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Scuderia Ecosse left Thruxton last
night en route to Le Mans with two more British GT victories
in the bag. The Kinch/Kirkaldy pairing won both of this
weekend's races whilst the Niarchos/Mullen combination
suffered at the hands of Lady Luck despite being right on
the pace of the sister car.
RACE ONE
Race one was a clear reminder that every point has to be
earned in British GT racing. Chris Niarchos was unable to
take the start as his driveshaft broke just before the green
flag was waved to signal the start of the race. After the
stricken Ferrari was cleared from the grid the field was
waved through and Nathan Kinch got away well from pole
position and set about building up his lead. A couple of
laps into the race a cup class Porsche deposited oil on the
track and as Nathan came into the chicane on lap three he
lost the rear end and through sailed the two TVRs and a
Mosler. The young Scot had a lot of work to do to regain his
lead and was helped along the way by the Safety Car being
despatched 20 minutes into the race whilst marshals
recovered a car off the track. As soon as the pit window
opened, 23 minutes into the race, the leaders all dived into
the pits. Some impressive teamwork from the Scuderia Ecosse
pit crew gave Andrew Kirkaldy the jump on one of the TVRs
and the Mosler and he set off in second place chasing down
the TVR of Warren Hughes. After some close fighting Andrew
overtook the TVR and set off for the chequered flag and the
fourth win of 2005 for the Kinch/Kirkaldy partnership.
Nathan Kinch (#35): "That race was a great result for
us and it showed that anything can happen in motorsport. We
had to work hard for this one so it felt very good to get
the win. The safety car worked in our favour and an
excellent pit stop by the team gave us the jump we needed."
RACE TWO
Andrew Kirkaldy and Tim Mullen got away well from the front
row of the grid at the start of race two and put on a great
show for the spectators, running within a second of each
other for most of the first half. After faultless stints
from both drivers, during which Tim grabbed fastest race lap
and took a new lap record, Tim pitted first to hand over to
Chris Niarchos. Frustratingly the no.34 car wouldn't start
after the pit stop so by the time Chris was back out on the
track he found himself down in fourth place. Andrew Kirkaldy
then came in to hand over to Nathan Kinch who, like his team
mate yesterday, took the Ferrari all the way to the
chequered flag, this time taking win number five.
Andrew Kirkaldy (#35): "Well we came here to take two
wins and that's exactly what we did so I'm a happy man! We
went for the harder tyre option this weekend as we know this
track is tough on tyres; proven by all the punctures we saw
coming into the pits today. It's great that Nathan and I are
able to start pulling away in the Championship standings but
we're not assured of anything yet and have to keep working
hard. It is good though for us to head off to Le Mans with a
fresh win under our belts."
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