Newbridge Motorsport opened its 2015 Endurance Racing Series (ERS) account with class victories for both Guillaume Gruchet and Team BRIT at Corby’s fast-flowing Rockingham Motor Speedway (18 April).
Opening the weekend’s proceedings in free practice, Gruchet and Team BRIT’s David Pittard took to the 1.94mile International Super Sportscar circuit to bed-in both their respective Porsche 997 GT3 Cup and Volkswagen Golf Mk6 racers.
The weekend marked Gruchet’s first competitive outing of the year in his podium-winning Porsche, yet the Frenchman set a best time of 1m36.039s to go tenth quickest.
He bettered that time by several seconds in the morning’s qualifying session and went seventh fastest overall before his session was cut short by a slow puncture.
Much like most recent campaign in the 2014 MSA British Dunlop Endurance Championship – the flagship championship of the Britcar series – Gruchet will contest the three-hour ERS races single-handedly with his usual ‘Iron Man’ determination.
The experienced gentleman endurance driver has been training meticulously over the winter months in preparation for the 2015 season and he was brimming with confidence as he took to the grid for the season-opening round of the 2015 Endurance Racing Series just after lunchtime on Saturday (18 April).
It wasn’t long into the three-hour endurance race that Gruchet became embroiled in an exciting battle with the more powerful Intersport Racing-run Lamborghini Super Trofeo for the final podium position.
The pair continued to trade places on-track, before a well-timed and executed pit stop from the Newbridge Motorsport team saw Gruchet take the initiative and build a gap of over two laps to his nearest rival, despite a 30-second penalty for a hasty refuelling, by the finish.
On the other side of the Newbridge Motorsport garage was a team of ex-military servicemen, who have experienced war first hand and have the scars to prove it.
Looking to become the first team of injured service personnel to contest the world famous Le Mans 24 Hours, Team BRIT (British Racing Injured Troops) is beginning its journey in the Endurance Racing Series with a newly-acquired VW Golf, which would be piloted by Martyn Compton, Danny Holland and 2014 Ginetta GT4 Supercup Vice-Champion and driver coach, David Pittard.
The Letchworth Garden City-based Pittard bedded in the Golf’s brakes and tyres, before handing the reins to Compton and Holland, who set a best time of 1m32.207s to go tenth quickest overall and second in class.
Pittard once again jumped behind the wheel of the Golf for the opening 40 minutes of Saturday’s race, before Compton and Holland shared driving duties for the remainder of the three-hour race, which would see an exciting battle develop between the Team BRIT machine and MINI class rivals.
Both team and car ran faultlessly throughout the race of attrition and the former soldiers took the fight to their able-bodied rivals to cross the line in an impressive sixth place overall and first in class, spraying the champagne from atop of the podium and laying the foundations for a bright future.
Newbridge Motorsport Team Principal, Richard Tovey, said: “It has been a really positive weekend for both Guillaume (Gruchet) and Team BRIT. This weekend was initially going to be a shakedown for both cars, but thanks to all the hard work the team put in, both cars ran faultlessly. Our strategy of preserving the tyres and being there at the end paid dividends for both cars. We are now looking at putting the gear change, throttle and brake controls on the steering wheel of the Team BRIT Volkswagen Golf to make it accessible for the other members of the programme for future events.
“The tyres that Pirelli supply are fantastic and, at the end of the race Guillaume still had plenty of life left in his tyres, which we may use in a future test. The Endurance Racing Series is really well organised and welcoming, which helps deliver really good racing. There’s a really positive outlook from the series and weekend, so it’s onwards and upwards.”
The Endurance Racing Series will resume at Rockingham Motor Speedway in three months’ time (11 July).