British GT Championship - Donington 20th - 21st May 2006
LNT Panoz young guns dominate bgt round at donington park

Qualifying - Round 3

They did what they could, but the Panoz was just faster. Scuderia Ecosse have to settle for second place on the grid for their Ferrari. Tom Kimber-Smith and Luke Hines are in front in the Team LNT Panoz.

There were two qualifying sessions, as per normal but this weekend’s racing at Donington Park will consist of one two-hour race as opposed to two one hour races. Teams had two fifteen minute periods to set their fastest time and determine a grid position.

Kimber-Smith went out first and set a “really encouraging” pole time of 1:10.184 in just a few laps. Tim Mullen in the #1 Ferrari 430 was running about 1 second off the pace and changed his tyres in the first session to find that hot lap he needed to jump the Panoz. Meanwhile, Kimber-Smith kept putting in the fast laps on circuit.

“The tyres are working really well and the car feels great” said Kimber-Smith after his session as Hines prepared for his fifteen minute stint. “To do a 1:10.7 only a couple of laps in and [the Ferrari] running in the 11’s we knew it would be hard for them to catch us so I didn’t push the car too hard.

There’s definitely a mid-9 time in the car.”

Hines continued to do the same throughout his track time, doing a personal best of 1:10.771. He didn’t get so much clear track ahead of him so traffic was a bit of a hindrance to the ex-BTCC driver. Mullen remained in the Scuderia car – this time able to pull a time out of 1:10.523 – 0.339 seconds slower than Kimber-Smith’s time.

Mullen’s team-mate Chris Niarchos took his seat for his mandetory 3 timed laps with only four minutes of the session remaining on the clock. Still, the Panoz held onto that Pole place.

The Ferrari didn’t make it back on the final lap. Niarchos took a trip off the circuit on a last-minute push.

Times: 1: Kimber-Smith/Hines 1:10.184; 2: Mullen/Niarchos + 0.339; 3: Riley/Flux + 1.175

Race

Round three of the British GT Championship provided plenty of entertainment from start to finish. It had a slightly different ‘look’ this week – a single, two hour race. With the Team LNT Panoz dominating qualifying and free practice, it looked good for the Sheffield-based team’s first win of the season. But then this is motorsport…

It had been raining most of the day. Again. Tom Kimber-Smith took the first of the driving duties and maintained his lead after the rolling start with Ian Flux right behind in his Rollcentre Mosler. Chris Niarchos in the rival GT2 Ferrari 430 dropped down to 5th place from his 2nd grid place start by the end of the first lap.

Kimber-Smith gradually pulled out a healthy lead over Flux despite heavy pressure until a safety car period closed that gap as the field bunched up. 3 laps after the re-start, Kimber-Smith already had a 7 second advantage over Flux and 15 seconds over Niarchos.

By this time the rain had ceased and the track was drying. Still on wet tyres, it was clear some cars were struggling to keep their lap times competitive. Kimber-Smith continued to plough in lap times consistently in the mid- 1min 22 sec compared to his nearest rivals who were 2 to 5 seconds slower at times, yet in the same conditions and encountering the same traffic.

Flux was the first to pit and exchange his wheels for intermediate Avon rubber on lap 26. Kimber-Smith was still running comfortably at the front and extending his lead with every lap.

An 1hr11 into the race – the Scuderia mechanics are getting ready for what must be their pit stop. Number #22 David Jones comes in for a stop-go penalty for allegedly overtaking under a yellow flag. As he leaves the pit lane, #1 Niarchos enters his pit box for a change to intermediate tyres and Mullen jumps into the driving seat.

Approaching the half way stage and it starts raining lightly again! Bearing in mind Team LNT had yet to pit, it could work out perfectly for the Team should it continue to rain.

It didn’t… It was only a short, sharp shower to spice up the action. Should it need spicing up any more!

Meanwhile, Kimber-Smith is still lapping in the 1:22s on his wet tyres on the damp track. Lap 41, and Mullen does a 1:22 and Flux a 1:21 on their intermediate tyres. Of course, Flux still had one definite stop to make for Kevin Riley to take over the drive…

Luke Hines took over the Panoz’s wheel with 45 minutes remaining - on intermediate tyres this time. It didn't look like rain would fall again.

Kimber-Smith had built up a sufficient lead to rejoin the race in the lead – 50 seconds ahead of Mullen in second place. On the same lap, the Rollcentre car came in for its driver change over and final scheduled pit stop.

For the first 10 laps I was really under pressure by Flux in the Rollcentre car” Kimber-Smith told Team LNT afterwards “but he spun so that took the pressure off me a bit. All I had to do was get as bigger gap as possible. The track was more of a river at the start, and as it dried the tyres struggled a bit but came back when rain returned.”

So after all of the scheduled pit stops, Lap 56 and the classification was thus: Hines in the lead, Mullen 50.459 seconds behind, Riley then Jones both 1 lap down. Hines was matching Kimber-Smith’s pace of 1:22s lap times and maintaining the comfortable lead.

Until the wonderful May weather decided to get involved again.

Only 30 minutes remained. Rain. Heavier then previously and very suddenly.

Unfortunately for Hines, the new slippery conditions caught him out at Old Hairpin. On intermediate tyres and a wet track, Hines' Panoz locked up and sent him partially into the gravel.

"I couldn’t steer or do anything. I was just a passenger" said Hines.

Immediately there was a flurry of pitlane activity as teams re-equipped their motors with wet tyres. Fortunately Hines was able to free the car from the gravel and return to the pits himself for a set of wets, but now down in third position behind Mullen and Jones in the Team Eurotech Porsche.

Another saftey car was deployed to recover other cars that had been caught by the sudden change in conditions. Hines took this opportunity to catch up with Jones and on the race restart, got past him at Redgate corner as they both passed a backmarker to take 2nd position.

Jones kept the pressure on Hines throughout the final 18 minutes but to no avail.

“I’m very disappointed [at the result] for myself and the Team.” Hines told us afterwards. “It’s just one of those things I guess. That’s racing. At leased we picked up second and we can still get the championship back.”

Team LNT Commercial Director and Team LNT Le Mans Series driver Richard Dean said “I am proud of the way our young drivers performed all weekend showing pace and maturity through the changing conditions. It’s a testament to the whole team on our dominance this weekend. The drivers and everybody at the workshop have been working really hard so our pace has been a real encouragement. Unfortunately you can’t predict the weather. That’s motorsport for you!”

The team now have a well-deserved weekend off before heading off to France for 24 hours of Le Mans pre-qualifying.

Highlights from Donington Park will be shown on TV at the following times:

Motors TV:
03/06/06 at 17.30
04/06/06 at 21.30
05/06/06 at 08.00
08-09/06/06 at midnight

Channel 4:
03/06/06 07.30