Newbridge Motorsport and Guillaume Gruchet concluded a highly successful 2014 Britcar MSA British Endurance Championship third in the Drivers’ standings, collecting an array of other awards at the history-rich Donington Park, where Chris Valentine battled bravely in the Trophy Series (1 November).
As the various Britcar championships drew to a close, Donington Park was once again the host of one of the most pivotal rounds of the season with numerous battles for class and outright supremacy raging on up-and-down the field.
Due to business commitments, Gruchet was unable to contest the season finale, which included a night race and saw a hotly contested title race run down to the wire.
The gentleman driver has consistently battled bumper-to-bumper with his more experienced rivals throughout the 2014 season in his Newbridge Motorsport-run Porsche 911 GT3 Cup, coming out on top on several occasions to secure third in the overall Drivers’ standings and second in class.
A highlight of his season came at Belgium’s iconic Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps, where Gruchet was nominated as the ‘Driver of the Weekend’, although this award would then be eclipsed by his third place finish overall at Silverstone.
Despite running against higher-powered machinery, Gruchet has shown the skills and determination needed to succeed in a highly competitive series and comes away from the 2014 season with the ‘Best Male Driver of the Year’ award.
Elsewhere in the Trophy Series, Saturday morning’s qualifying (1 November) was held in damp, but drying conditions and left many teams with the dilemma of whether to run slick or wet tyres.
Newbridge Motorsport opted to send Valentine and his Porsche Boxster out on slick tyres, as the weather forecast for the 30-minute session saw clear blue skies over the East Midlands circuit.
The team’s strategy and selection of slicks was a great success, as Valentine managed to go faster and faster during the session to qualify an impressive 12th on one of the season’s largest grids.
Race 1 saw an early Safety Car deployment due to an incident involving the hugely powerful Mosler of Kevin Riley and, with both marshals and Medical personnel attended to Riley, Newbridge took the opportunity to call Valentine into the pits for his mandatory stop, which enabled him to maximise his position when rejoining the track.
Valentine continued to gain experience and confidence in the day’s latter two races and another Britcar Trophy weekend came to a successful conclusion for the BRSCC Porsche Championship-graduate, as he bettered his previous best lap at Donington Park by more than four seconds.
Newbridge Motorsport would like to congratulate all of its drivers for their success in 2014, and thank them for the commitment and support they have shown the team in what has been a highly positive and successful campaign of development and progression.
However, the journey continues and, as the team’s focus now turns to 2015, Newbridge Motorsport is delighted to offer comprehensive Preparation and Support Services to owner-drivers in a number of existing championships, such as the Avon Tyres British GT Championship, GT Cup, Britcar MSA British Endurance Championship, Dutch Supercar Challenge, VLN, European Le Mans (ELMS) and the Blancpain Endurance Series, as well as historic racing championships.
The Milton Keynes-based outfit is perfectly positioned to take GT owner-drivers into some of the most prestigious GT series in the UK and Europe, so now is the perfect time to discuss individual requirements and race door handle-to-door handle with motorsport’s elite.
For more information and to discuss Newbridge Motorsport’s services and its arrive-and-drive packages, please contact Team Principal, Richard Tovey.