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17/06/2013
Ecurie Ecosse salvaged valuable British GT Championship points from a difficult doubleheader event at Snetterton (16 June) thanks to a battling race two performance from drivers Marco Attard and Olly Bryant aboard their Barwell Motorsport-run BMW Z4 GT3.
The legendary Scottish outfit travelled to the Norfolk venue leading the highly competitive championship, and continued their fine form by topping free practice thanks to a stunning late-session effort. Unfortunately qualifying would prove a very different story. On course for a top-six grid position half way into his session, Attard was forced to pit with a brake problem caused by a hairline crack in one of the calliper hard lines, an unexpected issue for a car that has completed only five races. Though this was fixed ahead of the second session Bryant continued to struggle with the car’s brake bias and, despite sitting P4 with less than a minute to go, a flurry of late improvements as the circuit gained grip shuffled the BMW down to 10th place. With excellent weather conditions greeting competitors on race day the Ecosse squad were targeting a pair of points finishes. This would prove particularly challenging in race one, with Attard starting 20th and a 15-second time penalty to be applied at the pit stop thanks to their Silverstone success. However the Ecosse driver made a fantastic start and, by the end of the opening lap, had moved up eight places into P12. Unfortunately his charge would be short lived. Chasing down David Ashburn’s Porsche on lap two, Attard felt the brake pedal go long and was forced to return the car to the pits where it was retired so the issue could be resolved. Incredibly, the team discovered that the brand new calliper pipe fitted the previous day had also broken. The start of race two was poorly managed by the officials as the lights went out well before the majority of the field was through Corum, allowing the lead pack to gain a significant advantage by the first corner. Initially struggling with a handling imbalance, Bryant was nevertheless able to stay on the tail of the lead group only for contact between two cars ahead of him to force avoiding action, costing the BMW three places. Bryant then focussed on protecting the tyres and adjusting the brake balance so as to hand Attard the best possible car. After passing Rob Barff's Ferrari with a brave move around the outside at Corum he ducked into the pits where the Barwell crew produced a first-rate stop, fitting the set of tyres that had run just two laps in the opening race. Upon returning to the circuit Attard was immediately on the pace and had soon overhauled Phil Drybrugh's Aston Martin. Despite heavy pressure from former Porsche Carrera Cup racer Ahmad Al Harthy, Attard was able to catch and pass John Dhillon's Ferrari on the final tour. Closing on the Mercedes of Jason Minshaw at a staggering rate, the chequered flag dropped just one lap too soon for Attard, leaving the Ecosse team to settle for seventh place and a solid points haul. Oliver Bryant, #79 Ecurie Ecosse BMW: "It's difficult to put a positive spin on the weekend we’ve had but being quickest in free practice was a highlight, while Marco drove brilliantly once again. We were unlucky but so were some of our championship rivals, and while losing our points advantage is a real disappointment we are still in a strong position approaching the upcoming rounds. Now I can't wait for Brands Hatch!" Marco Attard, #79 Ecurie Ecosse BMW: "Brake issues in first qualifying and race one left us at a low ebb following our great result at Siverstone, but things improved in race two and we managed to recover some points. This was a great result considering all the problems we’d suffered and keeps us well within reach of the championship lead. Ultimately we’ve come away feeling very positive ahead of Brands Hatch in August." Mark Lemmer, Barwell Motorsport Team Principal : "Following our recent run of fantastic races we were bound to have a difficult patch at some stage. However, the team reacted really well and Marco had an exceptional weekend. As ever, we will come back fighting next time out at Brands Hatch."
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
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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
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Showing posts with label barwell. Show all posts
Showing posts with label barwell. Show all posts
Tuesday, 18 June 2013
Ecurie Ecosse salvage hard-fought points from tough Snetterton weekend
Tuesday, 2 April 2013
British GT Championship Round 1 Oulton Park
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Tuesday, 5 March 2013
First Test
Today (5th March) sees our brand new 2013 BMW Z4 GT3 on track for the first time.
Olly Bryant and Marco Attard will drive the car at Oulton Park as part of their pre season testing programme, ahead of round 1 in less than a month's time.
To follow the progress of the team, keep checking our blog and follow us all on Twitter.
@ecurie_ecosse
@joetwyman1986
@andrewsmitht70
@olliemillroy
@alasdair_mccaig
@oliverjbryant
JT
Monday, 25 February 2013
Visit to Barwell- 21st February
Following our most recent visit to Barwell Motorsport we can report that the new Z4 is really coming on leaps and bounds. The hard top carbon fibre roof is now fitted, front end assembly installed and rear differential in place. The roof did prove somewhat tricky to fit, as getting an absolute perfect fit required a touch of mastery from the Barwell crew.
The engine installation had also been completed and whilst we were there the engine was being prepped for its initial run up the following day. This went without a glitch and we are well on track to completing the new car in plenty of time ahead of its first shake down at Oulton Park on 5th March.
Mark Lemmer chief engineer at Barwell mentioned that the build was all going to plan. One of the most time consuming exercises in the Z4 build has been organising all the individual parts for the car. Every nut and bolt comes in individual packaging with a serial number which needs to be matched to the build manual. When there are thousands of these small parts this takes quite some time to get everything in order.
We look forward to reporting back after the shake down at Oulton Park
AM
Friday, 15 February 2013
Wednesday 13th February- Visit to Barwell
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| The 2013 Ecurie Ecosse BMW Z4 GT3 Ahead of announcing Ecurie Ecosse’s 2013 plans, which will take in the best of both domestic and European GT championships, Andrew Smith and myself made a visit to Barwell Motorsport HQ in Surrey to see the build progress of our 2013 BMW Z4 GT3 car. |
As you can see from the following photos, there is plenty of work to do ahead of our pre-season testing program due to commence in March. The car arrived behind schedule from BMW so the Barwell crew are up against it to complete the build in time, but from experience I have no doubt they are up to the task.
My relationship with the experienced GT squad goes back to 2009 when Andrew and myself raced the Ginetta G50 Zytek prepared by Barwell in British GT. Whilst the car had some initial teething problems costing us a strong result at Spa Francorchamps, the team soon got on top of the issues and driving with Joe Osborne and Piers Johnson, I was able to claim 2 outright British GT wins at Rockingham and 2 second place finishes at Snetterton, in addition to a fastest lap at Silverstone.
When Andrew, Alasdair, Joe and myself embarked on the return of Ecurie Ecosse in 2011, I was sure Barwell were the team for the job and the 9th place finish at the 2011 Spa 24 hours and the 100% points finishing record in 2012 that so nearly brought us the British GT crown is testament to that.
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| 2013 Pedal Box |
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| Just like a big mecano set! |
We are all looking forward to the season ahead and we will keep you updated as soon as our plans are announced, in addition to photos and reports from our testing program.
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| More horsepower than last year, should help us on the straights! |
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| 2013 spec rear wing. |
Monday, 11 February 2013
BES Photos
Seemingly wherever we went in 2012 with the Blancpain Endurance Series the rain followed us. Ironically the only event at which we didnt see rain was the one place we expected it: Nurburgring. Throughout the year a number of photographers got soggy on Ecosse's behalf and below are a selection of some of our favourite shots. Photography: Jakob Ebrey, Peter May & Brecht Decancq.
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| In 2012 we had such a great team camaraderie. This is pre race at the Nurburgring with Grahame Bryant, Chris Clark, Olly Bryant, Joe Twyman, Ollie Millroy and Alasdair McCaig. All those not in overalls travelled over from Spa Francorchamps where they had been doing the historic 6 hour race. Andrew Smith is in the car waiting to go! |
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| Monza was very wet and a real baptism of fire for all the boys! Andrew started the race and it ran for 40 minutes under the safety car! |
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| Silverstone was similarly wet with the race started under the safety car again. This time it was Joe's turn to endure the stint from hell.. The issue in both instances was more spray related than anything else. Its like driving blind into a sea of mist. Not ideal when you know there are two others waiting to have a go in the pits! |
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| Paul Ricard is a great place and despite the long Mistral Straight the Z4 went very well there. Unfortunately we were robbed of a points finish on the last lap with a "fuel issue"..... Here we are seen with the Haribo racing Porsche. Its always good to be pitted next to them for obvious supply reasons! |
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| Andrew's first stint at the Nurburgring was fantastic. The boys picked up their first BES championship points after a gruelling 3 hour race on the GP circuit. |
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| The final round of BES at Navarra. Our 2011 spec Z4 is up against the Vita4One and Marc VDS 2012 examples. There was about 9 tenths difference in the upgrade kit and we knew we were getting the best out of the 2011 car when we went quicker here than the 2011 FIA GT3 Pole time. |
2012
2012 saw Ecurie
Ecosse return to international sportscar racing for a full season. This time,
the weapon of choice was the potent BMW Z4 GT3 in the British GT Championship
and Blancpain Endurance Series. Alasdair McCaig and Oliver Bryant contested the
UK Championship, whilst Joe Twyman and Andrew Smith were joined by former BMW
Scholarship driver Ollie Millroy to contest the European Series.
Barwell
Motorsport were again chosen to run the Z4 and they turned out a faultless car
all year. The season got off to an excellent start with Ecurie Ecosse winning
at Oulton Park in their first race in the British GT Championship. Bryant and
McCaig followed this up with podiums at Brands Hatch and Silverstone (where
Ollie Hancock stood in for Bryant).
The Ecurie Ecosse
BMW scored points in every round of the championship and this left McCaig just
half a point behind the leaders going into the final round at Donington Park in
September. The championship was so competitive that 6 different drivers could
leave Donington as Champion. McCaig was re-united with regular driving partner
Bryant after a 2-month injury forced lay-off. With ten minutes to go in
the two-hour race, it looked as though the pairing had done enough to secure
the championship for Ecurie Ecosse and Alasdair at the first time of asking.
Oliver was running 3rd on the road out of the points-scoring
runners. Disaster then struck as Oliver was handed a 1-minute stop-go
penalty for accidental contact with the championship rival Ferrari. This
dropped McCaig to 5th in the drivers standings much to the disappointment
of the huge crowd of sponsors, friends and supporters in the Ecurie Ecosse
garage.
In the highly
competitive Blancpain Endurance Series Ecurie Ecosse had some very promising
showings against more up to date machinery. The season kicked off in
miserable conditions at Monza, where Smith, Twyman and Millroy brought the car
home an impressive 11th in class and 21st overall on the massive
55-car grid. At Paul Ricard, Oliver Bryant joined Twyman and Millroy. The
trio were enjoying a very strong run, running 8th in class and
12th overall until fuel pick-up issues on the final lap dropped the car
several places. Even so, the Ecurie Ecosse machine came home an impressive 13th in
class and 20th overall.At the Nurburgring, Smith was back in the car
alongside Twyman and Millroy and the trio enjoyed an excellent run in dry
conditions. Unfortunately the smaller fuel tank in the 2011-spec BMW meant that
they could not take advantage of a safety car period to re-fuel the car and
therefore lost some positions. Despite this, all three drivers did an
excellent job and the result netted a points finish of 10th in class and
20th overall. For the final round at Navarra, Smith, Twyman and Millroy were
together once again and had their best run of the season. A podium finish was
on the cards when the heavens opened and the safety car dropped the team a lap
behind the rest of the pack. The team’s qualifying pace was outstanding
with Millroy putting in a time confirmed by the factory which was quicker than
a 2011-spec Z4 has ever lapped on the circuit and would have been good enough
for pole position in the 2011 FIA GT3 Championship. The team made a big
impression, surprising many of the bigger well funded teams by running at the
front on a fraction of the budget in older specification machinery, proving
that with a brand new 2013 car Ecurie Ecosse can challenge for overall class
honours in what is now the world’s most competitive GT Series.
JT
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