Lotus Sport Cadena Gt3 Race Team

[Mark H]

Rounds 11 and 12 of the Avon Tyres British GT Championship provided further evidence of

Lotus’s dominant performance at the top of the GT3 class. In the first qualifying session for

Round 11, Gavan Kershaw put in a spectacular lap to record the third quickest time of the

session behind the Le Mans-winning Panoz car of Hines/Kimber-Smith and the third-placed Le

Mans Ferrari 430 of Niarchos/Mullen. Barrie Whight recorded another sensational lap in

second qualifying, going fourth fastest overall, putting him only one second behind the

Porsche 997 GT3 of Cocker, and handing Lotus grid slots at the head of the field for both of

the day’s rounds.

Race 1 (Round 11) provided further action on the banked Rockingham circuit which saw the

new straight out of the box Lotus Sport of Exige GT3 of Paul Whight and new-boy Russell

Treasure storm up to eight place after starting fourteenth on the grid. This was partly thanks to

the Lotus Sport Exige GT3 being the only car on the grid capable of going round the

Rockingham banking at full throttle gaining an extra second per lap over its fellow competitors.

Individual performances from Lotus Sport Cadena drivers handed the team second, third and

fourth positions in Round 11 of the GT3 Driver’s Championship.

From fourth on the grid, race 2 (Round 12) saw Barrie Whight putting in a strong drive to pick

up a place to power ahead of the Porsche 997 GT3 of Machitski/Cocker. Kershaw then held

3rd place right to the chequered flag to take third place overall for Round 12 of the British GT

Championship, rounding off the weekend’s impressive points haul. Duos Paul Whight and

Russell Treasure and Sam Blogg and George Mackintosh finished in eleventh and twelfth

place overall, which put Lotus Sport Cadena in first, third and fourth place respectively in the

GT3 Driver’s Class for Round 12.

Commenting on the dominant Lotus performance at Rockingham, Paul Whight, Team Principal

of Lotus Sport Cadena explains: “despite some technical issues, the Lotus Sport Exige GT3

was very much on a level playing field with the higher-powered competitors in the

championship such as those of Porsche and Ferrari, which shows how much progress we

have made with our development programme. It has also enabled us to consolidate our lead at

the top of the GT3 drivers and team championships which is very encouraging going into the

next race at the legendary Brands Hatch circuit.”

GT3 driver’s championship leaders Sam Blogg and George Mackintosh have now completed a

total race distance 3500 km in their Lotus Sport Exige without incurring any technical

problems. Lotus leads Barwell Motorsport by 18 points in the GT3 Team classification. Rounds

13 and 14 of the British GT Championship will be held at Brands Hatch, Kent on 27 August,

2006.

 

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