Ferrari honours in GT3 went to the 360/Ch of the United Christian Broadcasters team of Allan Simonsen and Hector Lester taking the class win (7th O/A) in Race 1and second in class (9th O/A) in Race 2.

Race 1 - Saturday 25 June

Kinch and Kirkaldy started from pole, but were given a nasty scare when the Eclipse Motorsport Mosler driven by Phil Keen charged past Kinch on lap 4, But an unforeseen pit stop forced the Mosler in and the Scots cruised to the win, 9 seconds ahead of their team mates Tim Mullen and Chris Niarchos who had a much more dramatic race, Niarchos spinning on lap four whilst running fourth, chasing a Porsche. The spin put Chris down to ninth but he got stuck in immediately and handed the Ferrari over to Tim Mullen in fourth place after lapping just a few seconds shy of the third placed Porsche.

Once all the pit stops had taken place and the scores had levelled out Kirkaldy was leading and Mullen was in second place, the two drivers swapping new lap records, a battle ultimately won by Mullen. The final one-two result was testament to the hard work of the whole Scuderia Ecosse team.

After pulling out of the Thruxton round due to technical problems with the car, the Ferrari 360 of Allan Simonsen and Hector Lester (United Christian Broadcasters) won the GT3 category. Hector Lester started the race and was running in mid-field when he came in for the pit stop. After Simonsen took over the Ferrari, he re-joined in fourth place, charging through to take a superb win for the team, finishing just ahead of the Porsche of of one-time Ferrari racers David Ashburn and Fred Moss.

The Damax Ferrari 360/Ch of Miles Hulford and Jamie Smyth appeared to be aiming for a podium finish after running in a strong second place at the beginning of the race. However, the team had the same engine problems they had in earlier races in the season. The power loss problem was followed soon after by a broken gearbox mounting and the car was retired the car after 23 laps at the driver changeover. The sister car of Marco Attard and Nick Adam went out after 6 laps with a broken rear stub-axle in the middle of Camp corner, which saw the car retire in a cloud of smoke with the wheel tucked up in the wheel arch!

The Vision Marketing 360/Ch of Phil Burton and Adam Wilcox suffered from understeer and gear selection maladies all weekend and finished 7th in class (13th O/A).

Race 2 - Sunday 26 June

Andrew Kirkaldy and Tim Mullen got away well from the front row of the grid for Sunday's race but Mullen was caught out by Ben Collins' Porsche on the first lap, the Embassy driver passing him for second place. As Kirkaldy began to pull away Mullen went into battle with Collins' Porsche, passing him on lap six before hunting down his Scottish team-mate. Twenty minutes into the race Mullen was running with Kirkaldy, then almost as soon as the pit window opened the Safety Car was dispatched whilst a crashed Porsche was cleared from the circuit. The team immediately signalled for both cars to pit to change drivers but as they had just gone past the pit lane entrance they had to complete another lap so were hobbled somewhat by the timing of the safety car. The Embassy Porsche meanwhile had pitted just as the Safety Car came out so rejoined the race in first place!

Nathan Kinch and Chris Niarchos had it all to do and immediately set about chasing the Embassy Porkie, now driven by Neil Cunningham. A few laps later, under serious pressure from a charging Kinch, Cunningham went off onto the grass, rejoining in second place. So with Kinch in the lead and Niarchos now chasing Cunningham for second the race was going to plan for Scuderia Ecosse. The team, and Kinch especially, had a heart-stopping moment a lap later when the Embassy Porsche spun in front of them as they both came through Camp Corner. Kinch emerged unscathed just as the Embassy Porsche peeled off into the pit lane with its radiators full of grass. Chris Niarchos was now second and ten minutes later he and Kinch cruised home to another one-two victory for Scuderia Ecosse.

The UBC Ferrari 360 ran in first place in class for nearly all of the race and even a spin for Lester on lap 36, coming out of Camp Corner, couldn’t spoil their lead. However, on the last lap of the race, a Marcos Mantis with Chris Beighton behind the wheel at the time made a great move and nicked the win.

Damax's tale of woe continued on the Sunday, Hulford and Smyth's car had its 2nd alternator fail whilst being warmed up to go onto the grid. Stirling work by the mechanics saw a new alternator fitted and Jamie Smyth leave the pitlane to join the grid with 8 seconds to spare before the pitlane was closed.

On the first lap Nick Adams was pushed into a spin by Adam Wilcox in the Vision Marketing 360 and resumed well last with a long run to catch up the pack. Jamie Smyth was still in 6th place when the Safety Car was deployed, and the team took the opportunity to change over drivers in both cars. Both cars rejoined the pack who were still following the safety car. When the safety car came in, Miles pressed on hard and took the car up to 4th place after overtaking the Championship leading Tech 9 Porsche before the power loss problem manifested itself again and he was unable to defend his position and he gradually slipped down to 6th place in class at the finish. Team mate Marco Attard got the sister car up to 4th place in class by the race end, the two Damax cars being separated by the Vision Marketing 360 of Burton/Wilcox which had a much better race this time, getting up to second at one point before finishing fifth.



Next Round: Silverstone 13/14 August. Meantime, seeming to have the British Series sewn up, Scuderia Ecosse are off to play with the big boys again at Round 2 of the Le Mans Endurance Series at Monza on 9/10 July, so best wishes to Nathan, Andrew and the team.

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