14.08.06 Bilimora Impresses on RPM debut Round 6 of the British GT championship at Rockingham saw Indian driver Phiroze Bilimora make his first GT appearance for Team RPM. Partnered with RPM's radical ace Nigel Redwood the pair made a formidable duo throughout the weekend. RPM did intend to run its 997 in the GT3 class for the first time, however gearbox troubles put a halt to that on Friday afternoon. This ment the pair had to be put into the teams spare 996 with Bilimora having never even sat in the car before. Having run a gearbox in through the qualifying period Nigel gave himself one flying lap in session 1 which was enough for an impressive 9th overall and 4th in class in only his second GT meeting ever. Unfortunately for Bilimora a clutch issue stopped him showing his true pace in qualifying but he was to make up for the disappointment in the races. Race 1 saw Redwood start from his Fourth place grid slot, making immediate progress up to third in class with a stunning over taking move on the Team Tiger Marcos into the first hairpin. He then spent the duration of his stint with the sister RPM car of Bradley Ellis who lead Nigel upto the pit stops. With Phiroze having not yet even driven the car in anger he put in a series of fast and consistent laps only to lose 4th place to a hard charging Mark Cole in the final laps. Race 2 was held on Sunday afternoon. Had there been an award for hard charging and the most positions made up it would have undoubtedly fallen to Bilimora. Having to start from the back after clutch issues in qualifying he went on to charge through 11 cars in the first 20 minutes of his stint before handing over to his team mate. Light contact however between Phiroze and the GT2 class Monaro damaged the rear tracking of the car not allowing Nigel to continue the cars progress up the field, but instead to consolidate a solid 6th in class finish 10th overall from 21st on the grid. << back to news