2005 British GT Championship Rounds 6 & 7 Thruxton 27-28

Andy Downes · Post by **Andy Downes** » Fri May 27, 2005 10:04 pm

Keith Ahlers & Oliver Bryant are back in action this weekend at Thruxton.

I will report first hand on Saturday and then from the internet for Sunday's race.

ENTRY LIST
1 2 GT2 Cadena GTC Barrie Whight Gavan Kershaw Mosler MT900R
2 4 GT2 Emotional Engineering Matt Griffin Ryan Hooker Vauxhall Monaro
3 10 GT2 RJN Motorsport Michael Bentwood Ally McKever Nissan 350Z
4 22 GT2 Eurotech David Jones Godfrey Jones Porsche 911 GT3-RSR
5 34 GT2 Scuderia Ecosse Tim Mullen Chris Niarchos Ferrari 360 GTC
6 35 GT2 Scuderia Ecosse Nathan Kinch Andrew Kirkaldy Ferrari 360 GTC
7 42 GT2 Team LNT Andrew Thompson Jonny Kane TVR T400-R
8 43 GT2 Team LNT Warren Hughes Patrick Pearce TVR T400-R
9 55 GT2 Embassy Racing Ben Collins Neil Cunningham Porsche 911 GT3-RSR
10 69 GT2 Eclipse Motorsport Phil Keen Steve Hyde Mosler MT900R
11 77 GT2 Eurotech Mike Jordan Michael Caine Porsche 911 GT3-RSR
12 8 GT3 Hawthorns Motorsport Rod Barrett Jan Persson BMW Z3M
13 9 GT3 Tech 9 Piers Masarati Dimitris Deverikos Porsche 911 GT3
14 11 GT3 Team Aero Keith Ahlers Oliver Bryant Morgan Aero 8
15 12 GT3 Vision Marketing Phil Burton Adam Wilcox Ferrari 360
16 14 GT3 R&D Automotive Pete Osborne Richard Jones Porsche 911 GT3
17 15 GT3 Damax Marco Attard Nick Adams Ferrari 360
18 16 GT3 Damax Miles Hulford Jamie Smyth Ferrari 360
19 20 GT3 Trackspeed Fred Moss David Ashburn Porsche 911 GT3
20 23 GT3 Motorbase Performance Andy Britnell Chris Stockton Porsche 911 GT3
21 25 GT3 Trackspeed Rory Fordyce Jason Coffin Porsche 911 GT3
22 26 GT3 Rob Horsfield Racing Rob Horsfield Ian Stinton Prosport 3000
23 30 GT3 Team Parker Racing Martin Rich Julian Westwood Porsche 911 GT3
24 31 GT3 Team Parker Racing Grant Eastwood TBA Porsche 911 GT3
25 33 GT3 Motorbase Performance Richard Stanton Sam Edwards Porsche 911 GT3
26 36 GT3 Bill Barrett Motorsport Stephen Warburton Peter Morris Porsche 911 GT3
27 81 GT3 Team Tiger Chris Beighton Jon Finnemore Marcos Mantis
28 96 GT3 Quaife / RPM Alex Mortimer Phil Quaife Porsche 911 GT3
29 99 GT3 Eurotech Nick Adcock Steve Wood Porsche 911 GT3

Qualifying is listed as Saturday 13:30 - 14:10
Race 1 Saturday 16:55 - 17:55

Race 2 Sunday 13:45 - 14:45

Good Luck guys.

Have Fun
8) 8) 8)

jack bellinger · Post by **jack bellinger** » Sat May 28, 2005 9:36 pm

Sorry Andy had to but in first N( my boy and all that) News from Thruxton

Ahlers-- Bryant First ever First class win. To much applause from all the pit lane.. Rumour has it they llooked good on the top of the podium

Congratulations a great effiort well deserved

jack

Andy Downes · Post by **Andy Downes** » Sat May 28, 2005 10:25 pm

Victory At last - Top Of The Podium

Congratulations to Keith Ahlers and Team Aero Racing, along with Oliver Bryant, Billy Bellinger and Ian Grimes, the Morgan Aero 8 GT achieved it's first Class win in the British GT series.

A marvellous afternoon at Thruxton began with Keith Qualifying for Race 1 5th in Class with 1.19.394 seemingly a little off the pace, although the MST Timing had been playing up so no one was really sure who was where. Oliver Bryant then put in a superb few laps to bag 3rd fastest in Class for Race 2 (tomorrow) with 1.18.26.

Race 1 began at 5 pm and there then followed 60 minutes of truly excellent sports car racing - Keith was starting the Aero 8 with a mandatory driver change (to Oliver Bryant) in a pit window between 23 and 37 minutes. His targets on the grid were a brace of Porsche 911 Gt3s. the Marcos Mantis and a Prosport 3000 (a bit like an Ultima). It was not to be plain sailing as after the shakeout of the start Keith found himself behaind the bright red Damax Ferrari 360 of Jamie Smythe another of the GT3 runners - and this was rumoured to be a Ferrari circuit.

The Morgan didnâ€™t seem to be making any impression for the first few laps but what we didnâ€™t know was that Keith was diligently saving the tyres a bit and planning to make a bit of a charge, this he did after 15 minutes and a few laps later was ahead of the Italian icon â€“ Marcos and Porsche next on the agenda. Almost immediately the Safety Car was out to cover an incident and after two slow laps the pit window was open and Keith dived into the pits to make the driver change, the Ferrari continued to trundle round and itâ€™s race was run.

Oliver was straight onto the pace chasing the Marcos which had also pitted and the Class leading Porsche which was some way down the road. Lap after lap the Morgan and the Marcos were together, at some times close and at others well apart but the Marcos was always ahead â€“ it seemed to go away on the quick part of the circuit but Oliver was all over it on the long uphill run to the chicane before the pit straight, then with 15 minutes remaining the Aero 8 came round on its own and we never saw the Marcos again. Now running 2nd Oliver was going very quickly when suddenly the Porsche was limping round to the pits (puncture) the Morgan was through and charging for the line with a huge lead. The last 10 minutes were an eternity on the pit-wall with the car backed off onto cruise control, eventually the flag came out and the Morgan took a hugely popular first Class win some half a lap clear and finishing a very competitive 8th overall - Just Fantastic !

More later once http://www.Dailysportscar.com post their report.

RACE1 RESULT
1 35 GT2 Scuderia Ecosse Nathan Kinch Andrew Kirkaldy Ferrari 360 GTC 44 laps 1:00:49.061 102.27 mph 1.15.173
2 43 GT2 Team LNT Warren Hughes Patrick Pearce TVR T400-R 44 laps
3 42 GT2 Team LNT Andrew Thompson Jonny Kane TVR T400-R 44 laps
4 10 GT2 RJN Motorsport Michael Bentwood Ally McKever Nissan 350Z 44 laps
5 55 GT2 Embassy Racing Ben Collins Neil Cunningham Porsche 911 GT3-RSR 44 laps
6 69 GT2 Eclipse Motorsport Phil Keen Steve Hyde Mosler MT900R 43 laps
7 22 GT2 Eurotech David Jones Godfrey Jones Porsche 911 GT3-RSR 43 laps
8 11 GT3 Team Aero Keith Ahlers Oliver Bryant Morgan Aero 8 43 laps
9 23 GT3 Motorbase Performance Andy Britnell Tim Harvey Porsche 911 GT3 42 laps
10 9 GT3 Tech 9 Piers Masarati Dimitris Deverikos Porsche 911 GT3 42 laps
11 30 GT3 Team Parker Racing Martin Rich Julian Westwood Porsche 911 GT3 42 laps
12 31 GT3 Team Parker Racing Grant Eastwood Mark Cole Porsche 911 GT3 41 laps
13 12 GT3 Vision Marketing Phil Burton Adam Wilcox Ferrari 360 41 laps
14 26 GT3 Rob Horsfield Racing Rob Horsfield Ian Stinton Prosport 3000 41 laps
15 36 GT3 Bill Barrett Motorsport Stephen Warburton Peter Morris Porsche 911 GT3 41 laps
16 96 GT3 Quaife / RPM Dave Pinkney Phil Quaife Porsche 911 GT3 41 laps
17 99 GT3 Eurotech Nick Adcock Steve Wood Porsche 911 GT3 40 laps
18 25 GT3 Trackspeed Rory Fordyce Jason Coffin Porsche 911 GT3 39 laps
19 16 GT3 Damax Miles Hulford Jamie Smyth Ferrari 360 38 laps
20 8 GT3 Hawthorns Motorsport Rod Barrett Jan Persson BMW Z3M 37 laps
21 81 GT3 Team Tiger Chris Beighton Jon Finnemore Marcos Mantis 32 Laps DNF
22 2 GT2 Cadena GTC Barrie Whight Gavan Kershaw Mosler MT900R 30 laps NCF
23 77 GT2 Eurotech Mike Jordan Michael Caine Porsche 911 GT3-RSR 24 laps DNF
24 14 GT3 R&D Automotive Pete Osborne Richard Jones Porsche 911 GT3 8 laps DNF
25 20 GT3 Trackspeed Fred Moss David Ashburn Porsche 911 GT3 3 laps DNF
26 33 GT3 Motorbase Performance Richard Stanton Sam Edwards Porsche 911 GT3 2 laps DNF
27 15 GT3 Damax Marco Attard Nick Adams Ferrari 360 DNS
28 34 GT2 Scuderia Ecosse Tim Mullen Chris Niarchos Ferrari 360 GTC DNS
29 4 GT2 Emotional Engineering Matt Griffin Ryan Hooker Vauxhall Monaro DNS

Keith has promised to post once he gets a Vodafone signal for his PC.

Have Fun
8) 8) 8)

Chris Acklam · Post by **Chris Acklam** » Sun May 29, 2005 6:25 am

Oh brilliant. Well done everyone. Great news.

Mary Lindsay · Post by **Mary Lindsay** » Sun May 29, 2005 12:30 pm

Fantastic news! Well done everyone.
Good luck for Sunday's race.

Andy Downes · Post by **Andy Downes** » Sun May 29, 2005 2:37 pm

Sunday Race 2
Morgan Aero8 took the lead in class just after the pitstops (30+ minutes) but has now been overtaken by the Marcos Manitis.

10 minutes to go Keith Ahlers now some 4-5 seconds behind.

Have Fun
8) 8) 8)

Andy Downes · Post by **Andy Downes** » Sun May 29, 2005 2:51 pm

Thruxton Sunday Race 2
GT3 Class Result

1st Marcos Mantis
2nd Morgan Aero8
3rd Porsche 911 GT3

A double podium this weekend.

Fantastic pair of results guys - Many many "Congratulations" to Keith, Oliver, Billy & Ian - Team AERO Racing.

More later

Have (winning) Fun
8) 8) 8)

Kevin Cheale · Post by **Kevin Cheale** » Sun May 29, 2005 8:29 pm

Well done. Great results.

Also iI thought t was an excellent article on dailysportscar about the Nurburgring 24h race Keith.

Kev, Zoe, Aidan and bump.

keith.ahlers · Post by **keith.ahlers** » Sun May 29, 2005 10:09 pm

Well, what a weekend!

After two years in British GTs and several second and third places I was begining to despair of ever taking a GT3 win.

Yesterday we won by a minute and followed it up with a second place today. The reaction from other competitors, trade suppliers and spectators has been great. There's something special about doing it in a Morgan.......

Thanks to Andy and Jack for the updates. Billy & Ian for running the car and Oliver for sharing the driving.

Best wishes, Keith.

Mary Lindsay · Post by **Mary Lindsay** » Sun May 29, 2005 11:23 pm

Absolutely fantastic, well done all of you.

jack bellinger · Post by **jack bellinger** » Mon May 30, 2005 11:26 am

The race was a great one to watch ..Oliver started well up the grid and the start could only be described as busy !! During olivers stint the lead Porche suffered a punture and whlist pitting the Marcos and the Mog got into 1st and 2nd Oliver held his position until the end of his stint . Oliver was dtiving so well he was left out until the last minute of the driver change window .As the Marcos came in for their driver change they had tyre trouble and had to change one which added about 30secs to their pit stop which meant that when Kieth got out he was leading his class..( bloo**&^$%exiting).. Keith held this lead for quite a few laps but the Marcus just had the legs Keith stayed with it for about 10 laps .
I think this is where team strategy came in. There had been about 13 punctures on cars during this race So to finish was much more important and they let the Marcos go This proved to be fundemental in the outcome Cos 3 laps from the end Keith came round onto the start finish straight and the Mog back stepped out big time (I must say not many drivers could have caught that one) Which of course scared the life out of all watching Obviuosly something was wrong !! Which made the last couple of laps exciting to say the least.. But the Nearly old boy Nursed the Mog home home to second place..
I looked at the NSR tyre after the race ,, Down to the canvas If they had not backed of when they did the Mog would not have finished(in my opinion)

TO sum up Oliver is very talented his approach and attitude are superb his driving !! well I was impressed. As for Keith he,s to Modest It was a Superb weekend with some great driving and a fantastic result..And if I had been driving you lot would never heard the last of it .

love jack

keith.ahlers · Post by **keith.ahlers** » Mon May 30, 2005 10:43 pm

Great report Jack, thank you.

And if I had been driving you lot would never heard the last of it .

Oliver has just phoned in sick for Castle Combe. Are you ready to jump in? Don't worry about the racing slick tyres, wings or 380 bhp. The race report will be worth it!

love keith

Andy Green · Post by **Andy Green** » Tue May 31, 2005 10:13 am

Well done to everyone,just wonderful

Le Mans 2006?

TonyLees · Post by **TonyLees** » Tue May 31, 2005 10:48 am

bloody marvellous!
saw the croft coverage on tivo last night - awesome racing in a very wet race.
well done chaps.

Chris Acklam · Post by **Chris Acklam** » Tue May 31, 2005 11:58 am

When's the TV coverage of the Thruxton race?