BGTC: Thruxton: CR Scuderia race one report
PIT-LANE CHAOS RUINS CHANCES The British GT race at Thruxton today was looking good for CR Scuderia, until pit-lane chaos destroyed the lead built up by Jeremy Metcalfe in CRS Ferrari no.16. Metcalfe started the race from a well-deserved ...
PIT-LANE CHAOS RUINS CHANCES
The British GT race at Thruxton today was looking good for CR Scuderia, until pit-lane chaos destroyed the lead built up by Jeremy Metcalfe in CRS Ferrari no.16. Metcalfe started the race from a well-deserved pole position and was pulling away in the lead before the safety car came out just 13 minutes into the race.
Paddy Shovlin had made a great start from fifth, immediately moving up to third by going straight through the middle into turn one. He then set about trading places with the Brookspeed Viper. Michael Meadows moved up from ninth to seventh at the start and then gained another spot on lap four.
When the safety car came out the CRS Ferraris were running first (Metcalfe), fifth (Meadows) and sixth (Shovlin). Whilst the marshals got busy removing Leo Machitski's stricken Lamborghini from the last corner the teams started watching the clock, waiting for the pit-lane to open 10 minutes later.
The safety car was still out when the pit window opened and the pit-lane was suddenly very full of GT cars.
Metcalfe came in from the lead but as Luke Hines tried to pull away he was hit hard from behind by the Aston Martin of Gavan Kershaw. Chaos ensued with no-one having enough room to pull out of the pits and cars hitting each other even in the fast lane of the pits.
When the race eventually settled down again and the safety car came in Michael Cullen was seventh, Luke Hines was eighth and James Sutton was 10th.
The second half of the race became a battle between the Ferrari 430s of CRS and those of VRS and Chad with the CRS cars eventually taking the chequered flag in seventh (Hines), eighth (Cullen) and ninth places (Sutton).
CR Scuderia Ferrari no.16: Luke Hines & Jeremy Metcalfe
JEREMY METCALFE: "I was pleased to get pole position. The car was great today and I wa s able to pull away at the start of the race. Unfortunately the safety car came out so the gap closed up and then it stayed out so that was the end of racing for me really. The pit-stop was a disaster; everything that could go wrong did go wrong. It was absolute chaos. The guys did everything as normal but there were just too many cars in the pits at once. There's nothing you can do about it but it's hard to take as that should have been a win for myself and Luke."
CR Scuderia Ferrari no.14: James Sutton & Michael Meadows
MICHAEL MEADOWS: "I moved up to fifth from ninth during my stint. The race result was decided in the pit-lane though and I don't think that's the way that races should be decided. James and I did a good job today but the final result was totally out of our control.
CR Scuderia Ferrari no.15: Michael Cullen & Paddy Shovlin
MICHAEL CULLEN: "I enjoy ed my dice with Luke in the second half of today's race and was sorry to see him go by. It was great fun but I'd prefer it if we were fighting for first, not seventh!"
-credit: crscuderia.com
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