Photos courtesy of Juice Photogr

27 October 2009

PRESS RELEASE

Sarah wraps up her GT Cup season at Brands Hatch

The GT Cup visited Brands Hatch this weekend for the final two rounds of the 2009 season. Sarah once again campaigned her BMW Z4M Coupe which had been purchased the day before the last event at Silverstone.

Saturdays practice and qualifying sessions were carried out in torrential rain. In practice two, pushing hard, Sarah found the limit of the brakes which resulted in locking up and hurtling straight into the gravel trap at Druids forcing her to sit out the rest of the session.

Two or three hours of gravel shovelling and a full wheelie bin later... the car was back out for qualifying. Sarah qualified a respectable p4 in class in the wet, behind the Class 4 Porsche 993 of Robert Koenig.

Race 1 was on Sunday and fortunately the weather had improved overnight, the track had dried and the temperature climbed several degrees. Sarah got off to a good start but just couldn't catch the class 4 car of Robert Koenig even though he was in sight throughout the race and they were lapping in almost identical times. She had to settle for a p4 finish but was pleased with the lap times of low 53's, "Since the Silverstone rounds Butler Motorsport have done a complete set-up on the car and the handling is hugely improved".

Just before Race 2 the team manager, Terry, discovered a fuel leak close to the rear wheel & brake assembly and deemed the car unsafe to drive for race 2 as a quick fix could not be found for the leak.

"I was disappointed not to compete in the final race of the season, but I guess its better to be safe than sorry. At least the car is in one piece and ready for another season. With some winter work and some of Terry's magic this car could be a potential class winner - I would just like to say a huge thank you to my sponsors this season who have been incredibly patient with me changing cars three times in one season. It has been challenging at times, but I am very grateful for their support and have learnt a huge amount this year".

--------------------------------------------------------------

New car for Sarah Bennett-Baggs for the final rounds of the GT Cup and another podium finish.

The GT Cup visited Silverstone International circuit this weekend where Sarah brought out a new car. The BMW Z4 M Coupe was purchased on Thursday, tested on Friday in the wet and raced on Saturday. Despite a few minor hiccups Sarah was pleased with her P4 and P3 in class finishes.
Sarah began the week still recovering from the Britcar 500 race the previous Saturday night, but by Wednesday it had all become a bit manic when the owner of Sarah's regular drive, the Aston Martin GT4, announced that the car had been sold. Following a frantic internet search, a replacement GT4 class car was located and BMW expert Terry Wilson from Butler Motorsport went to inspect and purchase the car on Thursday.
Friday's Silverstone test day was fully booked so the team used Silverstone Paddock to nut and bolt-check the car, change the oil and give it a once over. In the afternoon some track time became free enabling Sarah to put in some installation laps, although mostly in the wet. Throughout Friday evening the car underwent a complete set-up and seat change by Terry Wilson, and new livery, all ready for the 9.30am Qualifying on Saturday.
Saturday's qualifying was on a wet track, but it was also extremely greasy; everyone was struggling for grip and Sarah found herself sideways round pretty much all the corners trying to get traction. Nevertheless she was p2 right up to the last few minutes before being pipped at the post into p3 in class by a new class 4 competitor Robert Koenig with his Porsche 993 3.8.
Race 1 started at 11.30am with all competitors having changed to slicks. However there was still only a very small dry line appearing - the first couple of laps were going to be exciting! About 5 cars spun off on the first lap of the race, through cold tyres and Sarah found herself going through Copse with the Ferrari 355 of David Hathaway broadside in front of her. She had to take evasive action to avoid a collision, losing some ground on her fellow class competitors. As the race went on, the track dried, the slicks got up to temperature and the grip returned but Sarah was unable to catch up on places lost, settling for p4 in class, 25th out of 35 starters.
At the start of Race 2 Sarah found terrific traction in the new BMW Z4 and accelerated past the Class 4 Porsche 993 of Robert Koenig into Copse. She held the position and started gaining on the Aston Martin of Will Goff for p1 in class. Several cars back, and slowly creeping up on Sarah, was the new class entry of Chris Bialan in his Lotus 211. The nimble Lotus was lapping faster than both Sarah and Will, and shortly after the mid point of the race Chris managed to pass Sarah and pressed ahead to chase Will Goff. The race finished with Chris just 0.8 seconds behind Will and lapping a second a lap quicker. Sarah finished an impressive 3rd in class, 21st out of 35 starters.
"What a week, the BMW will be a great car once we have got on top of the set-up and had a chance to test it properly, Terry and everyone did a fantastic job to get me out this weekend I am very grateful to all their hard work, and since this is the third time this year I have gone straight out in qualifying in a brand new car, I am getting used to being chucked in the deep end"

Sarah will be back out in the GT Cup in the BMW Z4 M Coupe at Brands Hatch on 24th & 25th October.

Background

Adrian Flux specialise in insuring classic, vintage cars, right through to heavily modified sports cars. They use their specialist knowledge to offer great rates covering almost every vehicle imaginable and have a friendly flexible approach with exceptionally good rates for Women drivers across the board.

Clayton Holdings Ltd

Manufacture and sales of Fluidised Beds for Foundry, Heat Treatment and metal cleaning processes, utilising Fluidised Bed technology that is more environmentally friendly than alternatives.

Strata

Strata supply relief HGV drivers to some of the countries largest Supermarket and Delivery network providing an essential role in keeping Britain's food and parcel network on schedule.

Sarah B-'Baggs' another two podiums in the GT Cup at Donington Grand Prix circuit.

The GT Cup visited Donington Grand Prix Circuit this weekend supporting the FIA Formula 2 Championship. The event was played out to a packed venue where Sarah secured trophies for 2nd in class in both races.

The weekend started with some fun and games for the team with the transporter breaking down just outside the circuit. Fortunately one of the benefits of racing a production car is that it is registered to drive on the road so problems were quickly sorted by unloading the Aston at the roadside and driving it rally style (on slicks) the short distance into the circuit for it to be scruntineered ready for free practice.

A number of set-up changes had been made to the car since Oulton, so the two 20 min practice sessions were extremely valuable for trying out the changes. The threatening rain stayed off for qualifying as Sarah chased the class 4 Aston pack led by the clear class leader Will Goff. Sarah and Chris Scragg having had similar times all day in free practice qualified just 100th of a second apart, unfortunately with Sarah behind in p4.　

Race 1 was at midday on the Sunday. With the track temperature warming up Sarah got off to a good start but after a few laps found herself battling major understeer and lack of grip due to the tyres overheating. With the Porsche 944 Turbo of David Botterill in her sights she was battling to reel him in, when David experienced mechanical problems. This left him lacking in boost power allowing Sarah an easy pass and on the next lap she came across the Aston of Chris Scragg pulling up due to gearbox problems gifting her a 2nd place reward for reliability.

Race 2 was an altogether different affair. With grid positions once again determined from Qualifying, Sarah was back in 4th position in class and both David Botterill and Chris Scragg had repaired their various mechanical faults and were back out on the grid. During the first few laps Chris Scragg pulled away, followed by David with Sarah in hot pursuit. After about the 3rd lap Sarah made a lunge for the 944 Turbo on one of the hairpins and managed to make it stick. She then set about chasing down the Aston of Chris Scragg. After another lap or so an opportunity presented itself as Scragg entered the hairpin slightly wide and Sarah found a space to sneak past him. It was about this point the brake pedal suddenly went long and she had to change tactic to keep them both behind her; a few laps hardly touching the brakes allowed the pedal to return somewhat and Sarah managed to maintain her lead to the end for another excellent 2nd in class.

Sarah will be back out in the GT Cup at Silverstone on the 10th October. The Aston Martin will be back out at Snetterton in two weeks time for the Britcar 4hr race.

--------------------------------------------------------------

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"