TF Sport opened its 2015 Avon Tyres British GT Championship account with a top ten finish for Andrew Jarman and Jody Fannin in the #27 Eurostar-liveried Aston Martin V12 Vantage GT3, as Derek Johnston and Matt Bell’s weekend ended prematurely (4-6 April).
Bell tussled with the BMW Z4 GT3 of Phil Keen for top honours in Saturday morning practice, trading places throughout the first of two 60-minute sessions, although a late red-flag stoppage in FP2 prevented TF Sport from completing critical qualifying simulations.
The team was on the back foot as a result and, despite refining both cars’ setups between free practice and qualifying on Saturday afternoon, it was unable to unlock its true pace over a single lap.
Am drivers Jarman and Johnston concluded the day by qualifying seventh and tenth respectively for the first race of 2015, with Bell and Fannin recording the seventh and 13th fastest times for the second British GT encounter in the North West of England.
With the championship resting on Easter Sunday to allow drivers to indulge in copious amounts of chocolate eggs, the weekend resumed the following day (Monday 6 April).
Thick fog descended on the Cheshire circuit for the morning warm-ups, but cleared in time for the opening round of the 2015 season at midday.
The drivers put pedal to the metal to start what would be a 60-minute race of attrition and safely made it through the first right-hander at Old Hall Corner, before an incident at the back end of the circuit warranted the first of several Safety Car appearances.
Johnston was perhaps the star of the show, as the Geordie racer pulled off a stunning drive to elevate himself from tenth to fourth to be within touching distance of the podium, when he sustained heavy, weekend-ending damage in a dramatic incident that began with a collision involving RAM Racing’s Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG GT3.
However, with less than six seconds splitting the top ten, Jarman continued to lap Oulton Park’s 2.69mile International circuit several tenths faster than his rivals, before a spin for the Beechdean Aston Martin of Andrew Howard sent the train of GT3s into a frenzy.
Under the Safety Car, Jarman handed the reins to Fannin, who rejoined the race in eighth and would set several personal best lap times en route to a top ten finish on his British GT debut.
“I was pleased with how I drove in the first race, getting us up to sixth position, but we were unable to benefit from the Safety Car, as it came a lap too late for us and that saw Jody rejoin in eighth. He drove a brilliant race from there to bag a handful of points for us.”
Held under clear blue skies, the day’s second and final race would see only one TF Sport-run V12 Vantage line up on the grid, as the #17 machine was sidelined with a severely damaged chassis.
Fannin was first to take to the track and quickly latched onto the rear of Daniel Lloyd to become entangled in a 20-minute dual with his Aston Martin rival, the pair having to negotiate their way through slower GT4 traffic at the same time.
After 30 minutes, the Aston Martin Racing Evolution Academy driver peeled into the pits to hand over to Jarman, who, following swift work from the TF Sport pit crew, jumped ahead of Mark Farmer to rejoin the race in eighth.
The Milton Keynes-based driver was quick to find his feet and lapped several seconds faster than much of the field to close in on Gary Eastwood’s Ferrari 458 Italia.
Jarman attempted to pass Eastwood at Dentons, but had the door closed on him mid-corner and the subsequent contact resulted in broken steering and a retirement just seven minutes from the end.
“In the second race, Jody again drove really well and we were making our way through the field quite quickly, but contact broke our steering and put us out of the race. It’s a difficult circuit to start the championship, as its tight nature makes it hard to pass your class rivals and the slower GT4 runners, but the TF Sport Aston Martin V12 Vantage was great. I was happy with the setup and feel I have adapted quickly, but I acknowledge that I still have a lot to learn. There is a lot of speed in both the car and me, so we will draw a line under this weekend, regroup and move forward to Rockingham Motor Speedway next month.”
Fannin added: “It wasn’t such a bad weekend, but it could maybe have gone better. The first race was positive, finishing inside the points, which, considering it can always kick off here, was great. Obviously it wasn’t the ideal end to the weekend in race two, but it was good to finally get going again and get the season underway. We’ve got to move on from here and start again at Rockingham. I’m already looking forward to it. It cannot come sooner!”
TF Sport Team Director, Tom Ferrier, said: “It has been a good weekend in terms of performance, as we now know where we stand, confirming that both our cars have the potential to finish inside the top six. Unfortunately, it didn’t pan out that way this weekend. Oulton Park is not the easiest of circuits to start your season on due to the difficulty of negotiating through the traffic, but it’s the same for everyone and I’m frustrated that we didn’t have the weekend we had hoped for.
“Overall, the team and drivers worked really well together and there are a lot of positives to take away from here and on to Rockingham, where we hope to have two cars finish in the points.”
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