TRANSMISSION TROUBLES CAUSE DUTCH WOE FOR HUGHES SPEEDWORKS

The 2015 12H Zandvoort didn’t turn out to be the tonic it was hoped it would be as the Hughes/Speedworks Motorsport line-up completed just five and a half hours of the 12Hr Dutch enduro, with transmission gremlins causing them to retire their Ginetta G50.

Left: Former British Touring Car Championship racer, and Team sponsor Tony Hughes was joined in the Netherlands by fellow ex-BTCC racer Ollie Jackson, and Historic racer & Warburton’s Bakery Director Ross Warburton – the same that teamed up for the last round of the Series at Mugello in Italy.

POLE POSITION FOR JACKSON …

The trio ran well throughout Testing and Free Practice for the Team’s second shot at the 12H Zandvoort and showed fantastic pace into qualifying as Ollie Jackson took Pole Position in the SP3/GT4 Class by no less than 1.5 seconds ahead of the Porsche 997 of APO Sport.

The 12 hour race in Zandvoort is split into two parts, with the first 3hrs of the race completed on the first day (Friday), with the cars then in Parc Ferme overnight, and the remaining 9hrs run the day after.

DARK CLOUDS LOOMING …

Part 1 began with rain clouds looming in the distance and as the red lights went out there was definite rain in the air, and a flurry of competitors dived for the pits to change to wet tyres as the track dampened. Jackson was first behind the wheel of the Team’s G50 and was more than comfortable in the worsening conditions, leading the SP3 class overall and running as high as 5th overall, out of 48 cars, in amongst some much quicker cars.

As the rain eventually worsened, Ollie was quick to make the decision to pit for wets, and was shadowed in by the Lotus Evora of Cor Euser Racing. A fantastic pit-stop from the Speedworks Team saw them retain the lead as the Lotus was left behind.

TRANSMISSION IS THE PITS FOR JACKSON …

Troubles were brewing however, as only a few laps later Jackson was back in the pits with a transmission problem that saw them back in the pits for the remaining 2hrs of Part 1 of the race, destroying any chance of them making the podium they had hoped for.

The Ginetta would start Part 2 of the race on Saturday morning from the pit lane with Hughes at the wheel , and ran well with Tony setting times as quick as the class leaders, in what was essentially now a glorified test session for the Team.

But, once again, gremlins weren’t far away, and a repeat of the transmission problems that had blighted them the day before once again put the Team through it’s paces.

FORCED TO RETIRE …

Despite managing to repair it and once again getting the Ginetta back on track with Ross Warburton at the wheel, Ross wasn’t happy with the braking of the car, a problem thought to have been a knock-on effect of the transmission overheating, and after pitting the car once more it was decided that it was necessary to retire from the Race.

4TH PLACE RETINED DESPITE THE GREMLINS …

In spite of all of the dramas, the Hughes/Speedworks Ginetta retained their 4^th place in the 2015 International Endurance Series powered by Hankook SP3 Class, whilst the sister Aston Martin of John Gilbert finished 2nd on the podium and put them at the top of the SP3 class Championship.

Said Hughes:

“It’s dissapointing. We showed how quick the car can be [like we did in Mugello], Ollie’s pace in Qualifying was unbeatable, we’ve just had some gremlins that have beaten us to it.

“I really enjoyed my time behind the wheel on Saturday morning, I’ve never felt as comfortable at the wheel of the Ginetta as I did this weekend. We’ll regroup, make the necessary updates, and we’ll be back out again in six weeks’ time”.

The Hughes/Speedworks Ginetta will be back in action at the next round of the Series, the 24H Circuit Paul Ricard in Southern France on the 10-13 July.