Rounds 5 & 6 Rockingham 24/25th May 2008

Rockingham was a circuit that suited the Viper and Oliver posted the 7th quickest time in wet free practice, and fastest Viper. Nick qualified the car in 4th position for Sunday’s race but Oliver had a disappointing qualifying session for Monday’s race, ending up 15th. Oliver was forced to pit with a steamed up windscreen at the beginning of the session and he missed out on the fastest running, as the rain continued to pour the circuit became more a more flooded. Had Oliver found an extra second, he would have started 7th!

Race 1

Nick started the race in 4th place and was soon up to second as the Lamborghini’s slipped down the order with problems. Nick maintained a 5 second gap to the leading Brookspeed Viper until the pit window where unfortunately the safety car picked up Nick who was forced to do a lap behind the safety car whereas the leading Viper and several other cars behind where able to pit straight away. This would mean Oliver would resume further down the order, a situation worsened by the steering wheel coming off in his hand as he left the pitlane! Fortunately the Viper did not hit anything and Oliver was able to fix the wheel back in position and resume the race albeit in 8th place. Oliver drove an excellent stint to bring the car back up to a fine 4th place after passing Michael Bentwood’s Aston, Aaron Scott’s Viper, Michael Cullen’s Ferrari 430 and Luke Hines’ Ferrari 430 after an epic battle on the penultimate lap of the race. Oliver’s time in the wet was the fastest Viper lap time of the race and 3rd fastest lap overall, which underlines the pace he had in the second half of the race. It was a great shame about the safety car and steering wheel issues!

Race 2

The work was on for Oliver as he started from 15th place; This work began with a fine battle with Michael Bentwood over the opening few laps with Oliver gaining the upper hand and taking the position before moving on to pass Luke Hines in a brave move into turn one after a good dice for several laps. Oliver then caught the pack in front, which consisted of Aaron Scott’s Viper, Anthony Reid’s Ferrari 430 and Tim Harvey’s Porsche 997. Despite lapping faster than this pack, Oliver was unable to pass the cars who were engaged in a heated battle and remained 10th. Oliver opted to pit as he was being held up and put Nick out in some clean air. Nick resumed and leapfrogged several cars in the pit stops to emerge 7th. As the track was increasingly slippery for the slick tyres, Nick was the fastest man on track once the others had pitted and handed over to their teammates. Nick was up to 5th after passing the Ferrari of Pete Bamford and one of the Team Modena Lamborghinis. With 8 minutes to go, there was plenty of time for Nick to pass the 4 cars in front to take the win as he was significantly faster than them. Unfortunately, a stranded car brought out a safety car, which raised questions over the likelihood that the race would continue.



The stranded car was soon recovered and the safety car lights were extinguished, there was to be a dash to the finish over a 5-minute scrap. The odds were in Nick’s favour and Oliver waited anxiously in the pitlane. The leading Lamborghini then spun whilst behind the safety car in the tricky conditions, this promoted Nick up to 4th and the sister Viper of Paul O’neill and Steve Clarke into the lead. Unfortunately for Nick and Oliver, the race was then chequered flagged 5 minutes early, as the circuit was deemed too dangerous. Time had run out for Nick who was unable to claim the podium that he and Oliver deserved after truly competitive pace throughout the weekend. The pairing banked a useful 10 points from the two 4th place finishes but were disappointed not to have made the podium.

Snetterton is the next circuit on the calendar on the 7/8th of June and the long straight should allow the Viper to stretch its legs and deliver the first of many podiums in 2008.