TF Sport had a very positive debut outing in the 2014 Avon Tyres British GT Championship, taking a GT4 class win and podium finish and battling inside the top ten in GT3 at Cheshire’s Oulton Park circuit over the Easter Bank Holiday weekend (19-21 April).
Reigning Aston Martin GT4 Challenge Champion Andrew Jarman and Devon Modell finished Round 1 in third place, but ran as high as second and stayed in touch with the class-leading Beechdean Aston Martin of Jake Giddings and Ross Wylie until a Safety Car split the field.
Jarman drove a solid first stint to bring TF Sport into contention for top honours in GT4 but, while Modell exited the pits after the mandatory driver change in P2, he would lose track position to the Century Motorsport Ginetta G55 at the restart.
In Round 2, the objective for Maidstone’s Modell was to simply keep the rival Beechdean Aston at bay before handing over to teammate Jarman for the run to the flag.
The 23-year old did everything that was asked of him and, although a Safety Car deployment negated some of his hard work, Jarman ensured it wasn’t all in vain by pouncing on Oz Yusuf’s and Gavin Kershaw’s Lotus Evora for the lead at the restart.
The opportunistic overtake at Old Hall Corner was well executed and Jarman was left with the sole task of keeping his head down and bringing the TF Sport-prepared V8 Vantage home to an emphatic GT4 victory.
Jarman said: “Moving up from the Aston Martin GT4 Challenge, which is a great championship, to British GT, I didn’t know how much of a jump it would be. TF Sport and I wanted to show that we could run at the front and, today, we have done that. It has been a fantastic effort by the TF Sport team and by Devon (Modell) all weekend. We are a strong pairing and today’s has been a great platform on which to build upon.
“We will be looking for more wins at the next meeting, but I’m under no illusion. We’ve had a great weekend, but it has been a lot of hard work and it’s a long season with long races, so it starts all over again at Rockingham.”
Modell added: “It has been a very positive debut British GT outing and I don’t think you can argue with third and first-place finishes, can you. I was a little disappointed to lose out on P2 after the pit stop and finish race one third, but the Safety Car didn’t work out in our favour. “It is what it is. Sometimes you win, sometimes you lose.
“The car definitely suits my driving style, but there’s still a lot to learn about it and the championship. I feel that TF Sport and I are making huge strides forwards and there are still a few more tricks up our sleeves and, once I have more experience, we’ll be laughing.”
Piloting TF Sport’s Aston Martin V12 Vantage GT3, Paul Bailey and Andy Schulz impressed throughout Friday and Saturday’s free practice and qualifying sessions to line-up 16th and 15th on the grid for Rounds 1 and 2 on Bank Holiday Monday.
Bailey was the first to get behind the wheel for the opening race of the season, which was held in glorious sunshine and high temperatures.
A capacity grid of 34 cars bolted off the line down to Old Hall Corner for the first time and Bailey maintained 16th position as much of the field ran three-abreast going into the right-hander.
With six tours of the 2.69mile Cheshire circuit complete, Bailey found himself embroiled in a seven-car tussle for a top ten finish.
Bailey was quick to dispose of three rivals, before making light work of another two cars and moving within sight of the points-paying positions; a target both he and Schulz set themselves prior to the weekend.
A mid-race Safety Car led to the entire field carrying out their mandatory driver and tyre changes.
Bailey leapt out of the red-liveried Aston Martin with teammate Schulz ready to replace him in the cockpit for the final 30-minute sprint.
Several minutes passed before the race went green and Schulz picked up the baton from Bailey with ease, quickly dispatching Tom Sharp to move up into 11th position.
On the last lap, Schulz attempted a pass on Phil Keen for tenth but was tapped off the track and could only recover down in 15th.
Schulz stretched out the opening stint in Round 2, only coming in from fifth position for a driver and tyre change at the end of the pit window on lap 19.
A slow puncture hampered the Maidenhead-based driver’s pace during the final five laps of his run and then delayed the TF Sport with Horsepower Racing team in the stop itself, dropping it back out of the points.
A Safety Car intervention neutralised proceedings shortly after Bailey took to the track in 13th, which is where he stayed during a five-lap sprint to the chequered flag.
Bailey said: “This championship is completely different to what I’m used to and is a huge challenge. The drivers are some of the best Pro-Am racers in Europe and I’m very pleased with how things have gone in my first British GT weekend, thoroughly enjoying myself. Andy (Schulz) got us up to 11th in race one, but the difference between tenth backwards is nothing and if you make one little mistake, you drop back. We tried to get one point and it would have been absolutely amazing to achieve that.”
Schulz concluded: “We pretty much did exactly what we set out to do this weekend, which was to finish both races with no major damage. Paul got a feel of the car for himself and enjoyed it. From here we can look at the data and see where we can improve in regards to car set-up.”
The championship resumes at Hampshire’s fast-flowing Thruxton Circuit in two weeks time (4-5 May).
And for more on TF Sport, visit the official www.tfsport.co.uk website, ‘like’ the team’sFacebook page of follow @OfficialTFSport on Twitter.