As the cars formed on the grid for Race 1 the dark clouds decided to empty their contents. Scenes of frantic activity ensued as the teams prepared the cars for a tyre change. Joe as the pole sitter elected to stay on slicks as did the car in second place, where as the majority of the grid went for wets. With the rain stopping Joe and the team were confident the track would dry before the half way mark leaving the slick runners with the advantage. Dropping to 12th on the first lap Joe battled with difficult conditions and a track that was refusing to dry. The team and driver opted to take the pit stop at the earliest opportunity in order to maximise any improvements in the drying track. Finally with 25 minutes of the 40 minute race gone Joe’s lap times finally started to fall. Moving rapidly through the wet shod cars Joe managed to progress through to 6th setting the fastest lap of the race on the way. Unfortunately time was not on our side and this was to be the final position for Osborne’s number 52 Ginetta G50. Despite the disappointing result the points situation was looking much better as Joe’s closest rival finished 5th gaining only 1 more point. Joe commented “I couldn’t believe how slowly the track was drying as in free practice on Friday with a similar amount of rain it took about 10 minutes to dry. Once the track started to dry my times really stated to improve but we needed another 5 minutes.”
Round 5 - Oschersleben
100% record on poles but down on points.
Joe’s 100% record of qualifying on pole was maintained this weekend at rounds 5 and 6 at Oschersleben in Germany. Despite the Ginetta G50 being given even more penalties in order to slow the car down Joe still managed to out qualify an impressive field including current GT3 leader Maxime Martin in a Porsche 911.
British GT3 - Rockingham - Race 2
Another great race in the G50Z. With 10 laps to go I’d managed to get the car up to to third behind the Mosler and Ascari. It was neck and neck but with 5 laps to go I dived up the inside of the Mosler at the hairpin. A few laps later I lunged into the last corner and past the Ascari. Depite the Ascari’s pace on corner one I held on to the lead for my second vistory of the weekend.
Update: I’m pleased to announce I’ve been awarded the Sunoco Driver of the Weekend award!
Rockingham Gallery
British GT3 - Rockingham - Race 1
Being the top Ginetta driver at Silverstone this year meant I won a chance to race in the British GT3 championship at Rockingham. I’d be driving the new Ginetta G50Z for Barwell Motorsport.
Qualifying went great and we managed to put the car on pole. After a great start in the race we managed to maintain our lead throughout to post a really great victory.
We race again tomorrow at 13:45…
Round 4 - Adria
Having lead the race from the start the pit stop didn’t go so well meaning we finished third. All in all a great weekend. The next round is at Oschersleben, Germany on June 21st. To see the championship standings click here.
Adria Gallery
Round 3 - Adria
Confidence was high going to Round 3 as yesterday we’d managed to get pole in both qualifying races. Everything felt great and we recorded our 2nd victory!
Silverstone Gallery
Round 2 - Silverstone
We had our work cut out in race 2 starting from 7th on the grid but carved through the field to record our first victory of the season.
Jun