Date: 19.05.2003
Podium finish first time out for Abbott and McCarty
The maroon No.34 car gets away on a busy Snetterton grid
The Asmec Business Centres, Inkfish Call Centres and Lycos UK sponsored Radical Prosport car of Global Sports Development drivers Hunter Abbott and Christian McCarty made its debut appearance in rounds 5 and 6 of the Bruichladdich / Slim Images Radical Enduro Championship at Snetterton last weekend. An engine blow-up at the previous round at Rockingham Motor Speedway had delayed a start to the Championship season for the drivers, but hasn’t held the team back, judging by their performance at the Norfolk circuit.
The Championship consists of two classes of Radical race car: the Prosport and SR3. The SR3 cars have greater power and downforce, meaning they are slightly quicker than the Prosport. The average speed around Snetterton over a lap in Prosport is 102 mph and in SR3 103 mph.
The cars race in endurance format with up to two drivers per car and a pit-stop half-way through the race when the car may be refuelled and a driver change may take place. The two classes race together on track with points and prizes given to each class separately.
Qual: 3 rd in Class, 8 th overall
Race 1: 2 nd in Class, 3 rd overall
Race 2: 3 rd in Class, 8 th overall
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Qualifying:
Christian took the car out first in the Saturday morning qualifying session, coming in to make a handling change to tackle an oversteer problem on lap 5. Hunter took over on lap 7 and set a best time of 1min.09.526, which was enough to give the team grid 3 in the Prosport Class and 8 th overall. After setting the time Hunter returned to the pits to make more changes to the car to again improve the oversteer problem but did not manage to rejoin the circuit again before the end of the qualifying session.
Race 1: Saturday 17 th May
Hunter took the rolling start, in a much improved car, keeping his place on the grid, but was touched from behind going into the very fast 100 mph Esses corner by the number 20 car of James Aspinall, pushing Hunter wide. He re-joined the pack 3 places down but drove back through the field and after a “very slick” driver change Christian rejoined the circuit in third position overall and second in class. With a slight vibration problem Christian drove a safe race to bring the car home in third place overall and second in the Prosport class.
“It was fantastic to be on the podium first time out” said a jubilant Christian. “Hunter handed over from a strong position but the changeover was so fast we were third by the end.”
“The team were great and ensured a really slick driver change which is what we really owe the result to” said Hunter, “they fixed the handling problems between qualifying and the race. A tap up the back was unfortunate but we recovered really well.”
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Race 2: Sunday 18 th May
Sunday’s race was dogged by incidents: the safety car was deployed on lap one after a car hit the marshal’s post at turn 2. After five laps behind the safety car the race was stopped to allow the safety crew to re-build the tyre wall. The race was re-started 45 minutes later, which saw Hunter drop to 8 th at the re-start. Hunter re-gained another two places in the next two laps at which point a further safety car situation occurred. The team made the tactical decision to change drivers to make the most of the safety car and he handed the car over to Christian. Another slick changeover meant that the Asmec/Inkfish/Lycos car re-joined in fourth place, but an incident at Riches corner caused McCarty to spin re-joining in eighth place overall. Christian was catching his next target but an unfortunate technical problem - a stuck throttle pedal - made the last two laps a test of skill for McCarty, but he still managed to bring the car home third in Class, holding off a hard-charging SR3 car for eight position overall.
Nigel Rees, the car owner, was overjoyed: “The guys brought the car home safely and we’re proud that they’ve given us second and third in Class straight out of the box” he said after the race. “This is a great position to start from, and I’ve every faith that these drivers can continue to improve and take us towards a terrific Championship position at the end of the season.”
Next Rounds:
The next round of the Championship will be at Silverstone Circuit , Northants, on the weekend of 31 st May / 1 st June.
For further information please contact:
Nigel Rees, Global Sports Development Ltd
Tel: 0118 902 6642 Email: Nigel@motorsportpromotion.com
For tickets and race information contact