Rounds 1 & 2 Oulton Park

QUALIFYING

Oliver posted an impressive time of 1m43.7s to place the car 3rd on the grid for race 1. Matt Harris posted an equally respectable time of 1m43.9s to line the car up 6th for race 2.

RACE 1

Oliver lost ground to Guy Harrington in the Aston Martin DBRS9 at the start but soon regained the place on lap 3. The superior braking characteristics of Hector Lester’s 2nd placed Ferrari prevented Oliver moving up to 2nd until Lester pitted. This gave Oliver several free laps where he banked in some fast laps before pitting to hand over the Matt. The Porsche left the pits in P2 with the lead in site and a 7 second gap to the Ferrari behind. This was thanks to an excellent in lap by Oliver and a great stop by the Tech 9 team. Matt soon had his mirrors filled with the Ferrari, now driven by 2006 champion Tim Mullen. In his attempts to defend, Matt’s lap times were compromised and the pursuing Ascari and Aston Martin closed in. The Ferrari, the Ascari and the Aston got by in the closing laps as the Porsche’s rear tyres struggled for grip after such defensive driving. Harris kept his cool though and the demise of the lead Aston promoted the car to 4th place earning the pairing 5 vital championship points.

RACE 2

Harris made an excellent start and after a safety car period due to a first lap incident he got by the Ascari of the Jones Brothers that robbed the car of a podium finish in Saturday. A shower then came down and Matt did an excellent job to keep the car on the circuit on slick tyres. The team left Matt out until the end of the pit window when most other teams had pitted for wets. Matt then pitted and Tech 9 gambled to keep the car on wets sending Oliver out on a very damp track with little grip. Oliver was challenged at the pit exit by the Dodge Viper of Bradley Ellis but he managed to stay in front through Cascades and emerged as the race leader due to the time saved by remaining on slick tyres. The other car to have remained on slicks was the Aston Martin of Jonny Cocker, which was slowing catching Oliver. Oliver maintained the gap by using the Porsche’s traction out of the corners. The Aston closed in the final stages but Bryant kept his nerve and took the win by 0.8s.

This is a great result for Oliver Bryant and Matt Harris who now lead the championship by 3 points from Hector Lester and Tim Mullen.