2006 Britsh GT Championship - Oulton Park

[Andy Downes]

The 2006 British GT season got underway this weekend at Oulton Park, Keith Ahlers once again being partnered in the cockpit of the Morgan Aero 8 by the hard-charging Oliver Bryant. Pitwork this season is by Billy Bellinger’s JB Sports Engineering concern, Billy having been joined by father Jack – a crack crew if ever there was one. The only downside here is that we shall not see Jack at all the Morgan Challenge races this year.

For the Bank Holiday weekend there are two races each of 60 minutes with a mandatory driver change, one on Saturday and the other on Monday plus Qualifying for both races on Saturday. Also new for 2006 is a change from Dunlop to Avon rubber the cause of much development and testing during the winter.

The Aero 8 runs in the more ‘standard’ of the two classes GTC which this year has a mouth-watering variety of cars – Morgan Aero 8 – Marcos Mantis – Porsche 911 – Ferrari 360 – Prosport LM3000 – Ginetta G20 – Lotus Elise – Aston Martin DBRS9 – and this class outnumbers the faster GT2 class with 18 cars to 6.

QUALIFYING 1 (GTC Class positions)
Oliver Bryant put the Aero8 in 5th place on the grid for Race 1 behind the Marcos Mantis and a trio of Porsches.

Marcos Mantis 1.46.362
Porsche 911 GT3 1.46.611
Porsche 911 GT3 1.46.891
911 GT3 1.46.959
Morgan Aero 8 1.47.307
Porsche 911 GT3 1.47.809
Ferrari 360 1.48.660
Porsche 911 GT3 1.48.769
Prosport LM3000 1.48.883
Porsche 911 GT3 1.49.032
Ferrari 360 1.49.439
Porsche 911 GT3 1.49.885
Porsche 911 GT3 1.50.552
Porsche 911 GT3 1.51.635
Ferrari 360 1.51.821
Ginetta G20 1.54.013
Ferrari 360 1.56.271
Lotus Sport Elise no time

RACE 1 (GTC Class positions)
Oliver made a great start and had bagged 4th by the end of lap 2, up to third on lap 13, and then 2nd behind the Marcos on lap 15. Following a pitstop late in the driver-change window Keith was still 2nd but some 18 seconds behind the class dominating Marcos and 3 seconds ahead of the Porsche in 3rd. Spirited defending allowed Keith to hold this position until ten minutes before the flag when he finally gave best to the Porsche and the Prosport and then on the very last lap he had a “sideways momentâ€

[Andy Downes]

Quick note - Result for Race 2 - GTC Class

1 - Team Tiger Chris Beighton Jon Finnemore Marcos Mantis 34 laps 1:02:21.287 88.07 mph 1.46.229
2 - Trackspeed Jonny Lang Matt Allison Porsche 911 GT3 34 laps 1:02:30.261 1.46.353
3 - Trackspeed David Ashburn Ryan Hooker Porsche 911 GT3-RSR 34 laps 1:02:44.109 1.46.104
4 - RPM Alex Mortimer Bradley Ellis Porsche 911 GT3 34 laps 1:03:11.143 1.46.737
5 - Team Aero Keith Ahlers Oliver Bryant Morgan Aero 8 33 laps 1.48.250
6 - JMH Oliver Morley Ferrari 360 33 laps 1.48.331
7 - David Dove Racing David Dove Calum Lockie Ferrari 360 33 laps 1.47.037
8 - Team Chad Andy Allen Pete James Porsche 911 GT3 33 laps 1.47.979
9 - RSS Performance Graeme Mundy Jamie Smyth Porsche 911 GT3 33 laps
10 - JMH Phil Burton Adam Wilcox Ferrari 360 33 laps 1.48.262
11 - Trackspeed Miles Hulford Matt Harris Porsche 911 GT3 33 laps 1.46.636
12 - Richmond Racing Nick Marsh Richard Hollebon Ginetta G20 32 laps 1.51.049
13 - Beechdean Motorsport Nigel Greensall Jonathon Coleman Ferrari 360 32 laps 1.48.474
14 - Hawthorns Motorsport Rod Barrett Jan Persson Porsche 911 GT3 32 laps 1.51.738
15 - RPM Phil Glew Hunter Abbott Porsche 911 GT3 12 laps DNF 1.45.643

More later - Well Done guys.

Have Fun

[keith.ahlers]

Team Aero took a sixth and a fifth in the two races and went home with seven championship points from a maximum of twenty available.

Disappointingly the car suffered from a lack of rear end grip all weekend which hampered our pace.

New compound tyres will be ready for the next round at Donington in five weeks time.

[Andy Downes]

British GT is to be shown on Channel 4 a week or two after each event - Oulton Park is scheduled for -
Saturday 6th May 7:30 am

The next Meeting is Donington Park Sunday 21/05/06

Have (square-eyed) Fun

[Andy Downes]

Just a reminder that the British GT coverage from Oulton Park is on;

Saturday 6th may (tomorrow) - Channel 4 7:30 am

Have Fun