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FIA GT3 - Silverstone - Race One Report

The duo of Ian Khan and Thomas Mutsch, in the No.20 Matech GT Racing Ford GT, overcame first lap dramas to storm through the field and take a fine victory in an action-packed first round of the 2008 FIA GT3 Championship at Silverstone. They took the lead with only four laps remaining, and took the chequered flag ahead of the No.36 Prospeed Racing Porsche 997 GT3 Cup S of Mikael Forsten and David Loix, and the No.17 Brixia Racing Aston Martin DBRS9 of Gianluca Giraudi and Marcello Zani.

With light rain falling, the stewards declared a wet race some 15 minutes before the start, leaving tyre choice up to the teams. With the track no more than damp, everyone opted for slicks, but the cold conditions made it difficult to get heat into the tyres. That meant that Forsten, from pole, was beaten away from the start by the No.33 APEX Motorsport Jaguar XKR of Phil Quaife – but behind them, many cars were caught out, with multiple cars spinning or going across the gravel at Copse and Becketts. The carnage continued, with no fewer than nine cars retiring by the end of lap 8.

At the head of the field, Quaife was leading comfortably until he hit some oil dropped by a slower car. He ran wide, which allowed his pursuers to close in – and, taking a cautious approach to the Jaguar’s first race on ‘home’ soil, Quaife allowed the No.5 Kessel Racing Ferrari F430 GT into the lead, and then dropped back to third, behind the No.36 Prospeed Porsche.

Further back Ian Khan, in the Mo.20 Matech Ford GT, had to stop at the first corner to avoid a spinning car, dropping him back to around 24th. He set off in hot pursuit and soon made it into the top 10, but could progress no further.

Quaife was the first of the front runners to pit, coming in on lap 15 to hand over to Stuart Hall. Two laps later three of the leading four pitted, with the No.36 Porsche coming in a lap later from the lead. At this point, with more than half the race completed, the No.36 Porsche retained the lead ahead of the No.5 Kessel Ferrai, with the No.33 APEX Jaguar back up to third – but Thomas Mutsch, in the No.20 Matec Ford GT, was on a charge. On lap 19 he was up to fourth, which became third just two laps later when he got past the No.33 APEX Jaguar.

On lap 23 Mutsch was up into second as the No.5 Kessel Ferrari started to slide back down the order, not helped by a wild spin across the grass at Becketts. With only five minutes left, Mutsch hit the front, taking the No.20 Matech Ford past the No.36 Prospeed Porsche. Behind them was the No.29 AutoGT Racing Morgan Aero 8 – but just a lap later, the Morgan pulled over at Stowe and into retirement.

So when the chequered flag fell, after sixty hectic minutes, it was the No.20 Matech Ford GT which claimed the victory, less than three seconds ahead of the No.36 Prospeed Porsche of Forsten and David Loix. The No.17 Brixia Racing Aston Martin DBRS9 of Gianluca Giraudi and Marcello Zani profited from the demise of the AutoGT Morgan to claim the final podium spot; the No.5 Kessel Ferrari of Cadei and Balbiani came home fourth, just 1.5s ahead of the No.33 APEX Jaguar of Quaife and Hall. The variety continued down the field – the first nine cars to finish were from nine different manufacturers!

“The team did a great job over the winter to improve the car – it handled very well,” said Mutsch after the race. “I had no real problems with traffic, and when I was trying to overtake, people were very fair.” The duo will start race 2 from pole position, but Khan was being cautious. “Tomorrow is another day, we’ll just have to wait and see what happens. We’re trying not to be too confident.”