Another significant step forward in the career progress of Aidan Read this weekend (24-25 June, 2017) in Japan as together with his fellow Lamborghini Squadra Corse GT3 Academy driver and teammate Alberto Di Folco he delivered the season’s best result with fifth in the overall classification in the Blancpain GT Series Asia.
Perhaps more significant than the result was the performance, particularly in race two which was held in ever-worsening wet weather conditions. Aidan not only got to grips with his first wet GT3 race but excelled, propelling his Lamborghini from handover at the halfway point of the hour-long race form tenth to a finishing fifth, consistently fastest and running at times three-seconds quicker than the leading group.
The legendary Suzuka track in Japan in notorious for being a ‘drivers track’ with challenging corners and a technical layout. Aidan, who had not previously raced at the venue, only had limited time to familiarise himself with the circuit.
With a short free practice introduction on the Friday morning, he had little more running before qualifying due to an off-track excursion from his teammate took the car out of the important second practice session.
Into Saturday qualifying Aidan tried to find the maximum performance and balance and did a solid job for ninth for the weekend’s first race. His teammate, qualifying the car for the second race struggling too with the lost time resulting in a lowly 15th starting spot.
Taking the start for race one, Aidan pushed on quickly getting the car up to sixth to hand over to Di Folco. Frustratingly, a pit time infringement was incurred as Di Folco left the pits too soon and forced a drive through penalty. The pair could manage no better than 12th position with the lost time.
Both drivers knew that they had the pace and ability to get more from race two and when Sunday’s race start time arrived with light rain falling Di Folco took the start and had a tricky job on his hands.
However, the partnership between the young pairing is gelling nicely and Aidan was rightly confident that Alberto would hand the car over at the half way point on a strong position and he was right in his assessment, getting in with 30 minutes to run in tenth for a push to the flag.
The rain was now falling steadily and the car went out on full wets, the first experience of the tyres and the conditions that Aidan would have. After a tentative out lap Aidan soon found the limits of the tyres and took the race to his competitors, going quicker and quicker and lapping much quicker than his rivals.
An incredible side by side battle with experienced Porsche racer Darryl O’Young for fourth position ensued with O’Young admitting to being fortunate to hold of Aidan saying he was “very fast” and “raced cleanly and with trust”.
The result was Aidan’s best of the season and strengthens his position in the silver/silver championship for ‘pro’ driver pairings.
“I am really pleased with the result” said Aidan, “last time out we were sixth in Buriram (Thailand) and now fifth which was the target I set myself. Next time we are in Fuji where I will be looking to make the step up to the overall podium on a track I raced at last year in Asian Le Mans.
“The only downside to a great weekend was getting the pit lane penalty for the second race running. I think now the team have put measures in place to prevent this happening again as its very demotivating when we are putting so much effort into the on-track performance.”
On his first wet race in a GT3 car, Aidan was naturally happy with the experience: “I was confident in the car as soon as I got to know the limit of grip in the car and the tyres and I was able to really push. I think if I had been able to know the tyres sooner, a podium should have been possible today as I was cautious at first not wanting to go off.”
The next round of the Blancpain GT Series Asia will be again in Japan, this time at the Mount Fuji Circuit on 19-20 August.