Strong performances from drivers Oliver Bryant and Marco Attard helped the Ecurie Ecosse powered by Black Bull BMW Z4 GT3 notch up 18 crucial points at Dutch circuit Zandvoort (September 7-8) to set up a thrilling British GT title decider at Donington Park next month. Top-six finishes in both races mean the team will travel to the season finale a mere 0.5 points shy of the championship lead – just as they did 12 months ago. Bryant and Attard’s previous outing aboard the Barwell Motorsport-run BMW Z4 GT3 saw the pair take a hard-fought podium at Brands Hatch, their third of the season following a superb victory at Silverstone and a season-opening third place at Oulton Park. The sister Barwell Motorsport Z4 of Ron & Piers Johnson also had a good weekend, producing their most competitive showings of the season to date. The Oilfield Production Consultants-backed car notched up a point for 10th in race one, after battling drives from both Johnsons.
The Zandvoort weekend began in earnest with two tricky qualifying sessions held in changeable conditions. Attard’s first flying lap before rain hit was good enough for fourth on the grid, which became third when the 888Optimum BMW was handed a grid penalty for not completing the mandatory three laps. In the Pro driver session Bryant took time to adjust to the drying track and posted his quickest lap on the final tour, with a 1m40.75s securing sixth on the grid. Unfortunately Ron got caught up in traffic during the dry part of his session and wasn’t able to post a representative time, but Piers banged in a strong time early on which gave him a competitive 15th spot on the grid.
At the start of race one Attard immediately passed David Ashburn’s Trackspeed Porsche into Tarzan corner and set off after poleman Ahmad Al Harthy. He then quickly gapped the chasing pack by five seconds, the margin required to negate the pit stop penalty due to be served by the Ecosse squad as a result of their Brands Hatch podium. Unfortunately an accident for the GT4 championship-leading Ginetta resulted in a lengthy safety car period which wiped out this advantage. When racing resumed Attard remained on track for an extra lap to avoid a congested pit lane, and after a swift stop handed over to Bryant. Frustratingly, the Z4 had to be held for a further three seconds to allow two cars in the fast lane of the pits to pass before it was finally released. Falling in behind this pair, Bryant joined a pack which soon caught the leaders and formed a five-way battle for top spot. Keeping his cool, Bryant fought off the challenge of Phil Keen’s Trackspeed Porsche behind to bring the Ecosse machine home in fifth, scoring a valuable 10 championship points in the process. In a remarkably close finish, the top-five cars were separated by just 1.7 seconds at the flag. Meanwhile Ron stayed out for three laps after the Safety Car came in, and really got his head down to post some very competitive Am times. This strategy paid off as others got caught up in the pits, and by the time Piers took over the reins for the second half they had moved up from 15th to 10th place. Piers then came out on top after a good scrap with the Hines/Johnston Ginetta GT3 to claim ninth spot, but then slipped back behind a charging Warren Hughes in the WRT Audi two laps later. Jonny Adam’s Beechdean Aston was then inching closer, but Piers had the pace to hold off the championship-leading car until the end.
In race two a cautious start by Bryant saw him lose ground before settling into a good rhythm with the United Autosports Audi of Matt Bell and the 888Optimum BMW of Dan Brown. He then lost time in traffic, narrowly avoiding contact after an optimistic lunge from the Mercedes of Benji Hetherington. A lap later the 888Optimum BMW made contact with a back-marker, sending both cars into the barriers, and while Bryant guided the Ecosse machine through the carnage unscathed it cost him further time. Another perfect pit stop by the Barwell crew allowed Attard to resume on the tail of championship rival Andrew Howard and a frantic battle soon erupted, with Attard applying firm pressure as the pair caught the scrap for fourth, fifth and sixth. The Beechdean Aston Martin driver defended robustly into Tarzan and Attard was forced to try the outside line on several occasions. Howard then passed Lee Mowle’s Z4, with Attard following through a lap later.
Howard next made his way past the AF Corse Ferrari of John Dhillon, but while Attard fought hard to do the same it was to no avail. Now under pressure again from Mowle, and despite a tap from the similar Z4 on the final lap resulting in a near spin, Attard managed to keep the Ecosse BMW firmly on the rear bumper of Dhillon’s Ferrari. He would cross the line in sixth position, ensuring yet more championship points which put the Ecosse squad firmly in the title battle ahead of October’s season-closing Donington Park race. Piers repeated his earlier fights with the Ginetta of Hines/Johnston and the Audi of Hughes/Berg in the early stages of race two, with the same results – losing out to the Audi but winning the battle against the Ginetta! This put the Barwell Z4 into 13th place, and after he took over Ron was able to claim back the spot lost from the Audi after it hit trouble, and move up to 12th. He then fought to keep the Fisken/Jelley Porsche at bay, but the experienced Fisken found his way past and with four laps to go it looked like 13th was in the bag. Unfortunately an errant backmarker then hit his front left wheel and punctured the tyre, forcing Ron into a slow crawl back to the pits for it to be changed and he dropped down to 16th.
Oliver Bryant, Ecurie Ecosse: “With a new circuit and mixed conditions it was a difficult weekend, but the car was faultless, the team did a great job and Marco drove well as always. As such I’m very much looking forward to the season finale at Donington.”
Marco Attard, Ecurie Ecosse: “We got a great start in the first race and I couldn’t believe our bad luck with the safety car! But overall this was a positive weekend with some good points, and I’m looking forward to the final push at Donington.”
Mark Lemmer, Barwell Motorsport Team Principal : “We had a very solid weekend at Zandvoort which puts us just half a point off the championship lead going into the Donington finale. Without the safety car we would undoubtedly have finished on the podium in race one, which was frustrating but completely out of our control. Olly and Marco both enjoyed some incredibly close battles and, critically, stayed out of trouble. Now the gloves are off and it’s a straight fight for the title at Donington!”
Source : Barwell Motorsport