Official Race Report from Paul Lawrence

Chamberlain and Rapp take Open wins

Richard Chamberlain made it four wins from four races in the Michelin Porsche Open Series at Snetterton on Saturday (22 May), but driveshaft failure put him out of round five race on Sunday and left the way open for Craig Rapp (911GT3) to score victory.

Race one

With Rupert Lewin's 996 GT2R suffering engine dramas during pre-event testing only mechanical problems would come between Chamberlain and victory on his home track. “I was looking forward to the battle as Rupert's 996 is quicker down the straights while I’m faster through the corners,” said Chamberlain of his rival’s absence.

Chamberlain duly romped to a fourth victory and even had time for a quick pit stop in the opening race. Rapp led the chase of the flame-spitting 935 and finished a secure class-winning second in his 911 GT3 Cup car.

Kevin Harrison (911 GT3) battled with Nick Staveley (911 GT3) once again for third until a gearbox problem sidelined Harrison. Meanwhile, a fired up Steve Donovan (911 GT3 RS) gave chase to Staveley and stole third position in the second half of the event.

Henry Firman (911 GT3) fought ahead of the similar car of Gerald Harrison and Tony Brown (964 RSR) to take fifth, despite a spin at Russell. Meanwhile. Harrison and Brown turned in an entertaining battle, and traded sixth place a number of times before the place went to Harrison by a few feet.

Eighth went to Gordon Matthew (944 Turbo), who took his second class win in the space of seven days, while the class four winning Alex Eacock (944) fought race long to pass Ragdan El-Akabi (Carrera RS). Eacock finally succeeded in grabbing ninth overall just two laps from the finish.

Race two

Chamberlain's perfect 2004 record ended on Sunday with a failed driveshaft on the warming up lap. “What’s annoying is we changed it for a new one last night,” he said. That drama left Rapp to romp clear of the pack on his way to victory. “I was a bit lonely out there,” admitted the delighted winner.

Donovan dealt with Staveley’s early challenge to secure second place while Brown’s mid-race attempts to steal third were thwarted as Staveley upped his pace to ensure a podium position.

The most intriguing battle of the race involved Harrison and Firman. After many laps in his shadow, Harrison nipped ahead of Firman. However, Firman fought back and while noticeably quicker in the corners he couldn’t find a way past until the very last moment when he pulled out of his rival's slipstream to steal fifth place by inches. “A fabulous race,” said Firman afterwards.

Chris Egginton (968CS) won class three by twenty seconds from El-Akabi, who had another race long battle over eighth place with the class four winning Eacock.

Henry Firman's story...

It hardly seemed worth turning up. Sign on was almost the night before, qualifying at dawn, then by breakfast it was all going to be over. How wrong can you be, one of the best Open races I`ve had !!

We had managed to squeeze onto an already busy practice afternoon on Friday and to be honest that pretty much set the scene in terms of traffic on the circuit. The two people I had my eye on realistically were Paul Hogan`s 996 turbo and Tony Brown`s 964 RSR. The turbo proved not to be too much of a threat, I suspect a lack of suitable rear tyres won`t have helped and on the test day the GT3 seemed quicker than the RSR in a straight line. As for the other GT3`S I figured it was going to take a spin on their part for me to stand any chance.

Come qualifying I thought I`d got the wrong race as I pulled into the assembly area - it was full of cars !! What a fantastic grid, 26 cars. The track was busy and one of the cars found it`s way into the gravel at Brooklands after 3 laps or so. Yellow flags put paid to any chance of a time so I popped into the pits for a quick tyre check, sure enough the were still 4 on the car so I headed back out and gave it my best shot negotiating the slower cars. In the end I managed to out qualify Tony Brown`s RSR as well as the GT3 of Gerald Harrison. Things were looking up.

The big benefit of the GT3 is that you are going to be at the pointy end of the grid and there were a lot of cars behind. The only thing I did think was that if I fluffed the start there were quite a few tons of metal that were going to have to miss me, luckily I like my starts and managed to get off the line well, I had a look up the outside of Nick Stavely`s GT3 but thought better of it and decided I fancied an inside line going into Copse in case Tony got past me. The leading cars managed to get round in one piece and I had Tony on my tail. Not a problem, I knew I would be quicker on the straights so could pull away. Sadly this was not to be. Somewhere between practice and now Tony, team Harvey and the RSR had all enjoyed a big group hug and bloody thing was the same speed as me. Oh dear I thought to my self - or words to that effect ! We started to lap cars on lap 3 and by the 4th or 5th lap were weaving through a constant stream of cars. Unlike previous races or practice I didn`t have time on my side and had to beat a hasty path past my fellow competitors, I had this big red thing up my chuff !

After 6 or 7 laps I managed to pull out a little gap (I couldn`t see the white`s of Tony`s eyes anymore !), and I though I`d cracked it. Unfortunately going round Luffield I had my nose inside a 944 when he cut across to find the apex and I had to slam on the brakes so as not to spin him out. It wasn`t his fault, he was racing as well and to be honest it must have been hard for the slower guys. We were coming up to a group of 5 cars, the rear bloke knew we were coming but the cars at the front of the group wouldn`t have known. Anyway Tony managed to get the power on earlier coming out of Luffield, got along side on the straight and I let him take me going into Copse.

The rest of the race we were always within a few yards of so of each other and I was hoping he might get caught up in a bit of traffic himself but sadly no such luck. In the end I got 5th in class just behind Tony. An excellent race though and I came away a very happy bunny. I went round Silverstone quicker than I have done before just getting into the 1.02`s, I managed to get past traffic whilst under pressure without putting myself or others at risk and am starting to get really comfortable in the car. We got the data logger working this weekend so hopefully that will help me find a bit more time.

I was also pleased to be able to keep with the leading GT3`s for longer this time out. Normally Craig and the faster guys lap me at Silverstone after 20 minutes or so, this time they didn`t after 25 minutes and in fact I almost lapped a GT3 myself ! Things are definitely looking up.

Once again thanks to all the guys out there for keeping an eye in the mirror, it is great to have such a healthy grid, it gives the fans (sorry I mean wives), something to watch. Well done to Tony a lovely clean race and on the day I suspect the best man won but don`t get too used to it chap, if I have my way you`ll be seeing the arse end of a bright Orange GT3 as you cross the line at some stage this season !!

Looking forward to a good weekend of racing at Snetterton, one of my former stomping grounds as a youth.