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Continued from News
Top of the tables
The CR Scuderia
team is at the top of the drivers and teams championship tables after a
fantastic first weekend of racing in the 2008 Avon Tyres British GT
Championship.
The drivers had a tough task ahead of them in this afternoon’s race,
starting from seventh, 10th and 11th places on the grid. James Sutton,
Michael Cullen and Luke Hines all got away well and were soon running in
formation in sixth, seventh and eighth places.
Just a few laps in
Luke got hit from behind which sent him into a spin and off the track at
Knickerbrook. He managed to rejoin but had to retire with gear selection
problems. James and Michael meanwhile were running strongly in sixth and
seventh places respectively.
The race really stepped
up a gear after the pit-stops. Michael handed Ferrari no.15 over to
Paddy Shovlin as soon as the pit window opened and James came in towards
the end of the window to hand over no.14 to Michael Meadows. With 12
minutes to go, Michael was up to fourth, chasing down third place, then
vaulted up to third when the leader received a stop-go penalty for
pitting after the pitlane had closed. A spin for the Trackspeed Porsche
put Michael up to second and gave him a real chance to go for the race
win, running just six seconds behind the leading Lamborghini. He got his
head down and caught the leader but was ultimately unable to get through
as there was a lapped car between him at the Lamborghini.
During this time Paddy
was fighting his way through the field from seventh all the way up to
fourth, giving the Irish pair another haul of points to keep their
position in the lead of the 2008 British GT Driver’s Championship.
CR Scuderia
Ferrari no.14: James Sutton & Michael Meadows
JAMES SUTTON: “After
not doing as well as we possibly could have in qualifying we pushed hard
today. We had a good car and had to work it very hard to stay in front
of the competition during the opening stint. I’m delighted we’re leading
the championships, especially for Chris (Niarchos) as I know he gets as
much of a kick out of good results as we do.”
CR Scuderia
Ferrari no.15: Michael Cullen & Paddy Shovlin
PADDY SHOVLIN: “Michael
and I are very happy with the two races we had here this weekend. It
came as a bit of a surprise that the competition was stronger than we
expected so we are naturally delighted to be leading the championship.
We can’t wait for Knockhill now.”
CR Scuderia
Ferrari no.16: Luke Hines & Jeremy Metcalfe
LUKE HINES: “I got away
well at the start which was good as the first start of the year is
always a little tentative. I managed to avoid collisions, made up a few
positions and set off with a pair of Vipers on my tail. After a few laps
one of them got impatient which resulted in me getting hit from behind
and spinning off at Kinickerbrook. I then couldn’t get it into gear so I
switched everything off and tried again, eventually getting it into
first. That was really the end though as after that the gears kept
popping into neutral.”
CRS Team
Principal, Chris Niarchos:
“Overall I’m very
satisfied with our first weekend of racing. The team performed very well
in difficult conditions, both in terms of the weather and the strong
competition. The drivers all performed well and were competitive within
their classifications. They will all only get stronger as we go through
the season. It’s good to get the first event out of the way and to come
out on top is fantastic.”
Next up for the British
GT racers are rounds three and four at Knockhill in three weeks’ time
but attention now turns to Formula Renault with the new season kicking
off next weekend at Brands Hatch.
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news to editorthegrid@yahoo.co.uk
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