Bamford and Griffin on track to top ten in GT Open Series
The opening round of the International GT Open was held this weekend at Imola, Italy with Peter Bamford and Matt Griffin competing with Advanced Engineering in a Ferrari 430 GT2 racer. In dry conditions yesterday the duo brought the car home in 12th place for the first race and today, in rainy weather, the English-Irish combination finished 14th. A few small errors in both races cost the drivers their aim of top ten finishes, but their pace promises the realisation of this goal within the next few races.
Newbury-based racer, Bamford and his younger team mate from Cork, Ireland were quickly up to speed in Friday testing, with the pairing posting 10th quickest time in the first practice session. Griffin proved his prowess, leading the Ferrari’s with third quickest lap time overall in the second practice period, and only two factory Porsches ahead of the No. 9 Advanced Engineering entry .
Qualifying did not progress as expected for Bamford and Griffin, with neither showing their true potential. For Bamford it was a red flag on the third, and optimum, lap of his new tyre run, which left him back in 16th place for the start of the first race. The weather was the cause of Griffin’s qualifying position, with menacing clouds at the start of his qualifying session leading the team to opt for an early new tyre run. Posting seventh quickest lap was a fair result, but it was clear that all the teams ahead of Griffin and Bamford had set their times later in the session with the track benefiting from more rubber, and in turn, the all-important grip.
The first of the two races, with dry conditions, put Bamford behind the wheel for the green flag. Unfortunately he did not have the best of starts and soon found himself dropping to the back of the field, battling slower GT3 cars ahead. With Imola presenting only one clear overtaking opportunity Bamford was left struggling to make progress in his stint.
Handing over the car to Griffin, the Irishman was able to exit the pits with a clear track ahead. It was a chance for him to push hard and make up ground. Over the course of his stint Griffin was one of the fastest men out on track, posting third fastest lap of the race as he drove hard to gain places, to cross the finishing line in 12th place.
Bamford said after the first race, “It was the slow start that had a knock-on effect, especially with the GT3 cars which are difficult to pass as they’re actually faster than the GT2s on the straight. Starts don’t usually present a problem for me, but it seems that a few months off has given me some work to do. Matt produced a strong recovery drive, but without the poor start I’m sure we’d have made it into the top ten.”
Today’s second race was held in contrasting weather conditions with rain demanding that the race started behind the safety car. Griffin was in the Ferrari for the first stint, maintaining position and staying with the leading group of eight cars for the first half of the race. For Griffin, and Bamford later in the race, the biggest challenge was the track conditions. Oil spilt in an earlier race had been cleaned up with the customary cement dust, but this combined with the rain, produced an extremely slippery track that offered little grip and compromised any opportunities to attack rivals or push hard to gain position.
Bamford took over driving duties for the second half of the race and despite the challenging circumstances, was turning consistent laps and maintaining a good pace. The Englishman was unfortunate to be caught out by the conditions in the closing stages, with a spin dropping the team down the order to 14th, the final finishing position for Bamford and Griffin.
Griffin said of the wet race, “It was incredibly slippery; the oil spillage wasn’t just in one corner, but around the whole lap, I’ve never driven in a race with such little grip and it was extremely difficult. Considering this, I thought Peter drove really well, it was a shame he had a spin, otherwise we’d have been in the top ten, which is where we should be and I’m sure we will be very soon.”
Bamford and Griffin will return to the track in mid-May for the second round of the eight event series, which takes place at the Autodromo Internacional do Algarve, near Portimao in Portugal.