Aston Martin Challenge weekend at Donington Park June 25th / 26th 2011
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06-29-2011 | 10:51 AM
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Aston Martin Challenge weekend at Donington Park June 25th / 26th 2011
Stratton Motorsport triumph after an incident packed AM Challenge weekend at Donington Park June 25th / 26th 2011
Donington Park was the venue for Round 3 on the last weekend of June – a double header with races on both the Saturday and Sunday.
Saturday’s qualifying started wet, with James Appleby setting the early pace in the Generation AMR car followed closely by Desmond Smail in the 4.3-engined Mardis Gras car.
In this series, Mardi Gras are the last team running the older N24 model with it’s 4.3 engine (the current cars are 4.7) and many felt that that they would be at a insuperable disadvantage to the new 4.7 litre cars. They showed that in the right conditions, and in the right hands, the smaller car can still compete. Desmond boasted that his quickest times in the wet were set with the traction control inoperative and even though in the hot, sunny race he did indeed fall back, he afterwards predicted that some of the later races, ‘will be wet’. That will be great to watch!
Saturday’s race was to be a 3-Hour event with three mandatory pit stops. Ant Scragg led the field round on the green flag lap, which started in the dry. The early charge was led by Michael Mallock making his AM Challenge debut with his father Ray Mallock. But 40 minutes into the race the Swiss Riviera machine driven by Mario Cordoni ran wide at the Kraner curves and ploughed into the gravel trap at the old hairpin, sending the car into a roll. The tumbling Aston Martin demolished both the tyre barriers and the concrete barrier, to bring out the safety car. Due to the extent of the damage the decision was made by the clerk of the course that the race had to be stopped permanently, and as only 54 of the 180 minutes had been completed the race was declared null and void.
So, Sunday’s 90 minute race was extended to 120 minute with 2 mandatory stops, to recover some of the lost race time. Grid positions were taken from Saturday’s qualifying.
Richard Abra again led the field round for the green flag lap, in the hot sun, with Tiffany Chittenden alongside on the front row.
A very clean start was made by all with Richard taking the lead; Tiffany second, third was the Nicholas Mee entry with Christiaen van Lanschot at the wheel.
After the first round of pit stops it was Richard Abra still leading, second Chris Kemp, third was Mike Brown.
After round 2 of the pit stops had all been completed it was Mark Poole leading followed by Dan de Zille closing him down at about 2.5 seconds per lap, third was Alan Bonner who was being caught by Stuart Hall at about a second per lap.
The last 20 minutes was neck and neck with the top 4 cars all on the same lap sprinting to the finish. By lap 76 Stuart had managed to catch Alan Bonner and then get a run on him coming out of Redgate corner, passing him to take 2nd going through Hollywood. Then with only five minutes of the race remaining Stuart caught and passed Mark for the lead. Mark Poole fought very hard to keep enough of a gap to Alan to secure second place for the Generation AMR car. But Stuart Hall put together a perfect stint to claim a brilliant victory for the Stratton Motorsport car. Third was the Vantage racing car of Alan Bonner who again had showed some very strong pace all through the race. Fourth was Dan de Zille, slowed by an electrical gremlin but finishing just 8 secs further back.
A dramatic weekend that saw the death of one car, a super exciting finish and a girl on the top step > accepting the trophy! That’s why we enjoy motorsport.
Race Result
1.91 Chris Kemp/Stuart Hall/Tiffany Chittenden - Stratton Motorsport –91 Laps
2.08 Mark Poole/Richard Abra - Generation AMR –91 Laps
3.24 Tom Black/Alan Bonner - Vantage racing –91 Laps
4.12 Karsten le Blanc/Dan De Zille - Nicholas Mee Racing –91 Laps
5.80 George Miller/Les Goble – Tiger Coffee Aston – 88 Laps
The next round of the AM GT4 Challenge is at Spa Francorchamps on the 8th & 9th of July.
Quicksilver are proud series sponsors of the Aston Martin GT4 Challenge.
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