The Stewart Roden-run Scuderia Ecosse had an eventful outing at rounds 9 and 10 of the British GT Championship at Oulton Park. The 360GT (s/n 2016) of Tim Mullen/Chris Niarchos failed to take part in qualifying due to an electronic gremlin and did not take part in the first race. But starting from the back row of the grid for the second race Mullen pulled all the way up to fifth place before handing the car over to Niarchos, who maintained that position to the end. The
second car, the 360 GTC (s/n 2058) of Andrew Kirkaldy/Nathan Kinch,
also had an eventful time. In a first corner incident caused by someone
else Kinch dropped all the way down to last but then raced his way back
through the field to fourth place before handing over to team-mate Kirkaldy,
who gained two more positions to finish second overall. In the second
race Kirkaldy started from pole position and pulled out an easy lead
despite a clutch failure. When Kinch took over, too many mechanics push-started
the car (as a result of having no clutch) and a consequent drive-through
penalty made the win impossible, but nevertheless they finished in second
place. Scuderia Ecosse still have the opportunity of winning this year's championship but will need perfect scores from now. In 2005 they hope to enter the FIA GT championship with their 360s but additional sponsorship will need to be found first. [hold mouse over thumbnails for captions, click for enlargements]
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