2011 Finale – Brands Hatch Indy, November 19th, Hawthorns bag 2nd Overall and miss out on 2011 class championship by 1 point !!

All they had to do to clinch the title was to start the race and bag the points on offer, but pre-race, Aaron Scott had identified that he and Craig Wilkins would be going all out for the overall win in the Class 2 GT3 Racing Dodge Viper, given the absence of any Class 1 machinery, and spurred by the inclusion of the Barwell Ginetta G55, with Mark Lemmer, Tom Kimber-Smith and Ben de Zille Butler on board.

Yes, they clinched the title, but it wasn’t the race anybody would have expected, with the Class 3 cars dominating as the race drew to a close, and the Topcats Marcos Mantis of Owen O’Neill taking a famous victory in a thriller of a race.

The Barwell Ginetta squandered its pole spot, breaking a drive shaft as it left the grid on the pace lap, and, pushed back down the pit lane for repairs, Kimber-Smith re-joined 27 laps down, which was a deficit they would never recover, though they did bag the fastest lap of the race.

Aaron Scott assumed the lead from the front row, and Jay Shepherd slotted the Hawthorn’s Porsche in behind, but it wasn’t long into the race that we had the first Safety Car period; Graeme Bryant had gone off in his Marcos at Clearways and rejoined, but it was Production runner Richard Chamberlain’s Elise going off more solidly in the same place next time round that brought the three-lap caution.

At this point Scott led Shepherd, Joe Osbourne in the Optimum Ginetta G50, and the Topcats twins, Henry Fletcher in the Class 3 Marcos ahead of Neil Huggins in the Class 2 machine, but on lap nine, the red Viper was pitbound, the team diagnosing a fuel feed issue. A few exploratory laps were made after a long stop, but the championship was in the bag, and that was it for Scott and Wilkins.

So, it was Shepherd who now led, ahead of the Osbourne Ginetta, and Huggins who had taken team-mate Fletcher, and was advancing on the Ginetta. He made short work of it, in fact, - lap 17 and he was second, and five laps later he took the top spot from Shepherd at Druids. Also on the move was Gareth Jones, taking the first stint in the Eurotech Porsche 997, now harrying Fletcher’s Mantis, making a move which ended in a grassy moment at Graham Hill Bend, and a recovery drive to be mounted. Osbourne took second from Shepherd – Druids again – and Huggins held a lead of just over two seconds when the Safety Car made another appearance, this time to recover Tim Saunders’ Production Honda Civic, which had stopped on the exit of Graham Hill Bend with suspension failure.

The caution was lifted after four laps, and immediately Fletcher made a move on Shepherd for third at Druids, but it didn’t come off, and even worse, he lost out to Gareth Jones, who capitalised on the loss of momentum, and slipped the white Porsche past at Surtees. Behind them, Paul Bailey, running a lap down in the SB Engineering Ferrari 430,had a queue forming behind him as he slowed to make his pit stop – 40 minutes in, as Andy Schulz had predicted before the race; Schulz would now take the car over for the duration.

Graeme Bryant performed another spin at Clearways, this time embedding the Marcos backwards into the gravel, and, with Osbourne’s Ginetta still stuck to the tail of the leading Marcos from the last caution, the Safety Car made yet another appearance, and again, it would be out for four laps.

This time Osbourne got a bit more serious when they got the green, and side-by-side through Surtees, the Ginetta was briefly ahead of Huggin’s Marcos around Clearways, but the power of the Topcats car’s 7-litre Chevy LS7 pulled it ahead along the straight. The pair had now been caught by two very rapid stragglers – Schulz recovering from Bailey’s pit stop, and Kimber-Smith playing catch-up in the Barwell Ginetta G55, both running faster than the squabbling leading cars, and now splitting them. Huggins made a discretionary move to let them both through, which put the Optimum G50 on his tail again, but, cometh the hour, cometh the mandatory stops, and two cars that had a three-line whip – the Eurotech Porsche and the Optimum Ginetta , came in on the button of 60 minutes. Gareth Jones had abandoned his relentless harrying of Shepherd’s Porsche for third, and would now hand the Eurotech car over to cousin Philip, whilst Lee Mowle resumed in the Ginetta.

Then it all went wrong for Huggins, - he went off at Clearways, and Shepherd and Fletcher didn’t need a second invitation to make their battle one for the lead. The “big green” Marcos re-joined and pitted; “it was grabbing, and straight-lined when I braked” complained Huggins, but the team could find no obvious defect, and Jon Harrison was sent out, probably a little earlier than expected, and straight into another Safety Car period. Clearways had claimed another victim – the Production Mardi Gras Honda this time – and the caution was for three laps this time.

Graeme Bryant had pitted the Marcos, and his atypical ragged performance was explained; “It’s a damper issue, the front right has sheared” he said as the team effected repairs. Son Ollie would take over. That made two Marcoses in the pits, because Harrison brought the #26 Topcats car in again, and this time a leaking power steering unit was diagnosed.

Conversely, things were looking up for the #36 Marcos, as Fletcher finally got the long silver and orange nose of his car in front of Shepherd’s 997 at the apex of Druids.

With 100 laps on the board – you don’t see that very often at Brands Hatch – the half-way point was marked. The two leaders still hadn’t stopped, showing superb fuel economy, or maybe just chancing their luck, and behind them was another non-stopper, the Fox Motorsport Lotus Exige of Paul McNeilly, who had been having a superbly executed run. It would be another eight laps before he handed over to Jamie Stanley, at the same time as Kimber-Smith handed the Barwell Ginetta to Ben de Zille Butler, and Harrison re-joined in the Marcos.

The Mardi Gras Honda was having a festival of spins, and, this time sampling the Paddock Hill gravel, it caused another Safety Car deployment, and a trip to the beak’s office for the team manager. Andy Schulz took the opportunity to siphon 25 litres of Sunoco into the surprisingly thirsty little 430 Challenge, and once the caution was lifted, four laps later, Jamie Stanley, now flying in the Fox Exige, was on the tail of the more developed similar machine of Fulvio Mussi, which had been started by Dan Norris-Jones.

Lee Mowle had a somewhat short stint in the Optimum Ginetta, handing over to final-stinter George Murrells six minutes short of the two-thirds distance, and at last Jay Shepherd brought the Hawthorns Porsche 997 in, nearly on the two-hour mark, and Rod Barrett took over. Henry Fletcher, though, was still out there, and, even as the race was neutralised by yet another Safety Car session, this time to allow the safe departure of the Production cars, who’s race finished at two hours, he plugged away, eventually bringing the Marcos in for Owen O’Neill to take over with just 53 minutes of the race left.

Jamie Stanley retired the Exige – luck just hasn’t gone his way in Britcar this year – but Mussi now found a new sparring partner in Brian Heitkotter, who had started the RJN Nissan 370z, and was now back in it after Jann Mardenborough’s middle stint. The pair were a lap apart, but gave a sensational display, side-by-side through several laps. The safety car at the top of the second hour had lost a little time for Barrett, but he was catching O’Neill at the rate of a second a lap; he was 23 seconds behind, and there were 43 minutes left.

Mussi’s spat with Heitkotter came to an end when he spun off at Surtees, but recovered, though this was the precursor to worse, because the Lotus was soon at a rest on the grass along the Cooper Straight, and yet again, the Safety Car was brought out. Manna from heaven for Barrett’s pursuit of O’Neill, you might think, but not so. The Safety Car picked up Ollie Bryant’s Marcos, with O’Neill’s similar car third in the crocodile, and Barrett’s Porsche seventh, but significantly, sandwiched in the quartet between the lead cars, was O’Neill’s Topcats team –mate Jon Harrison.

There were 18 minutes of the race left when the safety car let the pack go, and the front-end of the train sped away, whilst Harrison, in a Marcos in less than prime condition, made a tardy re-start, and had a disorderly queue behind him right round the lap, before he jinked aside at Surtees and let the snarling train through. Barrett carved through quickly, and was within six seconds of the lead when, in an admitted bout of over exuberance, he threw the Porsche off at Clearways. He recovered, but the gap was now 28 seconds, and there was a quarter of an hour left.

With Murrells in the Ginetta succumbing to Morgan Jones’ Porsche for third, but responding to the advances of Heitkotter’s Nissan, the race played-out, finishing at 201 laps. It was a famous victory for Britcar stalwarts Topcats, and a race that had thrilled for the entire three hours.

First-time overall winner Owen O’Neill explained the sort-of strategy: ”We sat and looked at the data on Friday night which suggested there was s no way we could have done it on one stop, and resigned ourselves to two-stopping. However, after a few beers had been drunk we thought, sod it. If we want to win we were going to have to gamble on the safety cars. In the event lady luck was on our side and we managed to one-stop it. I was still running at a slightly slower pace in case the thing started coughing five minutes from the end, but I'm sure if needs be I could have dug out a 50 or two (I think I had to on occasion anyway, under instruction from Paul!) I have to say well done to Warren and Top Cats, not just for tonight but for a terrific season. Massively supportive and encouraging team, and to Henry for really taking the car by the scruff of the neck and delivering a simply brilliant drive for over two hours which teed us up to bring it home under increasing pressure from Rod. A great night and lets all have another go at it next year”!

Rod Barrett, aware of his own error, was magnanimous in defeat: “This was indeed a great race, perhaps the best of the season based on how close we all were at the end. I was convinced that the Marcos would have to re-fuel and two- stop, so we thought we had it made, but when it went passed the 90 minutes without re-fuelling, I began to think they must have really turned the wick down. We had to pit when we did, for despite using our lowest fuel level per lap, we were on fumes. By the end of the race, I run out of fuel as we came into the pit lane. Congratulations are in order to Top Cats, for an amazing strategy that fooled us all, how they got that big lump of an engine to do it is staggering, very well done to them. My thanks to all at Neil Garner for a great season and fantastic support, and to Jay Shepherd for giving us half a chance against a somewhat quicker car, his drive was breath taking, and must of had a few teams worried about the outcome”.

Gareth, Morgan and Philip Jones ended a great season with a fine third place, the sons of the BGT champion fathers now firmly established as skilled endurance drivers, and the invitation-entry Optimum Ginetta G50 of Osbourne/Mowle/Murrells of was fourth, ahead of Playstation graduates Heitkotter and Mardenborough in the RJN Nissan 370z – the lads have turned into handy GT pilots through this intense season, and deserve to follow their predecessors to international success.

Andy Schulz’s long stint was rewarded with sixth place in the Ferrari 430, just three laps down on the leaders, despite a couple of unplanned stops, and the Priocept Lotus of Norris-Jones/Mussi had done enough to be classified seventh. The three troubled Class 2 cars completed the classified runners; The Huggins/Harrison Marcos, the Barwell Ginetta G50 (Mark Lemmer grabbing the trophy for third-in-class, but disappointed to break his run of class wins in this race), and the recalcitrant Baryuant Marcos.

STEVE WOOD