With a return to Oulton Park so quickly after the last Oulton Park outing for Britcar a late invitation race was always going to draw a mixed entry. With the prototypes of Britsports joining the Production S1 regulars and some invited Britcar BMWs and Ferraris the grid was varied. As usual in the wet conditions Mike Gardiner and the teams M3 excelled outqualifying Jade's, Norma's and Radical's as well as Production S1 pole and 6th overall. Lining up alongside a Ferrari 360 underlined the qualifying performance.
The race was also run in wet conditions over 50 minutes to Britcar rules with a compulsory pit stop. The hard charging Gardiner was quickly up into 5th place holding off the mcuh faster baby prototypes. The M3 held station although now a lap down to the leaders until lap 14. A quick call from the team as the pace car was deployed allowed Mike to pit under yellow. This allowed the mandatory pit stop of 80 seconds to be completed and for the M3 to catch up with the safety car train. With the safety car in the race ran for a further 8 green flag laps. Using the advatage gained under the safety car and consistently fast lapping Mike finished 3rd overall on the lead lap beating Radicals, BMW GTRs and all of the other Production 1 cars by more than a lap.
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Contact: Richard Moore - 07939 569027 or Paul Fenton - 07801 417931 |