Scots driver seals British GT titleposted in GT15 | 09 | 2014

    ECURIE ECOSSE DRIVER, Edinburgh-born Marco Attard, clinched the British GT Championship in a nerve-jangling finale at Donington Park. Attard's success confirmed Scottish drivers scooped two main prizes in the championship, with Thornhill's Ross Wylie lifting the GT$ title.

    Attard though was forced to watch the final race of the season from the pitlane after his Barwell Motorsport-run BMW Z4 GT3 was forced to retire from the two-hour race.

    The Scot's significant points advantage though was enough not only for him to scoop the 2014 Driver’s title, but also claim the Blancpain Gentleman Driver Trophy for best-placed Amateur.

    Co-driver Alexander Sims was less lucky however, as the non-score relegated him to a still-impressive third in the standings after missing a round earlier in the season.

    The Edinburgh-based Ecurie Ecosse also finished third in the teams’ standings having comfortably outpaced the other single-car entrants throughout 2014.

    But the weekend and season undoubtedly belonged to Attard who, along with Sims and Snetterton supersub Jonny Cocker, claimed no fewer than four pole positions, three other front row starts, two race wins, two second places, a third and two fourths from the 10 races staged. 

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    The team's BMW started from the front row of the grid, having missed out on pole position by just 0.003sec, but with no success penalty to serve during their mandatory race pit-stop, the team was confident of at the very least matching their rivals, who had no option but to win and hope Ecurie Ecosse finished seventh or lower if they were to steal the title at the death.

    However, after Sunday morning’s warm-up, a cracked cylinder head forced the Barwell and BMW mechanics to perform a record-breaking engine change in time for the race. Incredibly the Z4 GT3 was ready before the start, only to then suffer a related gearbox problem that forced Attard into retirement while running second after just nine laps.

    The entire squad then watched on nervously as the Oman Racing Team Aston Martin held its lead, first with Ahmed Al Harthy and then Michael Caine at the wheel. It was still there as the race entered its final stages before finally being overhauled with just 15 laps remaining. Eventually slipping to fourth on the road meant Attard was champion by 10.5 points.

    “This is a fantastic result and just reward for all of the team’s and Alexander’s hard work this year," a relieved Attard said. "They absolutely deserve it!

    "Having said that, I feel really disappointed for Alexander that we couldn't share the title after he missed Snetterton due to official BMW commitments at the Nurburgring 24 Hours.

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    "The very rare failure at Donington also meant he wasn’t able to maintain second in the points, which is a great shame. Personally, I’m over the moon and can't wait to celebrate with everyone who has contributed towards our British GT title.”

    The team's success was also welcomed by Chris Needell, Barwell commercial director.

    “What an extraordinary weekend, with the whole team riding a rollercoaster of emotions on race day," Needell said.

    "Although clearly Donington didn’t go according to plan race-wise, we have been the class of the British GT field throughout the season and thoroughly deserve this title.

    "Marco has shown consistently that he is one of the very best Am drivers out there, and Alexander simply did a brilliant job for us both in and out of the car.

    "Also, I should mention Jonny Cocker who stood in superbly for Alexander at Snetterton, and has contributed to this success. We are so proud of our crew; from the engineers through to the tyre guys, they have performed brilliantly all season.”

    And there could well be more success for the team this weekend when Ecurie Ecosse targets the Pro-Am class Drivers’ and Teams’ titles — in the hands of Alasdair McCaig, Andrew Smith and Oliver Bryant — at the championship’s Nurburgring season finale.

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    Jim McGill

     

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