Jody Fannin and team-mate Andrew Jarman rounded off their 2015 British GT Championship campaign with another podium after securing pole position in Saturday’s qualifying session at Donington Park at the weekend.
Fresh from his podium finish at Snetterton and not having driven at Donington since early 2014, Fannin was hoping for some good laps on Saturday morning to refamiliarise himself with the Leicestershire track before Sunday’s two-hour race.
The weather didn’t play ball in the first session as the BRDC Rising Star encountered a fully wet track when he took to the wheel of the #27 TF Sport Aston Martin Vantage GT3. The duo ended the session in second place, setting an encouraging tone to the start to the weekend.
The track was fully dry when the second session began with Jarman putting in three flying laps before the weather once more threatened to turn. Deciding to pit early in an effort to give Fannin some dry running, the #27 exited the pit lane just before the heavens opened once again meaning he was shortly back in for wet tyres. Following a delay while the standing water drained, Fannin managed a few more wet laps before handing back to Jarman to complete the session.
By mid afternoon the sun was out and the track was completely dry. The first ten minutes of qualifying saw the Am drivers out to set their part of a combined qualifying time, with Jarman topping the times with a quickest lap. Fannin then set out for his first dry lap of the event and maintained the trend with a flyer that secured pole for the IWI Watches and Eurostar backed car.
“It was a little bit of a surprise to be honest,” said Fannin. “I didn’t think my lap was amazing as every corner was an adventure because I didn’t know where the braking points were; there was some guess work involved! I set a purple first sector on my last lap before the red flag came out so it went as well as could have been expected.”
The weather stabilised by Sunday morning and it looked as though it would stay dry for the championship decider. Jarman started well and despite a safety car intervention, led a TF Sport one-two as the pit window opened.
The sister car of Matt Bell and Derek Johnston was the first of the TF Sport cars to pit, followed two laps later by Jarman, allowing Bell to put in two fast laps. As Fannin exited the pit lane, Bell swept by into the lead as he got up to speed.
With Osborne in the 888 BMW Z4 not far behind in third place, Fannin had to contend with a ‘long’ brake pedal as well as an intense battle against the clock whilst dealing with the GT4 traffic and keeping team-mate Matt Bell in sight. Fannin reduced Bell’s lead as he managed his fuel and Osborne was chipping away at the gap behind as the traffic ebbed and flowed.
“With a 2.5 second lead over third as I headed down the Craners for the last time I encountered four GT4 cars in a battle fanned out across the track, so I had to back off,” explained Fannin. “I then saw a gap and was almost through when one of them hit my left rear. I had one more car to clear, but had to follow it through the Old Hairpin which lost me a lot of momentum up the hill to McLeans. I immediately saw Joe’s [Osborne] headlights right behind me and defended into the right-hander. Next thing I knew I was swapping ends as I was hit from behind, then tagged on my right front as I spun. I managed to get it pointing in the right direction, hooked first gear and was off! Luckily for me, Joe also went off, so I maintained second place and crossed the line to complete a TF Sport one-two,” he continued.
“Joe apologised immediately afterwards and it was just one of those things. I’m really pleased for Tom Ferrier and all the guys at TF Sport who have really made a lot of progress to give us a fantastic car in the last few rounds.
“I would also really like to thank my sponsors for all their support and encouragement this year. We managed to finish on a really positive note.”