British GT12 Nationals RD4 Eastbourne – Report

Round 4 of the BRCA GT12 Nationals took place on the 17th of December and was hosted by the Eastbourne club at their facility in Robertsbridge.  24 of the nations keenest racers took to the track to compete at one of the countries best tracks. A superb venue with a  fantastic technical track layout and some great track markings.  Along side the GT12 racers they had the mini super cup entries with a support class of LMP12 featuring the former world David Spashett.  The day consisted of the usual format of 1 practice, 4 qualifying rounds and 1 final to decide the winner of the Event.  Round one saw the usual front runners and title contenders taking the lead with smooth and fast driving from Adam Mackman to TQ the first round of qualifying with a 4 second gap back to his closest rivals Sam Coult and Morgan Williams who was making his return to GT12 after racing LMP at the IFMAR world championships. Round 2 was a virtual stalemate in the top 5 with no improvements in the top 3 and only Ewan Thompson and James Taylor swapping places in the top 5. The big winners of round 2 were Matt Hunter and Matt Gammons as they both made big jumps in the standings.

Round 3 saw all the front runners times improve and shuffled the top 5 with Sam Coult leapfrogging Adam Mackman to top the timesheets, and James Taylor got back past Ewan Thompson to take back 4th spot. After round 3 times were close with 14 seconds separating the top 9.  Round 4. The one that counts in an FTQ showdown. With Chase Mackman from race 6, Matt Gammons and Ewan Thompson from race 7 posting respectable times the pressure was on for race 8 drivers to secure their spot in the A final.  And they certainly didn’t disappoint with Sam Coult taking TQ from Adam Mackman by only 3 tenths of a second then it was Morgan Williams a couple of seconds behind him in 3rd.  Matt Gammons taking 4th place from James Taylor who ended up qualifying 5th.  Then it was Ewan Thompson just beating Aidan Ripley to 6th place, with Joseph Moore edging out Chase Mackman for the final position in the A final.  Meaning Chase Mackman took B final TQ with Matt Hunter and Mark Dieterman filling 2nd and 3rd spots in the B final.  The C final TQ was clinched by Gary Pugh then Matthew Norkett in second with Richard Stevens in third. After lunch the finals were on and the C final kicked off with a great battle between Gary Pugh and Richard Stephens.  Gary held the lead through the early laps but Richard Stephens managed to steal the lead and the order stayed like this for 5 minutes with Gary applying the pressure and a mistake from Richard letting Gary back through, if only for a few laps though as a coming together with back marker allowed Richard to get back through. This time Gary was unable to get back past meaning Richard took the win by under a second from Gary and Chris Taylor coming third.

B Final.

Birthday Boy Chase Mackman cruised through the race taking the win going flag to flag in first place. Chase left the others to battle for the remaining two podium spots with Mark Dieterman beating Matt hunter to 2nd place.

A Final
The big hitters lined up to race for glory. With the excitement and anticipation of what lay ahead getting too much for James Taylor causing him to jump the start from p5. He hesitated in what to do and Ewan Thompson took to the inside down the straight to overtake him into the first corner. For two minutes the front three got away with a small gap back to Matt Gammons  and Ewan. Contact was not only the tyre of choice for todays winner but also for the outcome of the day as the front three came together allowing Matt and Ewan to get through and away into the lead.  With the seconds ticking by, a mistake from Ewan let Morgan through into second place and with the
once race leaders bearing down on the leading trio it was to be a very tight race. That wasn’t to be the end of it though as Morgan made a mistake putting Ewan back into second place and Sam Coult into third, meanwhile Matt Gammons keeping it clean opened up the gap at the front.  On to the last lap and a clip of the barrier from Ewan allowed Morgan  and Sam Coult to take the remaining podium spots.

A Final Result
1. Matt Gammons – Schumacher
2. Morgan Williams – Schumacher
3. Sam Coult – Schumacher
4. Adam Mackman – Schumacher
5. Joseph Moore – Schumacher
6. James Taylor – Schumacher
7. Ewan Thompson – Schumacher
8. Aidan Ripley – Schumacher

As the end of the season is looming the title is still up for grabs meaning it might come down to the wire at round 5.  Thanks to all the racers for travelling south to Eastbourne.  Thanks to Eastbourne for putting on yet another great event. Round five is up next after the Christmas break at Stafford on January 28th.

Thanks to Paul Thompson for the Race report.