News Release

Date: 12.05.2003

Matt Griffin charges to a third Victory in the

British GT Championship

The third round of the British GT Championship brought

mixed fortunes for Matt Griffin and the GruppeM Tech 9

team.

                                                                                                          Griffin ahead of the GTO Mosler and the Morgan Aero 8 (pic: David Lord)

Qualifying on a damp track on Saturday afternoon at the

twisty Scottish circuit saw the Griffin/Pearce Porsche GT3

grid in third position for the GT Cup Class.

First Race Win

With higher grip levels evident for the first 40-minute race on Sunday lunchtime, the flying Irishman was able to ease by the Morgan Aero 8 of Cunningham, and saw the Ferrari 360 which had taken pole fall two laps behind towards the end of the race.

“The win was all down to good pit work,” explained an elated Griffin.   “We knew that the Morgan had the edge here engine-wise so it was difficult – we had to take big risks through the traffic. The GruppeM Tech 9 team were fantastic.”

However, the grit and determination paid off and the GruppeM Tech 9 Porsche 996 GT3 was brought home half a second ahead of Cunningham and a full twenty ahead of third placed Ahlers/Wells in the second Aero 8.

Second Race Blues

The grid for the later race followed the first race result, giving Griffin/Pearce a third pole position out of four races.   A race-long Griffin/Cunningham battle ensued once more, but this time there was contact in the last five minutes of the race at the chicane, the trailing Morgan just clipping the Porsche in full flight. The Porsche spun out while the Morgan continued to class victory.

“Dailysportscar.net” had this to say of the incident:

“…the exciting battle for the lead ending five laps from the end of the race with contact at Clark. The #66 Morgan was hard on the heels of the very quick young Irishman Matt Griffin: the Porsche pilot had already slammed the door shut on the Aero 8 several times before at the same curve but this time Cunningham was closer than ever. Both cars crested the brow very quickly and Cunningham was looking for a line exiting the corner that would give him a run on the Porsche down towards the hairpin.

Was the Porsche already out of shape before contact? Was the contact accidental?

From this observer’s viewpoint the Morgan seemed to do everything it could to avoid contact. Either way though the result was the same, the Porsche was pitched into a spin and its race ended in the gravel, rear end damage to the 911 matching front-end damage on the Aero 8”

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Griffin and Pearce must now prepare for the longest ever British GT race – a three-hour affair – at Silverstone on the full Grand Prix Circuit.  Griffin’s ability to look after the tyres and take the long-term view will no doubt serve the team well – we’ll find out during the Bank Holiday weekend of 24/25/26 May.

Championship Points after Races 3 & 4 at Knockhill:

Griffin                     First in GT Class                  87 points

Pearce                    First in GT Class                  87 points

Cunningham             Second in GT Class              82 points

Herridge                  Second in GT Class              82 points

ENDS

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