British GT

Fisken, Bridgman Frustrated By Tyre Wear In British GT Finale

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Bridgman and Fisken's Trackspeed Porsche (Photo Credit: Jakob Ebrey)

Bridgman and Fisken's Trackspeed Porsche (Photo Credit: Jakob Ebrey)

Though fourth place left Tim Bridgman and Gregor Fisken frustratingly close to the podium it helped the Trackspeed team retain the teams' title in the Avon Tyres British GT Championship.

Practice times by both drivers on Friday suggested that the pair were on pace with the rest of the series front runners, but in qualifying Bridgman was only able to set the fifth fastest time struggling to dial the car in while the Silverstone track evolved over the course of the weekend.

Fisken took the opening stint, sharing the track with a majority of the gentleman drivers in the championship and progressed as high fifth on track, passing David Ashburn in the sister Porsche for the position. Fisken brought the car in for the drive change pitstop from sixth place on lap 25 having lost out to Ferrari driver Duncan Cameron two laps earlier.

A safety car period during the pitstop window complicated the story of the race, Bridgman slipping back to eighth position after serving a longer mandatory pitstop due to their podium finish at Donington Park.

Despite the lapped traffic, once the race got underway – after twenty minutes behind the safety car – Bridgman quickly climbed the order passing Godfrey Jones, Matt Griffin and then Zak Brown in the United Autosports Audi that had dominated the early running to take fourth.

Further progress was halted by the return of premature tyre degradation, just as Fisken had experienced before. Unable to challenge Glynn Geddie for the final podium spot Bridgman cruised to fourth for a trouble-free end to the 2011 campaign.

“Obviously you always want to win but we probably achieved our maximum this weekend to round out a very promising first season with Gregor and Trackspeed,” said Bridgman. “The car had good pace so I was a little disappointed not to be further up the grid after qualifying. We knew tyre wear would be an issue this weekend which is ultimately what cost us a podium. The Porsche has a lot of mechanical grip which sees the tyres over-worked on fast circuits. Once up to fourth I felt the grip beginning to go away so just settled for nursing the car to the finish.”

“Rarely has the Porsche not been competitive this year and in damp conditions myself and Gregor have probably been the fastest pairing. I'd like to thank and congratulate everyone at Trackspeed for a great season, as well as Gregor who has been brilliant to race with. We seem to complement each other well and, without a few pieces of bad luck here and there, would certainly have added to our tally of one win and two further podiums.”

The David Ashburn and Richard Westbrook driven no.1 Trackspeed entry finished the race in second, the points enough to lift Ashburn into second in the drivers’ championship.

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