It was a weekend of mixed emotions for Newbridge Motorsport in the Britcar MSA British Endurance Championship at Norfolk’s Snetterton ‘300’ after a DNF blights a positive day (9 August).
Friday’s two Britcar Endurance Championship’s practice sessions were a mixed weather affair for Guillaume Gruchet and Chris Valentine, but Newbridge Motorsport were able to optimise both tyre and car setup on both cars for Saturday’s action.
With bright sunshine basking the Norfolk circuit on Saturday, Gruchet was able to run a comfortable race and remained second in class throughout the 90-minute contest.
The Frenchman, who had new brakes and clutch fitted for the weekend, lapped consistently within the two-minute mark and at the close of the first of the weekend’s two races, crossed the line an impressive fifth overall and second in class.
With the addition of the Sports and Touring Championship to the day’s final race, Round 12, an increased grid would prove to be a tougher challenge for Gruchet, but the Porsche 997 GT3 driver was able to negotiate his way through the field with ease.
Due to a clever tyre management strategy by the Newbridge team prior to the race, Gruchet was able to extract more performance from the rear of his GT3 racer, which entail meant quicker lap times.
With each passing lap he continued to climb the leaderboard, and by the close of the ninth tour of the 2.99mile circuit, had positioned himself seventh and closing in on yet another top five finish.
As the race reached the halfway point and with Gruchet sitting fourth, a suspected mechanical issue out of the control of both driver and team struck the Porsche and ended the team’s race prematurely for the first time this season.
Due to the Britcar Endurance Championship regulations, Gruchet was able to collect a handful of points despite not finishing the race after completing more than half distance of the race.
“It was a weekend of two halves,” said Gruchet. “The first race was enjoyable, as I finished fifth overall and second in class and was able to collect some important championship points. Unfortunately, we were unable to finish the second race due to a mechanical issue and stopped 22 laps before the end, which was a bit of a disappointment. Hopefully the car will be back together for the next race at Silverstone.”
On the other side of the Newbridge garage, Chris Valentine returned to the Trophy Series following his outing in the Endurance Series at Oulton Park last month (5 July), where the BRSCC Porsche graduate concluded the weekend with no incidents and bettered his previous best lap time.
With three second in class finishes, Valentine now has the option to upgrade his race license to an International C grade as of next year.
Newbridge Motorsport Team Principal, Richard Tovey, said: “There were some positive results for Chris (Valentine) in all three of his races, and Guillaume (Gruchet) recorded an impressive result in the first of his races. Unfortunately, we had a mechanical failure in race two, which we need to investigate what the problem is and fix it in time for September’s meeting at Silverstone.”