25.09.06 RPM Clinches another podium at GT finale RPM fielded 3 cars in the final round of British GT held last weekend. Peter Bamford and Matt Griffin drove car 17 after their GT debut as a pairing at the last round held at Brands Hatch, whilst Bradley Ellis and Alex Mortimer drove car 96. Also making its race debut was RPM's 997 Porsche in the hands of Phillip Glew and Phiroze Bilimoria. Qualifying saw a Matt Griffin set the Porsche pace taking 2nd place in the GTC class for RPM behind the Ferrari of Adam Wilcox. Bradley Ellis put in a time good enough for third in the class his best qualify of the year. Phil Glew on his first outing in 997 put in the 4th fastest GT3 time. Warm up on the Sunday morning brought about a whole host of problems for the team with electrical gremlins that plagued the 96 car in qualifying the day before persisting through to the morning despite the team having already changed part of the loom. However the main issue for the team came from car 17 which had suffered an engine failure in warm-up leaving the RPM staff under 2 an a half hours to put in its spare which they managed to do, just missing the opening two laps. The race saw Ellis immediately find his way to the front where he built a commanding 11 second lead before the race was put under safety car. Not having the capacity in its fuel tank to pit at this early stage in the race the RPM cars had to continue under the safety car and could not pit. This ment when they did pit they had lost a lap to many of their competitors. However car 96 managed to climb its way back to 2nd in class in the hands of Alex Mortimer. Phillip Glew in the teams 997 narrowly missed the podium in the GT3 class after a determined drive back through the field in which he set a lap some half a second quicker then that of his GT3 Porsche rival and eventual GT3 class winner Piers Maserati. Car 17 hampered by its late start due to the engine change was driven on the limit by Matt Griffin setting an identical time to its sister 96 car to make the pair the quickest Porsches on the circuit. Peter Bamford drove a very solid stint gaining experience in only his second British GT race ever in which he dramatically closed the difference in his lap times to team mate Matt Griffin in comparison to the previous Brands Hatch round. However his efforts were to go unrewarded as a problem with the cooling system of the car ment he could not finish the race. << back to news