Team Report from Peter Morris, PMC Midlands Porsche 996 GT3
Round two of The GT Cup took place at Anglesey this weekend [18 th May] with an excellent grid of 27 GT class cars enjoying the spectacular North Wales circuit.
Despite a podium finish in Class 1 at Donington in May, Peter Morris had made some changes to his car which meant it was re-classified to Class 2.
“I felt the 996 would be more competitive with a standard engine in Class 2” explained Morris. “Testing on Saturday the car felt great and put in consistent competitive times, including a good hot lap in the 1m30's”.
Qualifying first thing on Sunday morning, the track was busy. However Morris was pleased with qualifying first in class and second on the road with a 1m30.871s.
“My best time was right at the end of the qualifying session and with traffic” commented Morris.
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Race 1: Morris in 2nd, with Wilkins & Simpson in pursuit |
Nick Whale qualified on pole with his Class 1 Porsche 997 GT3 in 1m29.447s; 2 Peter Morris (996 GT3/Cl 2) 1m30.871s; 3 Colin Simpson (Marcos/Cl 1) 1m31.053s; 4 Mark Stephenson (997 GT3/Cl 1) 1m31.198s; 5 Craig Wilkins (996 GT3/Cl 2) 1m31.263s; 6 Colin Broster (996 GT3/Cl 2) 1m31.355s.
Morris was looking forward to racing alongside ex-Britcar team mate Craig Wilkins, who is competing in a Viper in the British GT Championship this year with Aaron Scott.
“Craig and I have raced as team mates but this will be the first chance we've had to race against each other” Morris explained.
Peter Morris accepts second place trophy for Race 1 |
In race one, Morris had a good start from second and was chasing Nick Whale. However Craig Wilkins (996 GT3) had a great start from fifth and was behind Morris in third by the end of the first lap, before being overtaken by the Marcos of Colin Simpson on lap 2.
Three laps later Simpson took second from Morris in a move at Church. Nick Whale was unlucky to retire from the lead with a gear box issue on lap 9, which handed Simpson the lead with Morris and Wilkins making up the podium. |
“That was a good race” said Morris afterwards, “Colin passed me, but in the second half of the race my car felt really strong and I was able to pull him back in. There was only just over half a second between us at the flag.”
Race 1 Result: 1 Colin Simpson (Marcos/Cl 1) 20 laps in 30m 49.993; 2 Peter Morris (996 GT3/Cl 2) +0.669s; 3 Craig Wilkins (996 GT3/Cl 2) +18.024s; 4 Mark Stephenson (997 GT3/Cl 1) +19.392s; 5 Colin Broster (996 GT3/Cl2) +25.537s; 6 George Brewster (997 GT3/Cl 1) +28.708s.
For race two later that afternoon Morris had to take on 60kgs of ‘success ballast'.
“Craig and I both had good starts behind Colin Simpson at the start of race two” Morris explained, “I could see Craig was looking to make a brave move on me at the top of the hill, then Colin spun and I had to take avoiding action, meaning I couldn't defend the place from Craig.”
Wilkins took the race lead, with the Porsche 996 GT3's of Morris and Colin Broster right on his tail.
“We had a cracking race,” Morris said “it really shows the spirit of the GT Cup when you can run door-to-door and yet there aren't any unnecessary moves that end up causing damage.” |
The GT3's of Wilkins, Morris & Broster battle for the lead |
Nick Whale had an outstanding race. After starting from the back of the grid as a result of a DNF in race one, he made his way through the field to pass the lead pack of Wilkins, Morris and Broster by the middle of the race.
“All credit to Nick” said Morris, “he had a great drive and deserved to take the win.”
Broster managed to make a move on Morris on lap 10, but he quickly re-took the third place shortly before Broster was forced to retire with a diff problem.
Race 2 Result: 1 Nick Whale (997 GT3/Cl 1) 20 laps in 30m41.097s; 2 Craig Wilkins (996 GT3/Cl 2) +16.532s; 3 Peter Morris (996 GT3/Cl 2) + 17.023s; 4 Mark Stephenson (997 GT3/Cl 1) +29.681s; 5 David Back (Ferrari 360GT/Cl 2) +52.058s; 6 Tommy Correia (Ferrari 360 Challenge/Cl 2) +1m02.056s.
“This has been a great GT Cup round.” Morris said, “Marc Haynes and his team at BUTE Motorsport made this a well organised event with great hospitality and I've really enjoyed the close racing – and of course the two podium finishes!”
The next rounds of the GT Cup are at Oulton Park , 27 th & 28 th June 2008.
