Joe Osborne

FIA GT3 – Silverstone Gallery

admin — Wed, 05 May 2010 10:47:14 +0000

Porsche 911 GT3 R

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FIA GT, SIlverstone

Osborne Shines on FIA GT3 Porsche Debut

admin — Wed, 05 May 2010 10:00:08 +0000

Joe Osborne the current European GT4 Champion and BRDC Rising Star achieved an impressive maiden qualifying and race result in the first round of the FIA GT3 European Championship this weekend at the new Silverstone Arena Circuit. The 21 year old signed a late deal with Belgian based Muehlner Motorsport and drove the new Porsche 911 GT3 R for the first time on Friday morning. With less than 25 laps of testing Osborne went on to dominate the first qualifying session occupying pole position for the majority of the session. With a rapidly drying track Joe reclaimed pole with less than a minute remaining only to have his last flying lap compromised by traffic and to finish 4^th. Muehlner Motorsport boss Bernhard Muehlner was full of praise for his new driver saying “Joe has really impressed me and the whole team by his professional and mature approach. I am delighted to have such an exciting young driver on board. If this weekend is anything to go by we have a real chance of competing for the championship this season”. Osborne is to be partnered with experienced FIA GT3 pilot Gilles Vannelet who had his qualifying run affected by a red flag and finished in 18^th for race 2.

Osborne made a confident start to race 1 and quickly settled into the race matching the experienced Porsche Supercup driver Siso Cunill. Despite intermittent traction control problems Osborne drove a faultless first stint and handed the car over to his French team mate in 3^rd place. The experienced Vannelet was quickly on the pace but came under pressure from the 18 Corvette and the 87 Ferrari. He drove a great defensive race but was eventually passed by both cars and bought the car in for an impressive 5^th place finish. Osborne commented “I am really pleased with the result; everything has gone really well so far. The team, car and team mate have been great and coming into the weekend we were looking for a top 10 finish so I am very happy with 5^thplace”.

Vannelet made good progress in race 2 and was soon making progress from 18^th on the grid and handed over to Joe in 13th. After a delayed pit stop Osborne was quickly continuing Gilles good work and was setting some of the fastest lap times on track and had climbed to 9^th with around 10 minutes remaining. With a 6^th or 5^th place looking possible Osborne suffered a puncture and managed to get the car back to the pits for a new tyre. Although Osborne was straight back on the pace time was running out and had to settle for a frustrating 16^th place. With the 10 points from race 1 the Anglo-French pairing are 7^th in the championship.

The team head to the Czech Republic for rounds 3 and 4 on the 22/23^rd May.

Photo credit: Jakob Ebrey

Joe wins the big prize in Portugal!

joe — Tue, 22 Sep 2009 14:33:25 +0000

After leading the championship all season Joe finally managed to secure the GT4 European title with a race to spare. With yet another car change Joe was driving a brand new Ginetta G50 which had only done 10 shake down laps before being transported down to the Algarve circuit.

As with all of the circuits that Joe has raced at this year the Algarve was a brand new circuit that had to be learnt in double quick time. Fortunately he was being supported by two great engineers from the Ginetta factory Paul and Simmy and with further back up from life time friend and mechanical genius Johnny Nabbs.

After an impressive qualifying session which netted a 2^nd and a 1^st on the Saturday, the first part of the task was complete. Race 1. On the rolling lap the task became a lot easier as the main challenger experienced electrical problems and failed to make the start. Joe had a great start and maintained 2^nd place behind the BMW M3. The pressure was still on as the next closest rival was in 3^rd place in the impressive Aston Martin. With a successful pit stop completed the news came though that the Aston Martin had a mechanical problem and was out of the race. This now meant that it was possible for Joe to win the championship in the first race, all he had to do was finish one place behind in the BMW. With no immediate pressure from the 3^rd placed car Joe was able to stop pushing so hard and concentrate on bringing the car home safe and sound which he did in 2^nd place to win the 2009 championship.

Still leading the European GT4 championship with 2 rounds left.

joe — Fri, 28 Aug 2009 07:27:44 +0000

Zolder – Belguim 22^nd August

Following a perfect start to rounds 9 & 10 by securing two pole positions the race results didn’t live up to expectations but despite this Osborne left the Belguim circuit at Zolder still leading the championship by 6 points. Joe was sharing the Team LNT Ginetta G50 with a new driver partner works Ginetta driver Nigel Moore. The pair had raced together last season in British GT to great effect scoring a first at the Thruxton round. The race problem was with the starts as in race 1 Nigel was jumped by the rest of the grid and was running in 8^th after the first lap. Both drivers put in great performances and managed to recover to an impressive 4^th place. In race 2 Joe made a great get away only to suffer brake problems into turn 1 and as in race 1 dropped places to around 8^th.

Yet again both drivers put in stunning lap times and recovered to 5^th place by the end of the race. These results secured a vital 9 points which combined with his rivals suffering reliability problems leaves Joe ahead in the standings as the GT4 European Cup grid heads off to the Algarve for the final 2 rounds and the chance of finally securing the European championship.

Points Lead Maintained In Spa

joe — Sat, 01 Aug 2009 09:13:10 +0000

Rounds 7 & 8 in Belgium at the 7 km Grand Prix Circuit of Spa were always going to be tough as the Ginetta G50 would struggle against the heavier but more powerful competition such as the BMW M3, Porsche 911 and Aston Martin N24. The two races at Spa were a damage limitation exercise and to end the weekend with the 7 point lead maintained which was a great result.

Our new team GCR performed really well and worked really hard over the weekend to ensure that the car ran without problems. Saturday’s race was full of twists and turns right to the end with the two BMW M3’s running in first and second as they started the last lap. Fortunately from a points position there was a coming together resulting in a DNF for both drivers.

A final position of 4^th and a 7^th place in race two were enough to secure a vital 7 points from the weekend and maintain the all important championship lead. On to Zolder with races on the 21^st & 22nd August.

Round 5 – Oschersleben

joe — Wed, 24 Jun 2009 06:56:14 +0000

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 12^th 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 6^th 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 5^th 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.”

100% record on poles but down on points.

joe — Wed, 24 Jun 2009 06:55:46 +0000

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

joe — Sat, 20 Jun 2009 14:59:34 +0000

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

joe — Sat, 30 May 2009 21:10:39 +0000

G50Z in the Pits

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British GT3 – Rockingham – Race 1

joe — Sat, 30 May 2009 21:08:25 +0000

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…