Pace and promise in opening round of 2.0L Cup for Bryant and Smith
Olly Bryant and Andrew Smith left Paul Ricard with a 5th place overall finish and class win in the elite class as the 2020 season finally got underway on the 25th/26th July.
Sharing the Historika owned and prepared 1964 Porsche 901 which brought them championship honours in 2018. The duo lined up on pole position after a strong qualifying session.
Smith led the opening laps and his lead over Joe Twyman in the Jordan run similar car ebbed and flowed between 2 and 4 seconds. It became apparent that in order to overcome the 40 second pit stop penalty that Olly & Andrew have as a result of their “Elite & Elite” driver gradings, they would have to pit early to change to Olly and get out in clean air. With the “gent” driven cars of Christian Coll and Philip De Creane in close succession, this was always going to be a real challenge as their driver grading meant they would attract no time penalty in the stops. So when the pit window opened after 35 mins , Smith came in and handed over to Bryant. Disaster then struck as a safety car was deployed 5 mins after, which allowed those who had not yet stopped to effectively gain a lap on the no.64 car of Smith & Bryant. Once racing resumed, Olly found him self in P7 over 2 mins from the lead pack. Undeterred, he set about eating into this gap, setting a string of fastest laps, to finish an eventual P5 and secure the class win. Olly recorded the fastest lap of the race on the final tour.
The series continues at Monza in September, where the duo hope for some better luck!
Olly would like to thank Historika for another faultless performance.
- Categories: 2020 Season, News
