Rounds three and four of the British GT Championship at Oulton Park on Bank Holiday Monday didn’t provide a great deal of cheer for Wisbech racer Jake Giddings – the former GT4 Champion and Pro-Am team-mate Kieran Griffin suffering double disappointment with retirement from both races.
Frustratingly for the JWB Motorsport pairing, almost the entire race meeting was beset with misfortune of one form or another but a marked improvement in pace from Griffin this weekend at the wheel of the No.47 Aston Martin V8 Vantage GT4 offered some healthy optimism.
The difficulties started in opening practice on Saturday, 28th May, when Griffin had an unfortunate excursion early on. With the damage ruling the car out of session two, meaning Jake didn’t have any practice time, the repaired JWB entry did thankfully make it into qualifying and in the ‘Am’ session Griffin secured 10th on the grid for round three.
Going into the subsequent ‘Pro’ session for round four with no laps under his belt, 21-year-old Jake impressed with a strong performance to deliver a lap of 1m44.275 seconds (92.93mph) – the second fastest of the Aston Martins – to secure a top six start for the second contest.
Griffin took the opening stint of round three on Bank Holiday Monday, 30th May, but hopes of a strong start were dashed following a moment out of Old Hall on the opening lap. Recovering down in 13th place in GT4, some 12 seconds behind the next car, the JWB Motorsport team’s chances then improved on lap three when the Safety Car was deployed as a result of a GT4 Ginetta crashing out.
At the resumption on lap eight Griffin held 12th place in GT4, having been able to close-up behind the pack under the Safety Car, and instantly moved into 11th when a car pitted with damage. Running within just a few tenths of a second of his next target, Griffin sliced past on lap 10 but the next time around he tagged the tyre stack at the chicane – resulting in retirement.
Having missed out on any track time in the first race Jake was, of course, determined to make the most of having the opening stint in round four and from sixth on the GT4 grid he made a good start to climb into the top four and challenge for the podium places.
Soon enough, though, he was edged back to seventh as the No.47 Aston Martin started to develop a misfire and the problem worsened over the next few laps. Pitting with a very ill-sounding car at the end of lap 10, after some work by the team he ventured back out onto track with 37 minutes left on the clock but the problem remained and he pitted again to retire.
“We think the cam actuator failed – probably stemming from the accident in the first race”, explained Jake, “It just got worse and worse, probably two or three laps in the car started to go flat and then it started to really lose mid-range and started misfiring. We reset all the sensors when I pitted but when I went back out it just got worse and worse so we had to retire the car.
“It’s a real shame, I had a good start and had high hopes. Kieran came on leaps and bounds this weekend too, he was only about four tenths off the mid-pack with his pace where, so far, it’s been more like a second so he was a lot quicker this weekend. We’re obviously all disappointed with how the weekend turned out, but hopefully we can carry the positive bits forward to Silverstone.”
Silverstone Grand Prix Circuit in Northamptonshire will be the next stop on the British GT calendar a fortnight from now over the weekend 11th/12th June. Before then, Jake will be back on track at Oulton Park next weekend, 4th/5th June, in the Renault UK Clio Cup where he will make his second appearance of the year in the one-make category for his family’s Finesse Motorsport team.
2016 British GT Championship GT4 Driver Standings (after Rd4):14th Jake Giddings & Kieran Griffin, 12pts
2016 British GT Championship GT4 Pro-Am Driver Standings (after Rd4):6th Jake Giddings & Kieran Griffin, 40.5pts
2016 British GT Championship GT4 Team Standings (after Rd4):11th JWB Motorsport, 12pts
