“I don’t know whether we dare hope for another weekend like Oulton; that would be incredible,” says Matt Griffin ahead of the second weekend of the British GT Championship, which takes place at Knockhill this weekend.
The series heads to the short – 1.3mile – Scottish circuit with Griffin, and teammate Duncan Cameron clearly in the early championship lead after they, in the MTECH Ferrari won both races of the opening event at Oulton Park, which was held over the Easter weekend. The pair have also had promising showings at Knockhill in the past, coming with four laps of winning at the track last year, before a driveshaft failure ended their race – a result Griffin describes as “gutting”.
“I love Knockhill. Last year was gutting, but prior to that it’s always been kind to me. It’s a cracking circuit, one of those places where you really need to push to get a good time. It might be a short lap, but it’s very, very difficult, particularly through the chicane because the cars have to work hard through there, and so does the driver. It’s excellent.”
However, Cameron and Griffin, will, of course be followed North by a full field of GTs to keep up the pressure on the early leaders.
Currently second in points are the Rosso Verde team of Hector Lester and Allan Simonsen, who recorded a pair of runner-up finishes last month, and with their Ferrari 430 Scuderia being prepared in Edinburgh the team have that little extra desire to perform well, though they will have to do it without Simonsen, the Dane racing in Europe this weekend. Instead Frenchman Stephane Daoudi will reprise the Knockhill relief role he performed last year.
At the other end of the points spectrum lie the reigning champions Godfrey and David Jones who could only collect a pair of DNFs from Oulton in their Preci-Spark Ascari, while Craig Wilkins and Aaron Scott were unable to even start a race after their Dodge Viper was all but destroyed in a qualifying crash – happily though the GT3 Racing effort should return to the series this week.
Some attention, and results, may be taken by the Trackspeed Porsche. The team, with David Asburn and Siso Cunill at the wheel, left Oulton Park equal third (with one of the United Autosports Audis – who are not expected at Knockhill). Then last weekend the team took two podiums from a weekend in the FIA GT3 European Championship, including a sensational win in the first race. The team are due in Scotlant with Asburn joined by Scotsman Glynn Geddie, a regular in the Porsche Carrera Cup Great Britain.
Similarly, all the top teams in the G4 class are expected for Knockhill, their lighter, nimbler cars perhaps more suited to the twisting, undulating circuit.
The ABG Motorsport KTM X-Bow and Speedworks Ginetta split honours first time around, Christian Dick and Jamie Stanley taking race one for Ginetta, Rory Butcher and Benjamin Harvey replying in race two, Butcher – who lives in Fife – hopeful of moving out front after his home race.
