Tech 9 got some more valuable testing miles in before the opening round of the FIA GT championship in China. The main aim was to give Leo as much seat time as possible, to get him up to speed with the new Porsche.
The team changed their dampers to Moton and have the owner and chief engineer of Moton, Jerome Van Gool, working on their car for the season. “The Moton’s are working really well and Jerome is superb at putting my feedback about the car, into the setup of the car. The dampers worked superbly in the wet conditions as well, we were 1.5 seconds than the BMS Porsche with Collard in” Sean said.
The team only took part in session 1 of day two, as they took time out to prepare the car for Zuhai. The car had to be flown out just 4 days after the test.
Sean Edwards and Leo Machitski had the chance to really see what the new Porsche 997 RSR could do, in the first official FIA GT test of the year. Sean impressed everyone, setting the early pace for GT2 and being right up at the front by the end of day one. Leo was still getting to grips with the whole concept of the Porsche’s weird handling characteristics, comparing to his Aston Martin of last year.
Day two, Leo spent most of the testing time in the car and eventually pushed a little to hard and lost the car at the infamous Paribolica corner. He backed it into the gravel, just scraping the tyres wall. With the flat floor of the Porsche, the car acted like a bucket and was full of gravel. It took the team 3 hours to rid it of the gravel and it put everyone on the back foot missing the second session of the day, which was the fastest. Leo said “I tried to take more speed into Paribolica than Sean and it was obviously too much as I just lost the back end and couldn’t catch it in time!”
Subsequently Sean had to do his new tyre run at the end of day, when the track was not at it’s best, but still Sean posted a respectable time. He commented “The car felt really bad on the brakes, we have not had much time to tune the setup today and the new tyre run was a waste of time really. But we were happy with day one’s performance and hope to carry it over to Nogaro in a few weeks time”
A bright but frosty Brands Hatch today (February 7) was the venue for the shakedown of Tech 9 Motorsport’s brand new Porsche 911 GT3-RSR, driven by the team’s 2007 pairing, Leo Machitski and Sean Edwards. The 2006 British and FIA GT3 Champions – Machitski in the UK, Edwards in Europe – have come together to take on the challenges of the next step up the GT ladder.
The first images shows Leo Machitski setting off for the first time, then completing the first lap ever by the car. That was run on the wet tyres which are customarily fitted to new race cars.
“The target today was simply to put 200 kms on the car and bed everything in,” commented team owner Phil Hindley. “The car ran beautifully, as you would expect. Porsche got us into an early build slot so that we could shake down and then test the car before it goes to Zhuhai, for the start of the FIA GT Championship.”
Leo Machitski was the first man to sample the Porsche, and although he was restricted to 6,000 revs. initially (then 7,000 – the flat-six revs to 9,000 once everything is bedded in), he came away with a very favourable impression of the new GT2 car.
“I’m quite tall, but it’s very comfortable, and everything is where you want it to be,” he commented. “It was very tempting to squeeze the throttle, and despite the cold weather, it was very hard to go slowly. I can start to feel the excitement already.”
Having two GT3 Champions in the car is a real asset for the team: Phil Hindley (right) explains how at least part of the arrangement came about.
“Stephane Ratel and I talked about the project at the end of last year, and he was very keen to see the FIA GT3 Champion step up to GT2. He suggested a package to support us, and SRO added to the budget, to help Sean. Part of Sean’s reward for winning the European GT3 Championship is a factory tyre deal with Michelin, which means 40 sets of tyres for this year.
“That’s very significant for a team like this: every penny counts and we run the team very frugally. I believe the same offer will be made to the 2007 GT3 Champion.”
Hindley added that it is “crucial that we have a good season. The top two cars in the two classes (GT1 and GT2) are offered a Le Mans entry for the following year. Our long term aim is for Leo to race at Le Mans, so we’re looking to build on what the two drivers achieved in 2006. It’s fantastic to have the two GT3 Champions racing together.”
The Tech 9 plan for 2007 also includes a new group of young drivers racing in the FIA GT3 Championship, with the aim of moving some of them into GT2 in 2008. Phil Hindley is very keen to extend his team’s run of four consecutive GT titles (in British GTs, and then in Europe in 2006).
“We’re very close to having four seats filled in the three European GT3 cars,” adds Phil Hindley, “so we’ll only have two left. We’re also close to announcing our driver pairing for the British GT3 Championship.”
Sean Edwards experienced the Tech 9 ‘championship touch’ in 2006, and describes Phil Hindley as “so dedicated to what he does. He’s completely committed to winning. He’s not much fun at the track because he’s so focused on what he’s doing, but he’s very different away from the circuit.”
Edwards was remarkably relaxed before he sampled the new Porsche, but this was a routine (and totally trouble-free, as expected) shakedown. The real challenges will come as these two take on the likes of Emmanuel Collard and Matteo Malucelli in another GT3-RSR, plus a whole fleet of Ferraris, beginning at Zhuhai on March 25.
Leo Machitski is looking forward to a year in which he can develop his skills in the GT2 Porsche, but will also be racing the Barwell Motorsport Aston Martin DBR9 in certain Le Mans Series races.
“That will stand him in good stead for the Porsche,” remarks Phil Hindley, “because he’ll be able to experience the extra downforce of a GT1 car.”
Sean Edwards has made history in being the first ever FIA GT3 European Champion, with his two victories at Mugello securing it for him. He also won the Porsche class Championship and helped Tech 9 Motorsport to clinch the Constructors Championship! He is one of the youngest International Champions ever and his future is looking bright. He said “I cannot believe I have just won the FIA GT3 Championship! It’s such an amazing feeling and I don’t think it will fully sink in for a good few weeks yet.”
He secured the championship on his own, because he had two co drivers during the season. This was because Dimitris Deverikos had financial troubles in the later part of the season and was replaced by Phil Keen. Edwards said “It was a real shame to loose Dimitris, because we worked very well together and he got three second places with me, but Phil stepped in and did a great job, clinching three victories and helping me to the championships”
When asked about how Sean felt about being the first FIA GT3 Champion he said “It’s just such a great feeling, I can’t explain it really, but we came into this season thinking we could get some good results, but to win the championship in my first ever GT season is just fantastic! Everyone is so professional at Tech 9 and we all worked so well together and in the end it showed, with us taking all three championships available.”
Sean is looking to compete in either GT1, GT2 or maybe even the ultra competitive Porsche Supercup next season. He said “I seem to go well in Porsche’s, so it might be a good idea to try a one make series of Porsche’s, like Supercup. It’s one of the most competitive championships in the world and would be a great proving ground for me! I am open to do anything at the moment really, there is a chance to race GT2 in the new Porsche 997 RSR with Tech 9 next year, which would be great. GT1 and GT2 are viable options, but I will wait too see what offers come over the winter and make a decision after that.”
We came to Mugello thinking we still had a slim chance to win the Drivers Championship and we thought that there was no chance to win the Constructors Championship anymore.
Testing went pretty well, although it was changing conditions we ended up 7th and 9th in both the sessions. We tried various different settings in the wet and tried to work on a race setup, as we thought it would be wet for the weekend!
Phil (Keen) drove the first qualifying session as he was slightly slower in practice. He went out about five minuets into the session, to try and set a time, the track was getting dryer and dryer each lap. We took the risk to send him out late and we very nearly got caught out as there were several red flags, meaning that with three minuets left on the clock, we did not even have a time in! So Phil had a 1 lap shot at quail and he did very well considering the circumstances, putting the car in p9 for race one.
I did the second qualifying as usual and went out immediately on wets to set a banker lap time. The team told me over the radio to pit for slicks, but I was hesitant at doing it as the track was still very damp! Nevertheless I came in a put slicks on, which proved to be the perfect time to do it. It took 3 laps for them to come up to temperature, which left me 3 laps to set good times and I was by far the fastest car on track. When the other cars slicks got up to temperature, the battle was on, with me and Claus Ludwig fighting for pole position in the dying moments of quail. I piped the multiple Le Mans and FIA GT winner by just 0.189 of a second to secure my first ever pole position in FIA GT3!
In race one, Phil had to start the car in 9th on the grid in the torrential rain and I mean monsoon conditions! He dropped a few places at the start because he just couldn’t see where he was going, but after two laps he started to push and before we knew it he was up to p9 again. Then he got up to p5 and then he caught the next bunch and got up to p2! He drove amazingly and caught the huge gap to the leading Ascari of Ben Collins, but couldn’t get past him due to the visibility. We decided to bring him in early and change over to me and try to get some clear track. I got in and noticed that he was not joking about there being no visibility! The windscreen was all misted up, so you couldn’t see a thing, add the spray of 40 odd GT3 cars and it was almost impossible to drive. The team came over the radio and said the leading Ascari is 20 seconds in front, I pushed hard and caught him up and passed him with ease. The Porsche was going great in the wet, even though it was aquaplaning at over 140mph in a straight line! I just tried to follow the white lines around the track and finish the race. I was loosening my belts down the straight to try and wipe the screen and had to lean over to try and see where the track was out of a little gap at the bottom of the windscreen!! Andy Thompson in another Ascari caught me slightly at the end, but I had it under control and came across the line to secure our second victory in a row! Even better news is that the championship leading Viper of Borhauser finished down in 8th position and the second place Viper finished in 3rd. This meant that I had taken over the lead of the FIA GT3 championship with 1 race to go!
I started race two in the best possible position, P1. All I had to do was finish in front of the 2nd and 3rd place Vipers and I would be champion. I got a good start and held the lead up to the first corner, but Claus Ludwig cut across me and took the lead! Only 3 corners later the hugely experienced driver threw it off into the gravel on his own and handed me back the lead! My team mate Paul made an awesome start and was up to P2 behind me and acted as a very nice cushion from the other cars. I put my head down and pulled a 3 second gap from Paul in a few laps, but Andy Thompson was on a charge, with his car working very well in the damp conditions. He caught me pretty quickly and I was not about to defend him and risk having a crash, after all I only needed to finish ahead of the Vipers, although it is always nice to win! I followed Andy for the rest of my stint, just keeping him in sight before coming into hand over to Phil. We had a good pit stop and Phil soon caught and passed the slower driver Allison in the Ascari. He then just took it easy out front, not taking any risks and keeping the gap at about 7 seconds. He crossed the line in first position just over 8 seconds clear of the Ascari, to give me victory in the overall driver’s championship and Porsche championship! Points from the other two cars in the team also provided all of us with the Constructors championship as well, which was amazing as it was almost impossible to win that coming into this round!
It was just a magical weekend with us getting Pole Position, two race wins and 3 championships! Everyone in the team worked so hard to achieve this goal and we did the clean sweep of everything.
I need to say a HUGE thank you to Tech 9 Motorsport, Phil Hindley, Dan, Ross, Phil Keen, Dimitris, all my family and main sponsor SG Hambros, as without any of these people this would not be possible. I really can’t thank these guys enough for this and I hope to have lots more success with the Tech 9 crew in the future.
Next year, who knows, I am open to do anything at the moment. The likely step would either be into GT1, GT2 or Porsche Supercup. I will wait and see what offers come my way and how it all pans out over the winter.
