Team Olympian GRD dominate at Anglesey

OLYMPIAN- GRD TRIO BACK ON TOP

Defending Champions Team Olympian GRD were back on title winning form, with two fairly dominant wins at Anglesey.

Championship leaders MJ Tec had drawn a front row start, with Scott Jeffs starting alongside poleman Ben Pitch for PLR Racing. It was Jeffs that led from the start, starting to build a lead by lap three, as Pitch, EDF Vapeclub’s Simon Coles, AxiaMetrics Chris Weatherill and JPR Team ARC’s Aaron Cooke disputed second.

But Victor Kara’s EDF car had coasted to a halt at Rocket and had to be recovered, so a couple of safety car laps followed.

Coles jumped Pitch from the green flag and Cooke ousted Weatherill too, and for a while the lead pair escaped again. But Cooke reeled in Coles to snatch second on lap 12, as Fabulous Randaccio closed on their duel too for UVio/Team Hofmann’s.

Three laps later Randaccio was third and it was only another three laps before he had taken Coles too. The was plenty of action behind too, with Weatherill and Seed Data’s Matt Hogg demoting Pitch, while Greenheath’s Paul Turner headed a six-car train for eighth.

With the first pitstop window opened, Olympian and JPR 257 were first to pit from 15^th and ninth respectively, with Dovell handing to Rudd and MX-5 ace Jack Noller, a late deputy for Kristian Rose, handing to Martin Gibson.

The lead trio all pitted on the same lap, as Jeffs handed to Will Abraham, Cooke to Rob Croydon and Randaccio to Farquini Deott.

On rejoining Farquini was straight on the attack to challenge Abraham’s lead, and nosed ahead at the Corkscrew on lap 32, only for Abraham to retake up to Rocket a lap later.

They stayed close and continued to swap, but it was Farquini with a 0.503 secs lead after one hour, with Rudd having charged through the field to take Croydon for third. Axiametrics Jon Railton was fifth and Vapeclub’s Vlad Vassiliev under pressure for sixth, from PLR’s Neil Plimmer and Seed Data’s Mike Devlin.

But 42 laps in and it was game over for Gibson in the JPR 257. “The rear wheel studs sheared and I lost a wheel at the Corkscrew,” he explained. “It was good but busy start. I had one moment, but then got into the top 10, before our incident,” added co-driver Noller.

So nine laps under caution followed, with the second pitstop window coinciding, bringing a mass entry into the pitlane.

Jeffs led again from the green flag, from Randaccio, with Cooke and Hogg demoting Dovell , who then had Turner closing in on his fifth place.

Charging through the field though was Harry Mailer for Signature RV, and he had managed to latch onto Turner too, by half distance.

Although Jeffs had built a lead, Cooke was putting Randaccio under pressure for second, when the safety car was out again, with 62 laps completed.

“I had good early progress from the start and the safety cars helped to get me challenging for second, as the car was great,” said Cooke.

Neil Burroughs’ Morpheus car was a number of laps down after carburetor issues and a loss of power, but as he braked early at Rocket, Turner hit him and was then collected by Skull Club’s Jac Constable, as he tried to take avoiding action. “I had been hit a lap earlier by Harry, which broke the manifold, but Sparky braked so early I couldn’t avoid him,” Turner explained.

“I just missed the incident, as I was late on the brakes too, trying my best to keep Harry back, which I did for a lap of two,” said Dovell.

So it was another mass pitstop entry for the second driver change, going green on lap 68, with Abraham again under attack from Farquini for the lead.

“We had a good start, but it was difficult to get heat into the tyres, but just drove as fast as I could, my second stint felt better though,” said Jeffs.

Phillips was in for Olympian and having rejoined eighth under the safety car on lap 63, he led by the end of the 72^nd. With Olympian having Rudd take the penultimate stint, before handing back to Phillips, they totally dominated the final hour, “I had two good stints and everything worked,” said Rudd. “It was hard work at first, but then I was just cruising, “Phillips added, after taking victory by 47.496 secs.

But the fight for second went down to the wire, before Farquini finally clinched it. “We had a bit of a handling issue after contact at the start,” Farquini explained. “We damaged a splitter and a rear wheel after contact with a backmarker, but had good pace,” commented team mate Randaccio.

It had been wheel to wheel with Abraham though, as MJ Tec completed the podium. “One time I thought I had got him, but there was a car on the exit and he was back. Great racing and on the limit though,” said Abraham.

“He nosed ahead but left me a Fun Cup sized gap on the last lap, he thought he was through, but I was there and got a bit airborne. But we needed that result,” said Farquini.

Devlin brought Seed Data home in fourth, for their best ever result., with Axiametrics’ Greg Evans holding off Croydon as they completed the top six, despite the latter having made contact with Evans’ rear in closing laps, both one lap down.

PLR’s Pitch/Plimmer were seventh, with Vapeclub’s Coles/Vassiliev struggling with oil temperature in eighth. Signature RV’s Mailer, Steve Ruston and John Whitehouse and Morpheus’ Chris Hart/Stephen Walton rounding off the top six.

In the Masters it was AxiaMetrics and JPR ACR joining Olympian in the top three, with PLR, Signature RV and Team Ratters the rest of the top six.

RACE TWO

After some frantic activity in he pit garages, all 20 cars made it back onto the grid for race two, for another three into the late evening.

Croydon was on pole for JPR Team ARC and led the opening two laps, before Burroughs took charge for Morpheus. Gibson was also on a charge too and was into second by lap four, soon closing on the lead.

Croydon had started to slip down the order, as Gary Bate brought Greenheath into third, from Team Ratters David Ratcliff, who were all gradually being caught by Farquini for UVio/Hofmann’s.

Gibson had the lead from the Corkscrew on lap eight, leaving Burroughs to come under attack from Bate too. A lap later he was through at the Banking Hairpin and reeled in Gibson too.

Bate led from lap 13, but a lap later the top three had all been caught by Farquini as they went through School. Four laps later it was all change, Bate still had the lead, but Farquini was second, from Burroughs and Gibson, while Coles was a solitary fifth for Vapeclub EDF, followed by Ratcliff and a four-car train for seventh, with Team 3’s John Perrott to the fore.

Bate had kept the lead until the first stop, but there was a complete reshuffle behind. Ted Bradbury led for Morpheus and Turner had rejoined for Greenheath in second, with Randaccio third and Jeffs fourth for MJ Tec after a great end to his stint by Abraham.

Plimmer was fifth for PLR, but having rejoined 11^th, Rudd was up to sixth Olympian GRD by lap 36.

Randaccio managed to oust Turner just before the hour mark, with Jeffs following, but Bradbury was still out in front with a six- seconds lead.

“We got our rear wheel hit by Morpheus, the opposite side to race one.,” said Farquini.

“That was a brilliant opening stint, I tried hard but just couldn’t close on those top four,” Coles admitted.

“I got held up quite a bit at the start, bit of a nightmare until I got clear and got some pace,” added Abraham.

“Happy with that stint, but I lost some ground defending from John Perrott,” said David Ratcliff. “I think I lost the tyres a bit, but it was good chasing him,” Perrott relied.

Bradbury stayed in charge until the second stop, pitting two laps earlier than the rest of the leaders, as Randaccio, Jeffs, Rudd and Mailer all pitted together, which handed Turner the lead.

The safety car was out for the first time when Walton’s Morpheus car was recovered which left Turner under more pressure from the green flag.

From green it was soon another pitstop window, which was followed by another safety car intervention to recover the PLR car. Green again on lap 74 Jeffs had the lead, with Randaccio in his wheeltracks, from Burroughs, Phillips, Turner and John Ratcliff.

“Attacking Ted and defending from Fabulous, was hard work, but Gary is flying to,” said Turner. “Our car is quite damaged, after Sparky lost the splitter,” Bradbury replied.

Onto the Banking for the 77^th time, Jeffs led but had a tap from Randaccio put them both off, as well as third placed Phillips who had just past Burroughs.

So Turner had the lead, until he was attacked jointly by Phillips and Burroughs. It was three abreast through Church, but despite taking to the grass, Phillips emerged in front Burroughs and Turner, but both Ratcliff and Cooke were close too.

“ I knew I had to get it then and there otherwise I would have got backed up. I aimed for the middle, but the sun was in my eyes and I went outside. We drifted across and then I was on the grass, but too late to back out,” said Phillips.

So Olympian completed the second hour with Phillips in front from Cooke, Burroughs, Turner, Ratcliff and Noller.

With Rudd back in before handing to Phillips for the final stint, it proved to be another Olympian GRD success, leaving Randaccio and Turner to battle it out for second. “Every time I got close or tried he got away again,” said Turner.

So Greenheath followed UVio/Hofmann’s home in third. “A real podium and nothing to do with my age,” said Bate. Despite a harsh pitstop penalty. MJ Tec still clawed their way back to fourth, “I think we were catching, but a rear wheel felt a bit out and we had a misfire”, said Jeffs.

Another excellent result for Seed Data gave them fifth, from the Signature trio of Ruston, Whitehouse and Mailer, while 257 JPR For Hire, EDF Vapeclub, JPR Team ACR and Team Ratters completed the top 10, with Olympian, Greenheath and Signature RV the top three Masters.

Despite their early pace and promise Morpheus became casualties, with Bradbury going off at the Corkscrew after the throttle stuck open.

Next stop is Snetterton for 4 hours on July 20^th.

https://www.tsl-timing.com/file/?f=BRSCC/2024/242431fun.pdf

Published by Peter Scherer for Fun Cup Endurance, June 17th 2024