Newbridge Motorsport showed that it has what it takes to challenge at the very top of the Britcar MSA British Endurance Championship after a positive outing at Donington Park in the East Midlands (11 May).
Having positioned himself fourth in class during Saturday morning’s qualifying session, Guillaume Gruchet continued to show his impressive form that earned him a brace of podium finishes at Silverstone four weeks ago.
Lining-up 14th for the weekend’s opening race, Gruchet bolted off the line, claiming two positions as the 26-car field headed down into Redgate for the first time.
By the end of the second tour of the 2.49mile Grand Prix Circuit, Gruchet had carved his way through the field picking off three rivals to position himself ninth overall and second in class, 12 places ahead of nearest class rival, Darren Nelson.
The Frenchman continued to consistently lap the history-rich Donington Park circuit with times that rivalled that of the Class 1 competitors.
Similar to Silverstone, Gruchet opted to complete the weekend’s two 90-minute endurance races single-handedly and continued to push on in his Porsche 997 GT3 Cup while in clean air.
Running fifth overall and continually setting personal best times, Gruchet stretched his opening stint as far as physically possible before opting to pit for more fuel on lap 39 when the Safety Car made its first appearance of the weekend.
Rejoining the track sixth overall and with the field tightly bunched up, Gruchet was straight away under threat from the M3 GT4 of Mark Radcliffe.
The two became embroiled in a heated battle for the remaining 25 minutes, but an unfortunate spin in the dying moments of the race for Gruchet handed Radcliffe sixth position. Gruchet was able to rejoin the track and crossed the line fourth in class and seventh overall.
“I am very pleased with the overall result from the weekend,” said Gruchet. “It was great to score as many points, if not more, than we did at Silverstone a few weeks ago. Unfortunately I had a spin in the final few minutes of race one, which meant I lost a position to the BMW of Mark (Radcliffe), but I believe that I had enough pace to defend my position and finish sixth. I am very happy for both the team and myself and hopefully I can maintain this level of progress, not just for the next round at Spa-Francorchamps, but for the rest of the season.”
Brimming with experience of Donington Park, Chris Valentine continued to impress on the timing board throughout the weekend to provide many positives for the next meeting at the high-speed Thruxton circuit.
All three of the weekend’s races were contested in changing weather conditions, with races one and two starting on a dry track, only for the heavens to open in the dying laps.
Valentine cautiously tip-toed around the circuit on his slick Dunlop tyres and was able to greet the chequered flag in fifth place in both Rounds 4 and 5.
The third and final race of the weekend was a different story when 30 minutes prior to the start of the race, the heavens once again opened, washing away the rubber laid by the day’s previous action.
Heading out onto a track that resembled a river with little experience of Dunlop’s wet weather tyres, Valentine still was able to cross the line a credible seventh.
“It has been very good considering we’ve had rain in every race,” said Valentine. “It was really interesting to run the slick tyres on in a wet race, which was very beneficial to find out how they coped in both the dry and wet on this track. I underestimated the grip from the wet weather tyres for the third race and should have pushed on a lot more.
“I exceeded my expectations in terms of pace and improved throughout every stage of the weekend. To finish having put in three 1m55s was very good going and puts me in a positive mindset for Thruxton in a few weeks’ time.”
Newbridge Motorsport Team Principal, Richard Tovey, said: “We’ve made huge strides since Silverstone with both Guillaume (Gruchet) and Chris (Valentine). Guillaume came into this weekend with a lot of confidence, and again he leaves here with even more, which is brilliant and something he will take with him to Spa-Francorchamps in a few weeks’ time. Chris has come on leaps and bounds this weekend. To have gone quicker throughout the whole weekend is great news and gives him a huge confidence boost.”
The Britcar MSA British Endurance Championship will resume at Belgium’s legendary Spa-Francorchamps in four weeks’ time (7-8 June).