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2008 Rounds 3 & 4 : Knockhill International

These two rounds of the Avon Tyres British GT Championship started on the Thursday.. The tiring trip up to the circuit which is just north of Edinburgh was a long one!! Whilst the team were in buoyant mood, after leaving Oulton Park as Championship leaders, the season had only just started and there was (literally) a long way to go..

Friday
Only two sessions with the IMS Motorsport car topping the GT4 class times in the first session, the drivers and the team were still coming to terms with the circuit which none of them had ever seen before. It was quite a revelation, with good gradient change and undulation, a complicated first third of the track comprising of a technical number of corners inter-linked with one another. Once through that chicane it was onto the back “straight” with a curving straight up to the hairpin, with the hairpin encompassing a steep incline. The team were without one of their chief mechanics for the whole weekend, as his wife was due to give birth to their second child, so there were a few personnel and task changes to manage as well as the usual problems that arise over a race weekend. Nevertheless Friday ended well, but the team were still looking to eek out a few more tenths from the 55 second (or so) laptime for the GT4s around Knockhill. The front running GT3 cars were putting in 51 second laps.. It was going to be very busy around the 1.3 mile circuit.

Saturday

The practice session went well and the IMS Motorsport car was the quickest GT4 car for most of it. The team were happy that the drivers were finding their feet out on the track and so decided to focus on race setup and looked to alter the setup of the car..

Qualifying session 1

This went well, but the traffic was tough, GT3 and GT4 cars intermingled and the team never got a clear or good lap together. They would line up a close second (just over two tenths split the 1st and 2nd placed cars). The session was red flagged with 90 seconds left to run, but the team decided not to send Matt out again and got to work preparing the car for Stewart's session

Pitlane straight
Stewart and Matt on the top step of the podium

Qualifying session 2

The team were looking to improve on the second place from Q1, but unfortunately, traffic once more played a part and the team would line up third for race two on Sunday.

Race 1
A real rough and tumble affair punctuated by Safety Car periods, almost from the start, well from lap 2! With a mad flurry and rush of teams wanting to take advantage of one of the Safety Car periods the pitlane was absolute mayhem. Confusion reigned, but the team completed an excellent stop and got the car out ahead of the competition. Unfortunately yet another safety car period allowed the #55 Rob Austin car to effectively gain a lap on the IMS Motorsport car and brought a halt to any thought of a charging finish from Stewart. The team were happy to end the day with a 2nd place, especially as there had been so many DNFs.. They extended their championship lead over the #52 GT4 car by two more points. They also took charge of the Team Championship standings as well, prior to this they had been level with the RPM team, by virtue of their three car strong attack.

Sunday

Morning practice, the team and drivers were still looking for a good setup, even though they had finished second, they felt that there was still more time to come from them and the car. They gave another setup a run through in the time allowed, ten minutes. The IMS Motorsport car would once more top the times for a session and ended it pleased with the adjustment that they had made.

Race 2
A bizarre race, luckily without the recurring Safety Car periods of race 1, the race was panning out to be a four way battle which would see four GT4 G50s battling it out at the front of the class lead. Then the driver changes were made and suddenly #51 and #55 were stopped from leaving the pitlane as their brake lights were noted by the MSA officials to be not working.. #55 worked on solving the problem, and would make the end of the race, but not reach the required number of laps to qualify for points. The IMS Motorsport car gladly took the change in fortunes and found itself running in second, but waiting for the #99 Beechdean car to pit.. Once the Aston Martin pitted and changed driver the IMS Motorsport car took the lead and wouldn't relinquish it! A stark contrast to the previous day! The race was ended prematurely with a red flag (two minutes from the end) and the team came home in first place! The IMS Motorsport car extended both their drivers championship and team championship lead by a further two points.

There is now a long wait until the next two rounds at Rockingham in Northamptonshire. A great circuit for GT racing and spectating!
 

For further information see:

IMS Consulting

For more photos from the 2008 season see:

2008 Avon Tyres BGT photos