Scuderia Ecosse brought the curtain down on a great debut season of
British GT racing with a 360 GTC victory in the final race at Brands
Hatch. Andrew Kirkaldy and Nathan Kinch won a rain-soaked, dramatic
event on the tight Indy circuit after retiring in Race 1. Team mates
Chris Niarchos and Tim Mullen were tapped off in Race 1 but came through
to finish fifth; unfortunately their car retired in Race 2 when it went
off fighting their team-mates for the lead!
Race One
The first race of the Brands Hatch weekend got off to a dramatic start
when Nathan Kinch passed Jonathan Cocker (Porsche GT3 RSR) on the first
lap to take the lead. Chris Niarchos meanwhile was having a very busy
opening lap after receiving a tap from a Porsche, which sent him into
the gravel. Niarchos rejoined but in 17th position. He then had a lot
of work to do to make his way back through the pack and brought the
car in for Mullen in a very respectable seventh place.
After a close battle with Cocker throughout the first stint, Kinch pitted
in first place to hand the car over to Andrew Kirkaldy. As usual they
received a 20 second (professional driver) penalty in the pits meaning
that Kirkaldy should have rejoined 20 seconds behind the Porsche, now
driven by Tim Sugden.
The infamous British GT Safety Car was despatched just as the pit stop
window opened and whilst Sugden rejoined just in front of the Safety
Car, Kirkaldy joined just behind. The Safety Car failed to pick up the
leader and the end result was that once the Safety Car period ended,
the Porsche was 47 seconds ahead of Kirkaldy, effectively a whole lap
up.
He set about closing the gap but the chance of victory had gone and
when the Ferrari developed an exhaust problem with 20 minutes to go
he was forced to retire. Tim Mullen now in the sister Ferrari was running
in sixth position before his team mate retired. He thus took the chequered
flag in fifth place.
In a meeting
full of interest for Ferrari fans, there were no less than five 360s
entered in the 'Cup' class for less-modified cars. Marco Attard, who
finished second in this year's Pirelli Maranello Ferrari Challenge won
the class in a Damax-run 360 partnered by Nick Adams and Lester/ Simonsen
were second. This year's 'Cup' Class drivers' championship winners Adam
Wilcox and Ni Amorin were fourth in their DRM 360. Phil Burton, another
PMFC regular, partnered by legendary racer Ian Flux finished behind
them, albeit a lap down. The second DRM car of Croydon/Smythe
fared less well, it was the last to be classified as a finisher, 13
laps down.
Race Two
The weather conditions at the start of race two were entirely different
to the previous day. Light rain had fallen before the start and the
team took the decision to begin the race on intermediate tyres. Kirkaldy
started from pole position, his fifth of the season, and kept the lead
off the line, closely followed by Mullen. The two Scuderia Ecosse
Ferrari's were closely matched and Mullen, fighting Kirkaldy for the
lead, spun off at Paddock which retired his car from the race. Kirkaldy
meanwhile was able to begin pulling away from Tim Sugden's Porsche which
was up to second.
In bad weather the wretched Safety Car was despatched before the pit
window opened and again it took a few laps to sort the field out. When
the pits opened Kirkaldy dived into the pits to hand the Ferrari over
to Kinch who rejoined the race with wet tyres fitted. Once all the cars
had pitted Kinch was lying in sixth place. He wasn't too happy about
being sixth so set about doing something about it!
The closing laps of the race showed Kinch at his very best. Driving
like a true pro he began picking off the cars in front of him and set
his sights on Cocker's second-placed Porsche, just as the Safety Car
appeared again! This closed up the field but made no difference to Kinch
as, with or without the Safety Car, he was going to end the season on
a high. At the restart he got past Cocker and then the Ultima for the
lead, which he kept until the chequered flag. After the race Nathan
commented, "That was a lot of fun! The car felt perfect and I was
able to just get my head down and go for the win. It's exactly the result
we needed and a great way to end the season so I'll be leaving with
a smile on my face tonight."
In 'Cup' Class Wilcom/Amorin were second, Lester/Simonsen 4th, Croydon/Smythe
6th, Attard/Adams 9th and Burton/Flux 10th.
The final word goes to Scuderia Ecosse Team Principal, Stewart Roden:
"We've had one hell of a year in GT racing! We've enjoyed every
minute of it, even all the dramas with penalties, noise levels and the
like. I'd like to pay tribute to my team for working their socks off
all year, to our sponsors, and last but by no means least the four drivers
who have all done a fantastic job for us this year. Of course it's a
shame we couldn't win the Championship but I'd like to think we put
on a great show for everyone along the way!"
For a statistical summary of Scuderia Ecosse's season click
here (Acrobat required).
