GT CUP - Round 7 - Spa Francorchamps
3rd October 2010
Team ABG arrived at Spa on Thursday by truck, by plane and motorhome only to find the doors shut and we could not get set up until Friday morning. One team member was lucky to be there at all as he had forgoten to check the expiry date on his passport but luckily the folk at border patrol were more interested in their lunch.... Apart from the usual 3 KTMs, we were also running Colin Broster's Porsche for the first time. Having collected the Porsche en route to the Ardenne this weekend was going to be pretty busy with set up and testing the car during the official sessions.
There were 2 official and 1 unofficial practice sessions on Friday which only Colin and Peter Belshaw took advantage of to reacquaint themselves with the circuit. Peter was in the groove and ended Session 1 second quickest in Class 2 and went one better in Session 2. Colin, Sam, Ben and Colin were all however snapping at his heels.
Saturday dawned wet for Session 3 which gave the boys the opportunity to get a wet set up just in case it rained for qualifying and the races.
Sam did a fantastic job in qualifying putting the Manup Racing X-Bow on pole for Class 2 and a very respectable 9th overall. Benjamin pulled one out when it mattered and posted P3 for Class 2. So it all bode well for the 2 races.
Race 1
Sam has clearly been watching and learning from Dad and pulled a scorching start gaining 3 places by the end of lap 1, passing Keith Webster to lead Class 2. He then proceeded to drive a smooth and commanding race in P5 overall and with a handsome 18 sec cushion over Webster. Tragically, he picked up a puncture on lap 9 and peeled into the pits to get a fresh left rear fitted. This left the BMW leading Class 2 but Peter and Benjamin were having a battle royal of their own swapping places practically every lap but in the process were reeling him in at a swift rate of knots. They caught and passed the Beemer on the last lap and Peter took the class win. Had it not been for Sam's terrible misfortune Team ABG would have scored a 1,2,3
Race 2
Colin started in P6 overall and steadfastly held this position until lap when he got hauled in by Hartley and Winstanley. Webster was flying however and ended the race in P3 overall with Colin picking up P2. Benjamin got jumped at the start and lost 4 places in the first two laps but he then hauled himself back up to 11th before being tagged by a Porsche which damaged his N/S rear wheel too badly and ge retired on lap 15. After his great win in Race 1, it all went sour for Peter in Race 2 as he suffered a power loss from a suspected turbo issue to drop well down the field.
So a bitter sweet weekend for Team ABG but we must congratulate Sam on a brilliant drive - it was in the bag and also to Peter for his and our first Class win of 2010.
Final round at Silverstone in two weeks time'
