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28/05/2013
Ecurie Ecosse savours strategic Silverstone 500 win
A perfect weekend for Ecurie Ecosse saw the famous Scottish squad score its first British GT Championship victory and pole position of the season at Silverstone, helping drivers Olly Bryant and Marco Attard vault to the top of the points standings in the process.
Bryant served notice of the team’s intentions during Saturday’s qualifying session by planting the Barwell Motorsport-run BMW Z4 GT3 firmly on pole position thanks to a stunning lap of 2m02.6s around the Silverstone Arena GP circuit, the first for both himself and Ecurie Ecosse.
Team-mate Attard was behind the wheel for the start of Sunday’s three-hour race, and although he initially lost out to David Ashburn's Porsche on the run to Copse, he re-took the position with a firm move under braking into Stowe later on the opening lap.
His lead had soon grown to three seconds as others squabbled for positions behind, but with some teams opting to start with their quicker Pro drivers it wasn’t long before the Mercedes SLS of Benji Hetherington reeled in and passed the BMW.
A clash between Mark Blundell’s McLaren and a Ginetta brought out the Safety Car, allowing the strategic nous of Barwell Motorsport engineer Adam Hardy to come into play. Attard pitted from second and handed over to Bryant who resumed still on the lead lap behind the Safety Car. He pushed hard at the re-start to slice his way through the traffic in pursuit of the lead pack, setting the fastest first sector time in the process, before losing several positions when boxed in by a slower GTC car.
Two laps later Phil Keen’s Porsche collided with the limping 911 of Gregor Fisken, taking both cars out of the race and hastening a second Safety Car period. Once again the Barwell crew called their Ecosse BMW into the pits for a driver change, tyres and fuel. Attard then embarked on a lengthy hour-long stint, avoiding the problems of others and coping well against Pro drivers as each team opted for different strategies.
At this stage it appeared as though Ecurie Ecosse were in for a subdued afternoon, running comfortably in the top-10 but not challenging the front-runners. In fact, with two of three mandatory pit-stops completed during caution periods, Bryant found himself in an excellent position when he took over for the final 60 minutes.
Frequently the fastest man on track, Bryant was taking 2-3 seconds per lap out of the leading AF Corse Ferrari ahead. That he would have caught the 458 was inevitable, but his task was made easier when Jay Palmer suffered the first of two punctures that ended his car’s podium chances.
Now leading, Bryant was able to manage the pressure from charging Aston Martin factory driver Jonny Adam. Traffic saw the gap fluctuate between the pair as the race moved towards its conclusion, but Bryant was never threatened and he took the chequered flag 17 seconds clear to claim the team’s second ever British GT victory as well as his and Attard’s second championship podium of the season.
With points-and-a-half being awarded for the blue riband three-hour race, victory sees the pair now lead the drivers’ standings after four of 10 races.
Oliver Bryant, #79 Ecurie Ecosse BMW: “That’s a really, really good result. Marco did a great job today, and all weekend really. The team gave us a perfect set-up and there were no issues at all with the car during the race. It was avoiding other people's mistakes that proved key. Early on I got boxed in behind a GTC entry that allowed four or five GT3 cars to come flying past me on the run into Maggots. I backed out of that and erred on the side of caution, and obviously it paid off. The strategy played out well in the end. Adam, our engineer, is a bit of a whizz with strategy, so he decided exactly what to do. He knew when we could pit, how far into a Safety Car period we should stop and how far we could stretch the fuel. He worked it out perfectly and got two of our stops out of the way pretty early on, while some of the cars in front of us still had to pit when I got in for the final time. It’s a really great result for us!”
Marco Attard, #79 Ecurie Ecosse BMW: “This is fantastic! It's all down to Olly and the team really. I've learnt so much from them, especially this weekend, and they've all done a great job. The BMW goes really well at certain parts of the circuit – through Becketts it’s absolutely fantastic – then there are other sections where it's a little hairy, but overall it was really good. I’m very happy!”
Mark Lemmer, Barwell Motorsport Team Principal: “This was probably one of the best and most well deserved victories that we have enjoyed recently, so I am very proud of the whole team. We have worked hard for this, had the pace and totally smashed it on strategy. I couldn't be happier!”
GT3 Drivers’ Championship (after four races):
1. Bryant/Attard 60.5 points
2. Hughes/Berg 45
3. Ashburn/Tandy 43
4. Bell/Patterson 42.5
5. Westbrook/Fisken 37.5
6. Howard/Adam 36
7. Hetherington 33
8. Al Harthy/Caine 29
ENDS
Issued on behalf of Ecurie Ecosse
Photo credit: Gary Parravani, Xynamic Motorsport Photography
Click on individual images to download
For more information on Ecurie Ecosse please visit www.ecurieecosse.com
Follow our blog: ecurieecosse.blogspot.com
Follow Ecurie Ecosse on Twitter: @ecurie_ecosse
Follow Ecurie Ecosse on Facebook
Click here for the press release (PDF)
Click here for the Ecurie Ecosse Association Membership Pack
Click here for the Ecurie Ecosse 60th Anniversary Ltd Edition Bremont Chronometer Watch Presentation
Follow Ecurie Ecosse Drivers on Twitter: @alasdair_mccaig @oliverjbryant@andrewsmitht70 @joetwyman1986 @olliemillroy
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION PLEASE CONTACT:
Andrew Smith
Tel: +44 (0)7710 644 366
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| Joe Twyman getting in before Free Practice 1 |
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| Free Practice 1 was wet. |
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| Ollie Millroy |
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| The Ecosse Z4 exits Tamburello with the city of Imola behind |
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| In amongst the GTE and Prototypes in FP2 |
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| The exit of Tosa |
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| Andrew Smith qualified on Saturday morning |
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| L-R Joe Twyman, Andrew Smith, Ollie Millroy (and friends) |
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| On the grid before the start of the Imola 3 Hours |
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| Lap 1 going into the first chicane |
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| Z4 at speed |
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| Podium for 3rd place in GTC |
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| Joe Twyman, Ollie Millroy & Andrew Smith |
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20/05/2013
Ecurie Ecosse claims hard-fought ELMS podium at Imola
The team’s Barwell Motorsport-run BMW Z4 GT3 enjoyed its last competitive outing at Rockingham as part of the British GT Championship with drivers Oliver Bryant and Marco Attard at the start of May, but with the squad’s focus now firmly back on the ELMS, the Imola event would represent their first dry race in the championship.
Saturday morning’s qualifying session was completed by Smith, who recorded a time of 1m45.8s to line up fourth in class for that afternoon’s three-hour race.
Smith remained aboard for the race’s opening stint where he was up against the other teams’ much more experienced “Pro” drivers. 50 minutes later Twyman took over and also settled into a solid rhythm before he was handed a 30-second stop/go penalty for a pit-lane speeding infringement, losing the car over a minute to the class leaders.
With 90 minutes remaining, and following another faultless turnaround from the Barwell pit crew, Millroy embarked on his double stint lying seventh. Although this would be Ollie’s first ever race among the much quicker sports-prototypes that share the ELMS grid, he expertly tempered outright speed with traffic management, and overcame a light rain shower, to haul the BMW up to fourth despite the extra Balance of Performance weight starting to take its toll on the brakes. P4 then became third on the final lap when the Lamborghini ahead was forced to pit in order to avoid a maximum “Pro” driver time infringement.
The team left the Italian circuit on Saturday evening delighted to have maintained leads in both the Drivers’ and Teams’ championships ahead of the next ELMS round at Austria’s Red Bull Ring on July 19/20.
Ollie Millroy, Ecurie Ecosse Driver: “We lacked pace in the dry at Imola so I think we did extremely well to come away with a podium, and it proves that our overall strategy is correct. Races like this are extremely important when trying to win a championship. We’ve got a lot to work on before Austria to ensure that we can maintain our points lead.”
Andrew Smith, Ecurie Ecosse Driver: “Imola is full of atmosphere and it was a privilege to race our BMW there at such a high level. The aim was to maintain our championship lead and we achieved that, but the GTC class is getting much more competitive now and with very few other cars running Bronze drivers we are going to have to work extremely hard to keep it up.”
Joe Twyman, Ecurie Ecosse Driver: “Every time I get in the car I am learning, so to come away with a podium from my first ELMS race was fantastic. The Barwell crew were superb as always and sharing the car with Andrew and Ollie is always a pleasure. I am not in the car again until the Hungaroring in September but I will continue to work hard on my fitness and in the simulator in order to pick up where I left off in Italy!”
Mark Lemmer, Barwell Motorsport Team Principal: “We struggled a bit for pace at Imola with the substantial extra Balance of Performance weight we had to carry, but I’m really satisfied that with some good strategy calls we managed a very strong points haul.”
Ecurie Ecosse’s next competitive outing sees the team head to Silverstone for round four of the British GT Championship on May 26 where they will field regular drivers Bryant and Attard.
2013 European Le Mans Series - Top three GTC Drivers’ points after two of five races:
1. Ollie Millroy/Andrew Smith / Ecurie Ecosse / BMW Z4 GT3 / 40 points
2. Lorenzo Case/Stefano Gai/Andrea Rizzolo / AF Corse / Ferrari 458 Italia / 36
3. Alasdair McCaig / Ecurie Ecosse / BMW Z4 GT3 / 25
= Fabio Babini/Viktor Shaitar/Kirill Ladygin / SMP Racing / Ferrari 458 Italia / 25
2013 European Le Mans Series - Top three GTC Teams’ points after two of five races:
1. Ecurie Ecosse / BMW Z4 GT3 / 40 points
2. AF Corse / Ferrari 458 Italia / 36
3. SMP Racing / Ferrari 458 Italia / 25
ENDS
Issued on behalf of Ecurie Ecosse
Photo credit: Peter May
Click on individual images to download
For more information on Ecurie Ecosse please visit www.ecurieecosse.com
Follow our blog: ecurieecosse.blogspot.com
Follow Ecurie Ecosse on Twitter: @ecurie_ecosse
Follow Ecurie Ecosse on Facebook
Click here for the press release (PDF)
Click here for the Ecurie Ecosse Association Membership Pack
Click here for the Ecurie Ecosse 60th Anniversary Ltd Edition Bremont Chronometer Watch Presentation
Follow Ecurie Ecosse Drivers on Twitter: @alasdair_mccaig @oliverjbryant @andrewsmitht70 @joetwyman1986@olliemillroy
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION PLEASE CONTACT:
Andrew Smith
Tel: +44 (0)7710 644 366
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07/05/2013
Ecurie Ecosse taking the positives from trying Rockingham race
Ecurie Ecosse left yesterday’s British GT Championship event at Rockingham (6 May) encouraged by strong performances from drivers Marco Attard and Olly Bryant despite being denied a points-paying finish aboard their Barwell Motorsport-run BMW Z4 GT3.
After posting the fastest time in morning warm-up Attard took the start full of confidence and produced a spirited opening stint aboard the #79 machine. Unfortunately contact with the championship-leading Porsche of David Ashburn resulted in problems removing the right-front wheel during the routine pit-stop, costing the team significant time. Now a lap down on the leaders in 18th place, Bryant set about making up the lost ground and was soon among the fastest cars on track. Coping well with the bent steering, he enjoyed a race-long duel with the BMW of Joe Osborne that saw the pair carve their way through the field and towards the top-10. When the chequered flag fell on the two-hour event Bryant had made up seven places to finish just outside the points in 11th spot. Unfortunately, the team were subsequently excluded from the results for the on-track incident with the Porsche. Despite missing out on points the Ecosse squad can take several positives from the Rockingham weekend. Bryant secured a top-10 in the hotly contested qualifying session while the car that eventually claimed second spot was behind Attard on the road prior to the pit-stops. What's more, Bryant's race pace was good enough for an overall podium. Olly Bryant: "The result didn't reflect the massive step forward we made with both the car and Marco this weekend. We found a consistent race balance on the tricky infield circuit and Marco has improved massively and demonstrated he can lap as quickly as the other top Am drivers. It was a great shame not to get the result we'd hoped for but we showed we had the pace. I can't wait for Silverstone." Marco Attard: "Rockingham was a very strong race weekend and we have taken huge steps forward. It's a shame about the contact with the Porsche, which set us back in the pit-stop, but I will take the experience forward in a positive way." Mark Lemmer, Barwell Motorsport Team Principal: "We worked hard this weekend and were really dialled in. Our result didn't match our performance but that can happen in motor racing. We're now looking strong for Silverstone." Before returning to British GT action, Ecurie Ecosse will head to Imola for the second round of the European Le Mans Series (18 May) where Andrew Smith, Joe Twyman and Ollie Millroy are looking to build on the team's debut ELMS win at Silverstone.
ENDS
Issued on behalf of Ecurie Ecosse
Photo credit: Gary Parravani, Xynamic Motorsport Photography - www. xynamic.com
Click on individual images to download
For more information on Ecurie Ecosse please visit www.ecurieecosse.com
Follow our blog: ecurieecosse.blogspot.com
Follow Ecurie Ecosse on Twitter: @ecurie_ecosse
Follow Ecurie Ecosse on Facebook
Click here for the press release (PDF)
Click here for the Ecurie Ecosse Association Membership Pack
Click here for the Ecurie Ecosse 60th Anniversary Ltd Edition Bremont Chronometer Watch Presentation
Follow Ecurie Ecosse Drivers on Twitter: @alasdair_mccaig @oliverjbryant@andrewsmitht70 @joetwyman1986 @olliemillroy
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION PLEASE CONTACT:
Andrew Smith
Tel: +44 (0)7710 644 366
Email: as@ecurieecosse.com
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