Brit GT »

Maiden win for RPM pairing

After winning both Rockingham races in 2007, Team RPM were once again victorious in 2008 as Steve Clark took the chequered flag behind the safety car to win his and Paul O'Neill's first British GT race in race two.

The circumstances were a bit bizarre after the Viper inherited the lead after race leader Leo Machitski spun out at Gracelands while following the safety car in the Tech 9 Lamborghini. Rob Austin and Hunter Abbott won their second British GT4 class race well ahead of championship leaders Stewart Linn and Matt Nicol-Jones.

Jason Templeman had claimed pole for the Tech 9 Lamborghini and was looking to make up for the disappointment of yesterdays race when a gearbox control unit failure put Leo Machitski into retirement. With rain starting to fall the teams were scratching their heads on which tyres they should start the race on, with most electing to start on slicks.

The cars set off behind the pace car and at Tarzan one of the Lamborghini's spun off, which turned out to be Templeman, and as the pace car pulled in it was Adam Jones in the Team Modena Lamborghini who led as Adam Wilcox in the VRS Motor Finance Ferrari got a run down the inside at turn one to move up from sixth to second by turn two. However with the rain still falling Wilcox ended up grass tracking at Gracelands as did Paddy Shovlin in the CR Scuderia Ferrari a lap later.

Jones was leading from Matt Griffin in the Chad Peninsula Racing Ferrari and Tom Ferrier in the second Tech 9 Gallardo. Allan Simonsen was on the move in the CiM Ferrari and by lap five, was up to third and challenging Griffin for second, a pass he made two laps later at Deene. Simonsen then closed the gap to the leading Lamborghini but the Danish driver wasn't able to pass until lap 13 in an identical move he had used on Griffin at Deene.

With the rain falling steadily some of the mid race runners decided to Avon wets but the drivers at the front decided to wait to see which way the weather would go. In the end the slick shod runners made the right call and the drivers on wets had to come in again for slicks as the rain eased off and stopped.

Another driver on the move was Paul O'Neill and by lap twelve he was up to fifth and catching Ferrier as the pit window approached. Ferrier came in on lap 20 as the rest of the front runners elected to stay out as long as possible.

Simonsen continued to circulate at the front of the field but he was unable to shake off Adam Jones. Tim Harvey and Anthony Reid were having a great battle for eighth place, the former BTCC rivals nose to tail for lap after lap until Harvey was able to put the Porsche ahead of the Ferrari on lap 19.

Simonsen, Jones and Griffin all came in on the same lap, just before the pit window closed. Piers Johnson, now at the wheel of the Team Modena Gallardo got a great pitstop and came out right on the tail of Hector Lester in the CiM Ferrari, passing the Irishman on the run into Deene. However a slide off the track on to the grass at Gracelands undid all the hard work and dropped Johnson right down the order and out of contention for the lead.

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Paul O`Neill  (GBR)/Steve Clark (GBR) - Team RPM Viper Competition Coupe
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