Sarah Bennett-Baggs joined Nicholas Mee Racing for the Britcar 500 race at Silverstone GP circuit on Saturday night.
The team finished the race in 15th position overall and 4th in class after the full 6 hrs - helping Karsten and Christiaen complete their Britcar season and target to win the Aston Martin GT4 trophy.
Silverstone hosted the Britcar 500 6hr endurance race which replaced the Britcar 24hr race for 2009. Supported by a full grid of 43 runners,
Sarah took a last minute opportunity to drive for Nicholas Mee Racing joining Britcar regulars Karsten Le Blanc and Christiaen Van Lanschott in their Aston Martin 4.7 GT4.
The trio qualified in 8th position in class (out of 14), 27th on the grid out of 43 runners. Christiaen started the race at 4pm settling into a good pace after some initial racing scuffles getting up to 23rd position when Sarah took over on lap 58 2hrs into the race. Still dry and daylight conditions were perfect to put in some good times which is where Sarah set the fastest lap of 2.08.38, and at 3 hrs the team were up into 17th position overall, 5th in class, just before it started to rain.
It was lap 78 just after 3hrs when the rain came and as it looked set to blow over quickly the team decision was to stay out until it deluged or we needed to stop for fuel. Sarah gained good ground on others during the initial light rain keeping up a good pace to maintain heat in the tyres whilst controlling the sliding back end of the Aston as it got wetter and wetter.
As the rain got worse the grip became non-existent and the call came to swap tyres, by now the light was gone completely, and Sarah pitted for a full set of wets and fuel. At 4hrs in they were up into 16th position overall 6th in class.
On lap 100 someone had gearbox failure at Luffield1 depositing oil all over the entry making the first part of the corner impossible to negotiate even at 30mph. At least 2 cars came off, and with it being dark and impossible to see, the Safety car was sent out whilst the marshals cleaned the track. Although only a 7 lap Safety car period it last lasted a good 35 mins. Sarah pitted the lap after the safety car came in, to hand over to Karsten who continued to the end, maintaining an excellent pace in damp changeable conditions on rapidly disintegrating wet weather tyres. Karsten got the team up to 15th position the final finishing place and 4th in class.
"It was a great team effort in difficult changeable conditions, I think all three drivers spun the car at some point in their stint, luckily the Aston is a car that moves around alot even in the dry, so when its wet its just the same only it moves slightly further! I wasn't expecting to do 60 odd laps - but I thoroughly enjoyed it all, driving with Christian and Karsten and working with NMR who are a very professional team." Sarah
Sarah will to be out again next weekend at Silverstone in the GT Cup. www.girlracer.co.uk
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