeit a few laps down, to hand over to Mullen
who joined the race on intermediate tyres. Kirkaldy pitted
to hand over the no.35 Ferrari to Nathan Kinch and pick up a
set of wet tyres. With the rain stopping and starting
throughout the race the tyre choice was always going to be a
gamble but the rain was falling more heavily when Kirkaldy
pitted so the decision was wets.
After the mid-race pit-stops Tim Mullen was the fastest man
on the track as he fought to make up the deficit from the
earlier 'off'. Kinch meanwhile was fighting his way back up
the field and with thirty minutes to go he overtook Hyde's
Mosler for the lead. By this time the track was fast drying
so the Ferraris wet tyres were quickly becoming a problem
for Kinch. He hung on until the very last lap when he was
passed by Cunningham in the Embassy Porsche.
Andrew Kirkaldy (#35): "It was quite difficult out
there today; the Ferrari doesn't like the wet when it's on
slick tyres! I managed to pull away a fair bit at the
restart but then we opted for wets when I came in which
turned out to be the wrong choice as the dry track at the
end can't have been nice for Nathan on wet tyres. He did a
good job today and I'd like to say all credit to the team
for winning the Teams' Championship, they've done a great
job all year and deserve the title. We're off to Mondello
now to try and sew up the Drivers' Championship!"
Nathan Kinch (#35): "Andrew pulled away well at the
start but it was a shame the safety car stayed out for so
long as it meant he couldn't pull out a big gap to the
Mosler.
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Second position for Nathan Kinch and Andrew Kirkaldy
in the two-hour race sealed the Championship for the
Ferrari team |
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Scuderia Ecosse achieved its ambition to win the
British GT Team's Championship at the Silverstone
round yesterday |
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"I had a bit of a scramble to get my helmet on for the
driver change as Andrew couldn't stay out there on slicks in
the rain especially as we had a Championship to think of. We
really should have gone for intermediates; that's easy to
say in retrospect but I was on the ragged edge with those
wets at the end. I tried to defend my position but it was
impossible."
Chris Niarchos (#34): "I had a great battle with Ben
(Collins) he managed to get past me but I took him back on
the next lap. We were running the hard tyres today so as
soon as the shower came the temperature dropped and they
went from brilliant to awful in one lap! I had a bit of a
slide at Copse on my in lap which I recovered from ok but
then I got to Abbey and couldn't hold it."
Tim Mullen (#34): "That was a real shame as Chris and
I should have won that one. We tried a new strategy with
Chris starting, the safety car played into our hands, Chris
drove really well and we should've won by a country mile but
it rained a lap too early! It's so unlucky to spin on the
lap before you come in but the conditions were tricky. It's
great that the team has won the Championship but it's our
turn for a race win now!"
Stewart Roden, Team Principal: "It's a great feeling
to win the title, I can certainly breathe more easily now.
This weekend was hard work so I'm pleased we have finally
got the title in the bag and looking forward to watching the
drivers battle it out for the other one."
The next race for the team is the Nurburgring LMES event
(2-4 September) before the next British GT round at Mondello
Park (17-18 September)
BRITISH GT CHAMPIONSHIP (Rd 9) - RACE RESULT: 1.
Collins/Cunningham (Porsche GT3 RSR) Embassy Racing GT2
2:00:48.603; 2. Kinch/Kirkaldy (Ferrari 360 GTC) Scuderia
Ecosse GT2 +2.811; 3. Bentwood/Reid (Nissan 350 Z) RJN
Motorsport GT2 +12.491; 4. Whight/Kershaw (Mosler MT900R)
Cadena GTC GT2 +1:04.354; 5. Jordan/Caine (Porsche GT3 RSR)
Eurotech GT2 +1:10.179; 6. Keen/Hyde (Mosler MT900R) Eclipse
Motorsport GT2 1:10.855; 7. Jones/Jones (Porsche GT3)
Eurotech GT2 + 1 lap; 8. Niarchos/Mullen (Ferrari 360 GTC)
Scuderia Ecosse GT2 + 1 lap; Fastest Lap: Kirkaldy
1:54.756 on lap 12; Pole Position: Kirkaldy 1:52.182
BRITISH GT CHAMPIONSHIP STANDINGS (GT2 - DRIVERS: 1=
Kinch 86 points; 1= Kirkaldy 86; 3= Mullen 49; 3= Niarchos
49; 5= Collins 42; 5= Cunningham 42; 7= Jordan 39; 7= Caine
39; TEAMS: 1 Scuderia Ecosse 86 points (Champions); 2
Team Eurotech 42; 2= Embassy Racing 42
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