The second round of the FIA European GT3 championship was held at the classic Spa-Francorchamps track in the depths of the Arden valley. This picturesque track is one of the most demanding tracks in the World, Sean Edwards has written a full race report on the weekend’s events below.

Qualifying for Spa went really well, with Dimitris doing a solid job to put us p9 in Quali one and I put us p4 in quail 2, over 2 seconds clear from the next Porsche! This was later to become P3 as Tiff Needell could not start the race due to his Aston being trashed from the first race smash.

Race 1 and Dimitris started it, he was on a charge in the first 4 laps, coming from p9 to p4! He had a good battle with 2 vipers and then came in to hand the car over to me. We got the car out in P4 behind the safety car and we discussed what I had to do over the radio. I had to get past the Dodge ahead of me to have any chance of keeping up with the others. On the restart the Aston went by the Viper into Eau Rouge and I got a good run on him down the straight and passed him into Les Combe, securing 3rd place.

I followed the Aston for the rest of the race, just about keeping up with it, but it was still just to fast. The red flag came out with 4 min to go and the team told me that the Aston had not stopper for the right amount of time in their pit stop and were going to get a penalty, so we were promoted to p2! It was such a great result after the disappointment of Oschersleben and the Tech 9 crew had done a mega job to get us there! Although the Dodge’s were still too fast for us to catch, we were happy to be back at the sharp end.

Race 2 came around and we had a real chance to have another good result, I started the race in p3 and I knew I had to take advantage of the Porsche on cold tyres. I dived down the inside of the race winning Dodge, but it was too ambitious and I had to go straight on across the grass into Les Combe! I got back o in P3 and settled into a rhythm. I could just about keep up with the Corvette and the Viper in the first 4 laps, but when the tyres started to get to hot on the Porsche, the other cars were gone. Because they have so much down force, they can do fast times consistently in the race, and don’t overheat their tyres. Where as the Porsche does not have much down force and relies heavily on its tyres for grip, which overheat throughout the race.

I just tried to be consistent and keep the other cars at bay, which the Aston of Zani was not happy about and tried to push me off! Silly move and he punctured his own radiator and was out of the race. I came into the pits and handed the race over to Dimitris, as he came out the 2 cars had a huge crash at the top of Eau Rouge and the safety car was out for the rest of the race bar 1 lap. Dimitris did a great job on that lap and snatched 2nd place with an awesome move down the inside of the Corvette and he held onto 2nd place until the line.

It really was a great weekend for us and I have to say a huge thank you and congratulations to the whole Tech 9 Motorsport team and especially too Phil Hindley (Team Manager), Dan Fitzsimmons (N1 Engineer), Ross Patterson (N2 Engineer) and Giannoulis Kafetzis (Data Dude/Dimitris translator)! These guys put in so much hard work to get us here and we couldn’t have done it without them, thanks to the whole team once again!

We are now P2 overall in the championship and leading the Porsche manufacturers championship! Dijon is going to be a tough weekend, but I hope we can score some solid points and keep the championship alive.””

The second round of the FIA European GT3 Championship was held at the Oschersleben Motorpark in Germany, it was not a good weekend for Sean and the team, but he has written a brief race report below.

“”After the Silverstone result we were looking for a win at Oschersleben. But when we got there it proved not to be a Porsche circuit at all, but suited the Dodge vipers! We were around 3 seconds of the Dodge’s pace and it was not looking good. We only managed 19th and 21st position in both the qualifying sessions.

The race was looking bleak and the best we could hope for was a Porsche win, but in race I didn’t even get to drive the car. As just before the pit stop Dimitris was running P1 in the Porsche class and P13 overall, when he got abruptly taken out by the spinning Ferrari of Hector Lestor! That blew the radiator and ended the race there and then.

Race 2, I started and got the car up to P1 in Porsche and P9 overall, I sat most of the race behind a gaggle of Dodge vipers and a Masarati. When I handed over there was a miscommunication between Dimitris and the team, therefore loosing us 15 seconds in the pits. We dropped to P2 in the Porsche class, but Dimitris fought his was back past and into the Porsche and finished P11 overall, we could not do anymore.

If the FIA didn’t do something drastic we would be uncompetitive at Spa also, but luckily they did and the dodge was restricted even more, but still 1 to 1.5 seconds faster than us!””

The first round of the FIA GT3 European Championship was held at the prestegious Silverstone Grand Prix track in Northamtonshire, Sean Edwards has written a race report below.

“”We came to this weekend not knowing what to expect really. Were the FIA going to get the balancing right, was the Porsche going to be competitive and who was going to be the competition.

Testing went well, we ended up 3rd and 10th in the 2 sessions, it was a good start, but we still didn’t know is anyone was sandbagging or not.

We came into Saturday still not knowing what to expect, except that it was going to be very difficult to get a clear lap in qualifying! Our strategy was to wait for the first 10
min and then go out; therefore most people would be back into the pits. We were the last cars to go out, but it still proved very difficult to get a free lap. I was held up on my first two flying laps and luckily I got a quick one in on my 4th lap, but by that point the tyres were past their best. Luckily it was still good enough for p5 only .3 off pole.

My co driver Dimitris did the 2nd quail and also struggled with traffic, but still managed to snatch p9 with only a few min of the session to go, this left our team all together in 8th, 9th and 10th.

Then came the race, which we were quietly confident about as long as it stayed dry! But about 2 hours before the race the heavens opened and I got in the car and went to the grid on wets. With the 3 min board lifted I got a call over the radio that said the FIA have just told us that Dimitris is meant to be starting the race not you! So I jumped out of the car and Dimitris quickly put on his suit and helmet and got into the car with about 1 min to the green flag! The FIA had forgotten to mention in the briefing that the fastest driver out of the two in quail has to start the 2nd race, which was nice of them…

The race got underway and I was still very confused at this point to why I was not in the car. Dimitris made a good start from p5 and was p3 at the end of lap 1, he made a move for p3 into Abbey on lap 2, but Hector Lester closed the door on him, resulting in them both spinning. Luckily Dimitris recovered back in 8th place and then went on a charge back through the field to get 2nd place before he handed over to me in the pit stop. We changed to slicks in the pit stop and I went on my way, unfortunately Dimitris forgot to put the car into N and left it in 2nd gear, which meant a stall in the pits for me, with about 7 seconds being lost.

When I got back on track the team said I was p9 over the radio and they said to push 100% for the remainder of the race, as they predicted it would be a close finish. I pushed really hard and finally found myself in 1st place with 15 minuets to go. The team came over the radio with about 12 minuets to go and said that Simmonsen was catching me and was only 7 seconds behind! So I was pushing very hard, but the marshals were not helping, by displaying absolutely no blue flags to the back markers. I was getting blocked by back markers and even got hit twice, but it was not their fault as they didn’t know I was leading the race. Simmonsen eventually caught me with 3 laps to go and when I got cut of by a Dodge viper going round Woodcote. This meant that he got his nose down the inside and went past into Copse, we exchanged a bit of paint work but it was a good pass. For the next 3 laps it was him being held up by the back markers now, but I could not find a way back through and I had to settle for 2nd place.

Edwards/Deverikos P2 overall, P1 Porsche, Fastest Lap 1.58.647
Murphy/Splunteren P7 overall, P3 Porsche, Fastest Lap 2.02.697
Bryant/Dumarey P9 overall, P4 Porsche, Fastest Lap 2.00.067

The second race was on Sunday and I had to start it in 9th place. It was a hard call on the weather, it had stopped raining, but the track was still very wet. The Scuderia Ecosse weather station said it would dry out. We opted to start on wets with more of a dry setup (stiffer car). I got a good start and was up to p6 on lap one. But then it started to rain again and the Porsche was no match for the Vipers or Ferrari’s. There was nothing I could do about them passing me, they had so much grip they could take dry lines in the wet and still get a better exit out of the corners! I battled on and handed the car over to Dimitris in about 9th place, but unfortunately on his 3rd lap out he spun and stalled. This lost us about 30 seconds and we dropped back to 21st place, he battled hard to get back up and ended up 14th at the end. We did make the wrong choice on setup, which made the car very hard to drive, but this race was always going to be a gamble and this time it did not pay off.

Murphy/Splunteren P7 overall, P1 Porsche, Fastest Lap 2.15.153
Bryant/Dumarey P10 overall, P2 Porsche, Fastest Lap 2.16.295
Edwards/Deverikos P14 overall, P3 Porsche, Fastest Lap 2.15.425

“It was a good start to the championship for us and I hope we can carry this performance on throughout the championship! Oscherslaben is going to be a good track for the Porsche and we are looking good to compete for the win there.”

Sean Edwards has sighed with Tech 9 to do the FIA GT3 championship after a successful test at Dijon! “The test went great and I was 2nd overall on the 1st day with my new tyres, I am delighted that we are now committed to this series” commented Edwards. Sean, once again set the pace of the Porsche’s at the test, but there was a Ferrari and a Dodge Viper that ended up ahead of him after the 2nd day of running. “Things are defiantly looking good for Silverstone, as long as the FIA get the balancing of the car right!” said Edwards after the test. Silverstone is on the 5th, 6th and 7th of May, look out for him there.

Dijon, Tech 9’s Porsche Test Times
Sean Edwards – 1.22.257 (Old Rubber)
Paul Van Splunteren – 1.22.272 (New Rubber)
Demitry Deverikos- 1.23.342 (New Rubber)
James Murphy – 1.23.833 (Old Rubber)
Maxime Dumarey – 1.25.251 (New Rubber)
Oliver Bryant – 1.24.042 (New Rubber)

Sean Edwards tested again with Tech 9 at the Silverstone International track on Friday. The test went without incident for Edwards and he came out on top of the time sheets! “The test was good, I think we are nearing a deal to do FIA GT3 with Tech 9, we should know just before the Dijon test” commented Edwards. The 2nd official test will take place at the famous Dijon track in the East of France.

Silverston Int, Tech 9’s Porsche Test Times
Sean Edwards – 1.24.779 (Old Rubber)
James Murphy – 1.26.336 (Old Rubber)
Oliver Bryant – 1.29.498 (Old Rubber)
Maxime Dumarey – 1.29.647 (Old Rubber)