British GT - Round 2 - Snetterton
15th May 2011
Round 2 of the Championship was held at the new configuration Snetterton which was new to all 4 of our drivers so the free practice sessions would be learning the new layout and setting up the car.
Practice and Qualifying
Free practice would best be described as eventful. The #45 X-Bow lost the use of a few gears in it's transmission which curtailed Athanasios's session in FP1 but Peter put in the fastest lap in GT4. The "rooster" aka Simon worked like a Trojan to change the gearbox in time for FP2. Marcus in the meantime put his off roading skills to the test bringing the car under control when it took to the gravel on the old Revett straight (can't get my head around the new names) following a suspension arm malfunction.
Following the traumas of practice, the boys pulled out all the stops and Michael Mallock put the #45 X-Bow on pole for GT4 followed by Marcus in #44 0.019 secs behind.
The Race
Instead of the usual 2 x 1 hour races, this round was a straight 2 hour race with refuelling added to the usual excitement of driver and tyre changes.
Athanasios could not unfortunately take advantage of pole and lost a few places. This added to a slowish start by Peter meant that the 2 X-Bows were not in their customary leading positions as the first few laps unfolded. Peter soon got into his stride and hauled in the Lotus and Ginetta to re take the class lead on lap 7. The planned early change for #45 X-Bow went smoothly and Michael took off like a scalded cat to start making back some time and places. Peter in the meantime was building a good lead and was actually leading the race overall as the pit window neared it's closing limit - a fraction too long as it transpired and following another smooth changeover, #44 was hit with a penalty for staying out too long so Marcus had to come straight back in and twiddle his thumbs for 71 seconds uder the watchful eye of Bernard Cotteril. Both X-Bows were now flying with Marcus, the meat in a Lotus Evora sandwich but lapping 4 secs a lap faster than the leading Lotus. With 6 minutes to go, he swooped past #49 Evora for the lead which he held to the chequered flag. Michael was also making great progress until one of the Lotus's used his car as extra brakes and ploughed into the back of him. His reaction to this was unprintable but in spite of a super injunction, they can be read on Twitter. He still finished P4 in class. For good measure and to seal an exciting if nerve jangling weekend, marcus posted the fastest lap in GT4.
So a happy and relieved Team ABG left Norfolk on Sunday evening P1 & P3 in the .GT4 championship. The next round is on the Brands Hatch GP circuit in June
Some images below from Mick Herring as always.
