Podium finish for Sarah in the G

Despite qualifying being her first opportunity to drive the new Aston Martin GT4, Sarah secured two podium positions - third in class for both races.

Oulton Park played host to rounds 7 and 8 of the GT Cup Series last weekend, running packed grids in a slightly different format with no pre race practice sessions.

Having skipped the Snetterton rounds due to incidents at Brands Hatch, Sarah returned to the series with a Brand New Aston Martin GT4 4.7 litre, sporting a stunning new Chrome livery. Owner of the car Paul White was scheduled to race with Sarah at Oulton Park but was called away on business matters at the last minute.

Practically fresh out the box and never been run before on Pirellis, the team were unable to make it to the Friday test meeting, so the first time Sarah drove the car was in Qualifying on the Saturday morning, on a nice green track at 8.30am!

"I do seem to find myself in these challenging situations, qualifying was somewhat of a baptism of fire, trying to get to grips with the totally different handling of this car, its quicker but the set-up much stiffer and a real handful under braking on this bumpy circuit. I was just trying to get it by the scruff of the neck and put in a decent time, when someone dropped all their oil going into Lodge making it bloody lethal to go through there with any speed. I think most people sensibly came in, but I knew I needed the track time so I stayed out tip toeing through the oil just to get more time in the car."

Sarah qualified 5th in class knowing she had lots of work to do in the race. After qualifying Paul phoned in to say he wasn't coming so Sarah learnt she was doing both 25min races. Race 1 and 2 went well despite numerous incidents happening throughout the race including a 1st lap pile up in Race 1 and a safety car period later on to bunch up the field. Sarah quickly got to grips with the ultra stiff set-up on the Aston to put in some decent lap times just 1 sec behind her competitor Will Goff in his GT4 but she was unable to catch him, or the Porsche of David Botterill despite having him in her sights, Sarah finished both races 3rd in class.

"I am pretty happy with the result to be honest, it was quite exhilarating trying to get the most out of the car without throwing it off, since the bumpy circuit was unsettling the back end of the car. Hopefully we'll get a chance to do some testing before Donington and I think we could definitely start to give the class leaders a run for their money!"

A full grid of 40 cars qualified on Saturday morning for the double header; Sarah qualified 2nd in class sandwiched between the two rival 4.7 litre Aston Martins with a fastest lap of 1.40.4 lying 30th out of 40 starters.

Race 1 didn't exactly go to plan. Having made a superb start Sarah closed in on her class leader Will Goff and briefly took the lead in an exciting battle during the first few laps, but on lap 3 it all went wrong when car 58 made a lunge to get past up the inside at Clearways, tapping her into a spin. The manoeuvre left Sarah stalled in the middle of the track facing the rest of the oncoming field. She rejoined the back of the pack once they had passed - dead last - and gave chase. After two or three laps she caught the back of the field and made up several places to 5th in class only to get shunted by another class opponent going into Druids. The rear end impact caused the car to spin again, stalling mid track, facing the oncoming traffic. Sarah rejoined the back of the pack dead last once again but the damage from the second impact caused exhaust fumes and smoke to fill the car forcing her to pull off the circuit not more than half a lap later. Drivers of both incidents were investigated by the clerk of the course on the day and each driver received a licence endorsement; unfortunately no compensation for the damaged Aston and lost positions!

Thankfully, in the GT Cup, grid positions for Race 2 are determined from the 2nd fastest qualifying lap. Since Sarah put in two excellent laps during qualifying she moved further up the grid for the start of Race 2 and back into 2nd in class (26th out of 40 starters). Race 2 was considerably shortened by two incidents which brought out the safety car for 3 laps and subsequently led to the race being red flagged. However Sarah maintained her position of 26th out of the 40 starters to finish 2nd in class and picked up her first cup of the season.

Next rounds are at Snetterton on the 13 & 14 June. - girlracer.co.uk

Brands Hatch was the venue for Rounds 3 and 4 of the GT Cup Series, running with the A1 GP meeting on the full GP circuit. An eventful weekend, practice rounds went well on the Friday with Sarah getting that all important extra testing time to become more familiar with her new 4.3 litre Aston Martin N24. A full grid of 40 cars qualified on Saturday morning for the double header; Sarah qualified 2nd in class sandwiched between the two rival 4.7 litre Aston Martins with a fastest lap of 1.40.4 lying 30th out of 40 starters.

Race 1 didn't exactly go to plan. Having made a superb start Sarah closed in on her class leader Will Goff and briefly took the lead in an exciting battle during the first few laps, but on lap 3 it all went wrong when car 58 made a lunge to get past up the inside at Clearways, tapping herinto a spin. The manoeuvre left Sarah stalled in the middle of the track facing the rest of the oncoming field. She rejoined the back of the pack once they had passed - dead last - and gave chase. After two or three laps she caught the back of the field and made up several places to 5th in class only to get shunted by another class opponent going into Druids. The rear end impact caused the car to spin again, stalling mid track, facing the oncoming traffic. Sarah rejoined the back of the pack dead last once again but the damage from the second impact caused exhaust fumes and smoke to fill the car forcing her to pull off the circuit not more than half a lap later. Drivers of both incidents were investigated by the clerk of the course on the day and each driver received a licence endorsement; unfortunately no compensation for the damaged Aston and lost positions!

Thankfully, in the GT Cup, grid positions for Race 2 are determined from the 2nd fastest qualifying lap. Since Sarah put in two excellent laps during qualifying she moved further up the grid for the start of Race 2 and back into 2nd in class (26th out of 40 starters). Race 2 was considerably shortened by two incidents which brought out the safety car for 3 laps and subsequently led to the race being red flagged. However Sarah maintained her position of 26th out of the 40 starters to finish 2nd in class and picked up her first cup of the season.

Sarah's Adrian Flux sponsored Aston Martin GT Cup campaign kicked off at Silverstone with two 5th in class finishes.

Sarah Bennett-Baggs has teamed up with sponsors Adrian Flux Specialist Insurers and Clayton Holdings to race an Aston Martin N24 in the GT Cup series for 2009. The car is run by Cambridgeshire based team Brunswick Automotive and Sunday 19th April saw their inaugural outing at the last minute venue change Silverstone National circuit, despite only limited running in the Aston Sarah put in some consistent times finishing both races 5th in class.

Following on from the Porsche Club Success in 2008, Sarah secured the seasons drive only days before the 1st scheduled meeting of the GT Cup series, run by Marc Haynes. The Aston Martin N24 is a far cry from the Porsche 911 3.0 SC Sarah was driving last season, and she only got to drive it for the first time days before the first race.

The first rounds of the GT Cup meeting were scheduled to be at Donington, but were changed to Silverstone at the last minute due to the build work at Donington affecting its motorsport safety licence. Sunday's hectic race day was only Sarah's second outing in the car. But in initial free practice Sarah put in some respectable times which put her 4th in class, however qualifying didn't go so well, with only a 20 min window, an unscheduled pit stop early on, then a safety car incident, followed by a red flag cutting it short meant that there wasn't the time for the golden lap and Sarah found herself at the back of the class with a 107.1.

In Race 1 Sarah found the pace she was looking for recording a fastest lap of 105.5 and finished 5th in class, 25th overall out of 33 starters. With the grid start for Race 2 based on your qualifying times as apposed to your finishing position, Sarah started Race 2 at the back end of the field again, and finished 5th in class in Race 2, 25th out of 30 starters.

"Considering we were still trying to find a way of enabling me to see over the steering wheel on Saturday afternoon I am not too disappointed with the result, the team have pulled out all the stops this week to get this show on the road, the car looks great and they have done a fantastic job. I just need to get some more time in the seat and up to speed with the way the car handles, I am happy with the times which we got down to in the race but I think there should be some more to come. The GT Cup seems a great series to race in, the organisers worked like mad to get the venue change sorted and are very driver friendly, they have a great format with a full grids, and high driving standards and a wide variety of GT cars I know we are going to have to work hard to get results"