British GT Championship - Rounds 4 and 5

Mondello Park, Ireland

Qualifying

It’s stopped raining, anyway. The track’s not dry, but at leased it’s not getting worse.

Luke Hines takes the wheel to qualify for the first of two races this weekend. Going out on intermediate tyres, his laptimes got progressively quicker as the asphalt began developing a drier racing line.

8 laps later – Pole position for the Essex-based driver with a time of 1:55.472. 1.4 seconds ahead of the second quickest car (and it’s not a Ferrari)

The damper conditions are allowing the GTC class cars to race for position with the two GT2 cars of Team LNT and Scuderia Ecosse. Second fastest around the Irish track was Trackspeed’s #3 Porsche 996 driven by Ryan Hooker in the GTC class.

GT2 fellow competitor Chris Niarchos brought his red Ferrari ‘home’ in 4th place, 2.634 seconds behind Hines.

Hines told us: "Conditions are very hard out there. It's trying to make its mind up whether it's dry or wet. I took every lap as it comes, didn't work the car too hard and just played it nice and safe. The last few laps were definately a lot quicker, but by the end I'd already done a fast enough time so came into the pits and celebrated pole."

Kimber-Smith gave Team LNT their second pole position of the meeting with a stunning time of 1.49.003.

The track was still drying out more and more – virtually dry in places. Kimber-Smith, still out on the same tyres as Hines’ earlier stint, got faster and faster throughout the fifteen session but took pole time immediately fromon his out lap!

With three minutes of the session to go, Kimber-Smith came to the pits for a new set of tyres. With having plenty of practice at pit stops the previous weekend at Le Mans, the pit stop went smoothly and was back out onto the track in time to do one fast lap – his fastest – on the fresh intermediates.

Like in the first qualifying session, Trackpeed were second overall – a breathtaking 4.413 seconds behind. Tim Mullen driving for Scuderia will start Sunday’s race in third. He was 4.983 seconds slower on his best lap than Kimber-Smith’s best.

"Leading up to the weekend everybody in the Team is really tired so getting the car here is really good. All the backroom staff are being fantastic and it's showing in our current performance. I'm glowing in confidence at the moment from the win at Le Mans. Knowing I only had enough time to do one lap on the fresh tyres, I had to push, but knew we'd be comfortably on pole."

Race one is later in the day at 17.05 hrs.

Race 1: Round 4

Today marks another moment in history for the Panoz family. The Panoz cars are more commonly known as American built V8 machines. However, its firm roots lie here in Ireland.

During a time of residency for the Panoz family on this small island, Dan Panoz had an idea in his shed in Wexford. Don and his family moved there in the late 1960s when Dan was 7 years old and it was here where he had the initial idea to develop and build road cars. And thus the Panoz car marque was born!

The eagle-eyed among you may have already spotted a shamrock in the Panoz logo. The traditional Irish symbol has been integrated into the logo as a reminder of this.

This weekend is the first time a Panoz has raced on home soil since the cars have evolved from Dan’s seed of thought. What a better way to mark the occasion than with a win by the Kimber-Smith / Hines duo?

After round three, the #57 Panoz were trailing #1 Ferrari in the championship table by five points and eager to narrow the gap.

The two drivers between them gave Team LNT their first win of the British GT championship to bring them level points in the championship with the Scuderia Ecosse team who won the championship last year.

Level on points, because the points scored were halved because there were fewer than 6 cars on the grid from the same class. Level on points, because the Ferrari failed to finish.

Hines held his lead into the first corner of the 3.5km circuit and immediately opened up a gap from the following pack.

GT2 co-competitor Chris Niarchos brought the Ferrari into the pits at the end of lap 1 with clouds of steam emerging from the back of the car. The cap of its radiator popped off just after the lights turned green.

The Team worked hard to rejoin the race – which they did, but six laps down and only for a short time. With 37 minutes of the race remaining, Niarchos parked the car in the pits and the mechanics took it back to the garage.

Meanwhile, Hines was increasing his lead by 2-3 seconds a lap. The track was dry and cars were reunited with slick tyres. Hines set the fastest lap on lap 4 with a time of 1:45.544 and continued to lap consistently in the 1:45 / 1:46 region.

21-year old Kimber-Smith took over the driving duties 27 minutes into the race during the mandatory driver-change pit stop to build upon the great work already put in by Hines.

The Le Mans winner continued to put in the consistent laps. By lap 20, Kimber-Smith was 54 seconds ahead of the GT3 Lotus of Barrie Whight in second position, and 73 seconds in front of third place Matt Allison in his GTC Porsche 996.

Crossing the line at leased 1 lap ahead of the rest of the field, the Team were happy with the pace of the car and to take the top step of the podium.

“Obviously it’s great to have the win” said Hines, “but it would have been better to have won it through our outright speed. We’ve been quickest all weekend and it’s a shame the Ferrari didn’t finish because there was no real racing.”

Speaking after running from the podium to spray his No.1 mechanic Kev Whitaker with champagne, Kimber-Smith told Team LNT “I don’t think the Ferrari’s shown it’s full pace all weekend and am sure they’ll bounce back for tomorrow’s race. I just went out there to put the laps in, stay out of trouble and bring the car home which I did.”

Race 2: Round 5

Sunday dawned with blue skies. Warm up at 9am ended up with the Team LNT Panoz still at the top of the timesheet having registered a time of 1:47.121 – 1.176 seconds ahead of the JMH Ferrari 360.

After the dramas yesterday at Scuderia Ecosse the Ferrari was present but only managed two laps. Tim Mullen brought the car into the pits and straight to its garage with the water cooling system still causing problems for the Team.

Guests from Team LNT sponsors Kleeneze came to lend the Team their support, enjoy the hospitality, meet and greet both drivers and get close to the V8 Panoz.

Kleeneze chairman William Rollason also attended and gave a talk in the hospitality suite with a question and answer session during lunch. Afterwards, opportunities were available to network with each other.

Meanwhile, Chris Niarchos came to tell us that they would not be on the starting grid for the second British GT Championship race of the weekend. The cooling system having been deemed irrepairable at the track.

So the Team LNT strategy to win was simply to finish – they would have the only GT2 car on the track.

And win they did. A very important win too as it now gives them a valuable 5 point advantage in the championship points.

Kimber-Smith led from pole position and already had a 6.3 second gap between himself and the following cars by the start of his third lap. Pushing to build up a comfortable gap, he put in lap times of 1min 45 seconds until a 20 second cushion developed, setting the fastest lap of the race on lap 3 with a time of 1.45.580. His pace then steadied off by two seconds - 2 seconds faster than Damien Faulkner in his #3 GTC Porsche.

The safety car was deployed on lap 10 to retrieve the two stricken #4 and #17 Porsche cars at turn one following a collision between them. Kimber-Smith rolled up to the back of the train of cars following the safety car – now effectively one lap ahead of the rest of the field. As the pit stop window was approaching, Hines began to prepare to exchange places with Kimber-Smith.

Still under safety car conditions, the Team had a faultless driver changeover at the end of lap 16 and a little over 25 minutes still to run.

The safety car returned to the pit lane a lap later and the sight of a waving green flag indicated the race was back on again.

Hines just then had to bring the car home to take the second win of the weekend and the Team’s third in a row.

“Like yesterday, it’s great to get the win – especially as we’re now leading the championship” said Kimber-Smith. “I’m sorry that Scuderia never got their car to the grid because it would have been great to have beaten them on the track.

“At the end of the day a win’s a win.”

The Team would also like to extend their gratitude to Avon tyres – sponsors and suppliers to the Championship for 2006. Their dedication, help and support has contributed to the Team’s development and successes so far. Their hard work is appreciated and look forward to maintaining the relationship.

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