CREAM OF THE CROP
FARMER AND TH II M TAKE SILVERSTONE 500
Mark Farmer smiled slyly when he said: “Yeah, our championship pretty much starts now. Never mind the first two rounds…”
Those words came after the first win for himself and team-mate Nicki Thiim earlier this month at Snetterton. If the seeds of the revival were sown in Norfolk, the pair’s title hopes bloomed in Northamptonshire with victory in the Silverstone 500 showpiece.
Farmer and Thiim’s second win from three races – and TF Sport’s third on the trot – was hard earned, after so nearly being lost in the first stint when Farmer found himself facing backwards at Becketts after a thump from Graham Davidson’s Aston Martin Vantage.
“I thought that was it – game over,” said Farmer. “I genuinely thought that had blown our chance. I was fuming. But credit to the team, the strategy still played out and things went our way. What a boost this is to our championship hopes!”
Farmer/thiim’s car didn’t start the season well, with a litany of issues robbing them of the chance to prove their pace. Those were ironed out by Snetterton, when pole, a win and a podium represented a strong points haul.
Having dominated in Norfolk, the Astons weren’t the fastest marque on the grid this time. All of the Vantages were handed an extra 5kg of ballast. In contrast its biggest title challenger, the Lamborghini Huracan – ballasted to the max last time out – had 15kg taken off, leading to a 20kg swing toward the Italian cars. However, it didn’t help Barwell in qualifying, as lead drivers Jon Minshaw and Phil Keen struggled with a balance issue eventually traced to a problem with the differential. The understeering Lambo would only start a lowly 13th.
Instead the title of Aston-beater went to the RJN Nissan GT-R of Struan Moore and guest entry Ricardo Sanchez. The GT-R’S biggest weakness is that it has more grunt than grip and can suffer badly from traction issues. But, with Silverstone recently resurfaced, that problem was alleviated by the more abrasive surface.
“Around the high-speed stuff the car is amazing and we can finally drive off the slower corners too,” said Moore after the car took pole ahead of Farmer/thiim’s combined effort.
Being a silver-graded driver within an amateur field, it was little surprise that Sanchez bolted away at the start, leaving Farmer to defend from Davidson, Ian Loggie’s Bentley and Richard Neary’s Mercedes.
Davidson started his car on a lighter fuel load than the longer-running Farmer, and caught him before trying to pass into Becketts, only to whack Farmer’s rear and spin him out. That earned Davidson’s car a 10-second stop-go, and an extra stop to replace the steering arm, which put it out of contention.
At that point the sister TF car came into play. Derek Johnston was one of the first GT3 runners to stop, handing over to Marco Sorensen, whose long and swift stint brought the car into play.
When the leading Nissan stopped after the hour-mark, disaster struck. “I pulled away and the seat hadn’t clicked into place on the runners, so it slid right back when the car moved,” said Moore, who lost significant time to the charging Sorensen, ceded the lead and was then forced into a short stint after admitting: “I could hardly reach the pedals, let alone brake properly!”
Barwell changed the gearbox and differential on the Minshaw/keen car overnight, and both drivers reported an improvement and raced far better than they qualified. By mid-distance, when the true order emerged, the car was well in play and running second thanks to a great first stint from Keen and trouble for their rivals.
As well as the Nissan’s issues, Loggie/callum Macleod’s Bentley lost time after a tangle with a GT4 runner, while Neary/adam Christodoulou’s Mercedes suffered suspension damage and retired.
With just an hour to go, the fight for glory boiled down to just four cars – and would be decided by the pitstop success penalties each one carried over from the last race. Johnston/sorensen had to serve an extra 20s stationery on their third and final mandatory stop, which dropped them to fifth, behind the recovering Nissan. Farmer/thiim had to serve 10s, but Farmer managed to craft enough of a gap over Minshaw in the penultimate stint that Thiim managed to bring the car back into the fray in the lead, just 0.5s ahead of Keen after the two cars pitted together for a pitstop showdown.
Thiim held the lead to the flag as the Lambo came under intense pressure from Adam in the Optimum Aston he shares with Flick Haigh for the final 11 laps.
“Those were the longest 11 laps I think I’ve ever had,” said an exhausted Keen. “This is a power track and doesn’t suit the Lambo brilliantly. But credit to the team for believing we had a problem with the car and staying up late fixing it.”
One of the stories of the race came from the number one Bentley, where the reigning champions made a surprise return.
After his late call to action ( see Racing News) Seb Morris slotted back in alongside Rick Parfitt Jr brilliantly.
The car was dumped to the back of the grid after the Sunday morning driver switch, but Parfitt drove a great first hour-long stint to bring it back into contention, despite a spin at Luffield. Morris then jumped straight in and kept pace with the regulars to help the crew to fourth. They were put back to sixth post-race for a yellow flag infringement.