Chad Racing – Oulton Park British GT Rounds 1&2

It was a very different-looking Chad Racing that returned to the British GT Championship at Oulton Park at the start of the Easter weekend – new cars, new drivers and new liveries – but the core of the team was unchanged from 2009 and the desire to succeed was as strong as ever; if not stronger.

Team Principal Piers Masarati had had a very busy off-season as he oversaw the expansion of the BGT project (as well as the team’s other 2010 programmes in FIA GT3, BTCS and Belcar) – sourcing and upgrading cars, finding drivers, hiring crew and testing being just some of his duties – but the end result was that the Chad garage was a busy place, with three gleaming Ferraris on parade and raring to take to the track.

Two of the three cars had been upgraded to the latest 430 Scuderia spec, which meant that their crews would be fighting with MTECH, Rosso Verde and Predator CCTV on an equal footing. The first, #10, belonged to 2009 Chad pilot Paul Warren, who would this year be joined by Tom Ferrier – the former BTCC racer returning to the series at the scene of his 2008 victory in the Tech 9 Murcielago – while the second, #21, was the property of Paul’s 2009 teammate Chris Hyman; the South African this year being joined by three-time BGT winner Dan Brown in a car sporting a highly distinctive STP livery.

The third car, #11, had not been upgraded to Scuderia spec, but was adorned in the blue and yellow national racing colours of Argentina; as chosen by its all-Argentine crew of José Manuel Balbiani and Juan “Juanchi” José Garriz. José is by far the more experienced of the two drivers – returning to the British series after two outings with Chad in 2009 – while Juan was making his debut both in GT racing and on a circuit outside of Argentina.

Despite the large geographical spread of the squad and highly demanding business schedules for both Paul and Chris, all three cars managed to participate in (albeit minimal) pre-season testing; with only Tom missing out due to other commitments.

But the makeup of the team was not the only thing to have changed over the winter; the format of the BGT race weekends also having altered. There was now a two-week testing ban in place which meant that each meeting would now be a two-day affair; and changes to the timetable now dictated that practice and qualifying would be on the first day, with racing (whether one or two races) on the second. So it was that Easter Saturday would see two one-hour free practice sessions in the morning, with qualifying taking place late in the afternoon.

When the cars first emerged onto the Cheshire track the conditions were cool and overcast, with recent rain – now stopped – having left the surface very damp. This would of course retard lap times, but the two Chad Scuderias were not looking for times at this point in the proceedings; focussing instead on bedding in various components. Only the #11 car seemed to be pushing and any suspicions that Juanchi was perhaps going to be out of his depth in BGT were already starting to be challenged; the youngster taking it all in his stride and giving the distinct impression of being someone who knows what he is doing. An impressive start.

By the time the second session began nearer to lunchtime, the track had dried out and slicks were the order of the day. Again, the focus was on setting the cars up for qualifying and the race and a sensible pace was adopted.

By the end of the hour, things looked as though they had gone to plan; the cars had each completed a healthy number of laps and had finished sixth, tenth and eleventh fastest. However, it soon became apparent that the gearbox in the #10 Scuderia needed to be replaced after a 2nd gear failure but that there would not be enough time to make the change before qualifying began.

Fortunately, the team had brought along its third Scuderia and the brand-new, never before driven, car was being hurriedly prepared to accommodate its drivers. But the team would still need the unanimous agreement of the rest of the BGT field before it could change cars and Jamie Masarati was dispatched to try and obtain the necessary signatures.

While he waited to see whether or not he had the afternoon off, Paul Warren gave his thoughts on his 2010 car; “It’s hard to pinpoint the differences [between the Scuderia and the 2009 430]. There are so many that it just feels like a completely new car. I like it.”

Happily, Masarati Snr had worked his charm and obtained the permission of the other team owners and the new #10 would be allowed to qualify.

But even with the permission, the work needed to ready the car meant that it was not in the queue for the start of the 15-minute session at 16:40 that afternoon. Fortunately (for them), a red-flag just a couple of minutes into the session meant that they would ultimately not lose out as no car had up to that point completed a flying lap.

Chris, Paul and Juan were on first qualifying duty and Chris had the #21 as high as third in the first half of the restarted session; his 1:41.500 being just a tenth off his car’s fastest lap of the day so far. He improved this to 1:41.149, before setting his qualifying time of 1:40.976 and claiming a third-row start.

Just behind came Juan in the #11 430, whose seventh-fastest 1:41.794 on the unfamiliar track in the older-spec car was an impressive start. Paul, as expected, was struggling to get anywhere near his proper pace in the hastily-prepared #10; but even so, he managed to stay ahead of several other GT3s until the closing moments of the session. He would at least not have to fight his way through the G4 pack at the start of his race the next day. Interestingly, the #10 was the fastest car through two of the three speed-traps, and second fastest through the third.

After the shortest of breaks, the second drivers climbed aboard and joined the queue in the pitlane. With the circuit curfew looming – and with two races still to be run – the second qualifying session had been trimmed to 13 minutes and so it was vital to make every lap count.

Had Tom Ferrier been in a properly set-up Scuderia, he would have been much better able to carry the fight to the likes of Simonsen, Griffin and Wilcox – and make no mistake that he will in future rounds – but considering what he had, and the fact that his last race was in 2008, a 1:39.977 on his second flying lap can be considered an achievement. He knew at that point that he would not be able to get anything else out of the car and so pitted after four laps.

José and Dan both improved throughout their session to finish in the low 1:40s in ninth and tenth respectively, and so all three Chad Ferraris would be starting the race together on the fourth and fifth rows.

With no running allowed at Oulton Park on Easter Sunday, the Chad mechanics would have the luxury of a whole day without interruptions in order to ready the cars for the two races on Bank Holiday Monday; but they would also only have ten minutes on Monday morning in which to check that their labours had had the desired outcome.

Happily, all three cars were declared fit and healthy after the early warm-up session.

The weather was dry on race day, if cold and blustery – as befits a British Bank Holiday – but the Oulton Park faithful turned out in their usual numbers for a full day’s entertainment.

The first of the two races was due to begin at 11:25 and, as is usually the case with MSVR events, the cars moved off bang on time.

Old Hall Corner on the opening lap of a race is often the scene of calamity, but this time we had no cars barrel-rolling nor leaping the fences and bursting into flames; but it was still a significant corner for two of the Chad runners as Chris found himself losing a place, while Juan gained two.

The young Argentine had nothing short of a spectacular start, as he took the 430 past both the #21 sister car and the #22 Audi on the opening lap. He then followed this up two laps later with a very confident move down the inside of the second Audi to take fourth.

The car ahead of him now was the #7 Porsche 997 GT3 R of David Ashburn and Juan had the white car firmly in his sights; moving to within a second of the podium places on his fifth lap with a 1:40.901 – three quarters of a second faster than his qualifying lap.

Alas for Juan his charge was ended on lap six when he was assailed from behind by an unidentified GT3 and barged into a spin. Not only did this drop him several places down the order, but the repercussions were destined to extend into both of the day’s races.

And Chris’ luck wasn’t much better. Having recovered from his slow opening lap, he had put distance between himself and the #3 Rosso Verde Scuderia of Hector Lester and was concentrating on keeping pace with the two Audis ahead. But as the car came through Hislop’s on lap seven, Chris accidentally pressed the pit-limiter button and the Ferrari coasted to a halt by the side of the track. Fortunately, Chris managed to refire it and rejoined, but 50 seconds had been lost and the #21 was long way adrift of the rest of the GT3 pack.

Things were going better for Paul in the #10 and he was locked in combat with the #12 Scuderia of Phil Burton. This battle continued right up to the pitstops, with the Chad car all over the black Ferrari as Paul looked to find a way past.

Chris and Paul both stopped early in the pit window in order to try and get their co-drivers an advantage, but Juan stayed out for a further two laps; his pace now a long way off what it was in a car that had been knocked out of shape by the earlier shunt.

Paul’s stop had the desired result, with Tom exiting the pitlane just ahead of Adam Wilcox; now ensconced in the #12 Ferrari. Unfortunately, this advantage lasted just one lap, but once positions had reversed, nothing separated the two cars as Tom harried his opponent. Soon after, Richard Dean caught up to the back of this fight in the #23 United Autosports Audi and managed to get past Tom; but just a lap later the Chad Ferrari was back ahead. The Audi retook position two laps later and now we had a three-way fight for fifth.

Dan Brown and José Balbiani were having less exciting races in their Ferraris due to the earlier delays, which left both drivers with the task of trying to make up lost ground without having anyone else to race against.

José was actually beginning to reel in the #22 Audi of Mark Patterson and was just seven seconds behind with three laps to go; but it was at this point that the 430’s airbox broke away having been damaged in the earlier incident and the car spun – ending its race in the pitlane. Dan thus found himself promoted to ninth after a lonely and frustrating stint.

Tom’s battle with Wilcox continued all the way to the flag and the gap was still only 0.141s by the end of the race; “That was a good battle,” said the Chad driver. “I had a bit of a brake issue – the wheels are covered in brake dust so something wasn’t quite right. It was a lot closer than I thought it might be after qualifying proved such a disappointment, but I’m still learning about this car; it’s definitely the longest I’ve had in the car so far.”

“The car there though was really good, Tom did a great job. The Scuderia feels very strong compared to the old 430 GT3.”

With the new format, the Chad mechanics had just four hours to patch up and ready the cars for Round 2, but all three Ferraris were waiting on the grid as the pace car moved off. Again, this would be a case of mixed fortunes for the trio.

This time around the run down from Old Hall to Cascades accounted for two of the GT3 contenders, but fortunately none of the Chad cars was involved; a clash between the Aston and Ascari taking both cars out of the picture. The numbers 10, 11 and 21 thus found themselves in sixth to eighth as they crossed the line to start the second lap.

As Tom began to break away and chase after the Porsche, Dan was trying to get past José and follow the red car; but he couldn’t do it and the two cars fell further and further back from the lead sextet. The positions finally swapped on lap 10, but Dan was faced with a 15-second gap to his other teammate; “I’m disappointed,” he admitted. “I was stuck behind my team-mates for way too long. If I’d have got through there we could have been as high as third.”

But as Dan got stuck into the attempt to reduce this gap, José’s car was clearly in trouble and on lap 13 it was shown the black and orange flag for “excessive smoke from the rear”. He pitted on lap 15, but a quick check confirmed the worst and the car was retired; “Juan and Jose had a further air box failure as a knock-on effect of the contact this morning,” said Piers.

By the same stage in the race Tom had been sitting at the tail-end of a quartet of GT3s led by Adam Wilcox, with barely a second covering them; but, with nobody able to gain position, it was Tom who made the first move by pitting on lap 18. Again, the intention was to allow Paul to gain ground during the stop, but this plan came to naught when the car had a slow stop as a result of Tom leaving the car in Neutral, losing them 30 seconds. This had the effect of dropping the car to seventh by the time all stops had been completed.

However, when Paul found himself once more behind Phil Burton – himself delayed at the pitstop by sticking seatbelts – he pounced immediately and moved up to sixth.

Chris was doing even better by this point and found himself in fourth after the stops. But his car was also struggling with alternator failure (the warning light being on for half the race) and he could do nothing about the #23 Audi which closed on him at the rate of three seconds per lap; taking the place away on lap 29.

He may have had enough to fend off the similarly rapid #22 Audi, but a spin late in the race as he tried to extract pace from the hampered Ferrari dropped him to 11th by the flag; “The car needs more work on balance and set-up, we used some settings that haven’t translated this weekend onto Avons but for the next round we will go back to standard and we will be there. We have done 1000km without any issues but no real performance tests on Avons, only Michelins, and with our FIA GT3 drivers,” said Piers later. “They’ll get much stronger.”

Having already lost sixth to the #22, Paul soldiered on and was rewarded for his efforts by regaining the place when Chris had his late-race problems; claiming three more championship points in the process.

The opening meeting had not been the easiest weekend for Chad Racing, But points had been scored and lessons learned; and, more importantly, the potential was plain to see. The team now had a month to prepare for the next round at the equally challenging Knockhill – a circuit that saw Chad finish on the podium in 2009.