August 24, 2009

SNETTERTON, England – Rob Garofall’s advantage in the Rolex 24 Driver Challenge shrunk dramatically as his team mate crashes their Juno CN 2009 beyond immediate repair in testing and Anthony Dunn and Barry Gates win the SPEED 6hr race at Snetterton.

Richard Bernans, who had to miss the Brands Hatch 3 hr SPEED race, was back for Snetterton full of anticipation in the Juno factory team with Rob Garofall and Chris Bialan and a top three result was planned. But in a 6hr endurance race you need speed, reliability, patience and luck, avoiding any disasters, to succeed.

Unfortunately the team suffered their share of bad luck for the season when the rear suspension of their Juno CN 2009 collapsed in the high speed Coram Corner at Snetterton during Friday testing, resulting in heavy impact with the circuit barriers, which damaged the front suspension pick-up points beyond repair. A marathon drive to the Juno factory to pick up an old Juno CN car and convert it to the current regulations saw them just get onto the circuit in time for qualifying.

The JOTA Sport team’s Ligier JS49/038 driven by Sam Hancock and Simon Dolan showed excellent pace during Friday testing and consequently qualified on pole 0.407 seconds ahead of the Hollings/Chavariat of Lanan Racing, with Dunn/Gates posting 3rd fastest time, this earning Sam Hancock 20 vital points for the Rolex 24 At Daytona Driver Challenge presented by Sunoco.

It was also Sam Hancock who took an early commanding lead posting fastest lap (another 20 points) before handing over to Simon Dolan, who kept the lead until disaster struck when lapping a spinning Satellite Norma M20F. Simon could not avoid the crash resulting in a 6 lap delay for repairs dropping them down to 8th overall. The lead was inherited by Anthony Dunn / Barry Gates in the RLR Motorsport run Ligier JS49 (034), who held on in front for the remainder of the race, taking a well deserved victory. Second were Sarah Reader and Graham Fennymore in the TFL Racing run Juno SSE after an epic battle with Nick Adcock and Massimo Vignali in their IF Motorsport run Ligier JS49/17-2006.

Garofall/Bialan/Bernans could only qualify 8th due to an underdeveloped car and were off the pace throughout the race, but thanks to other teams’ misfortunes and a consistent, hard drive from them managed 4th, despite a 10 minutes gearbox selector repair job, rescuing the team members 40 vital points for the Rolex 24 At Daytona Driver Challenge presented by Sunoco.

As a result, the race for the Daytona Prototype race seat at the 2010 Rolex 24 At Daytona is now wide open as Rob Garofall’s fourth position finish at Snetterton means that his points lead has plummeted from 22.29 to 9.37, well within reach of the next top four Driver Challengers: Derek Johnston (Radical), Daniel Ricciardo (British F3), Allan Simonsen (British GT) and Roger Bromiley (Radical).

Full points standings here: http://www.aaoil.co.uk/assets/Rolex_24_challenge_standings_230809.pdf.

The Radical racers will have to wait until the 12th-13th of September for their next round at Silverstone and the British F3 drivers until the following weekend when they head south to the Algarve in Portugal.

Photo courtesy of Oliver Read.