Ecurie Ecosse GT3 duo eye top threeposted in GT03 | 08 | 2016
FOUR WEEKS AFTER they were the innocent victims of a first corner incident at Spa-Francorchamps, Black Bull Ecurie Ecosse GT3 duo, Alasdair McCaig and Rob Bell, return to British GT Championship action this weekend at Snetterton (Aug 6/7).
With one podium already under their belts from earlier in the season, the pair believe the closing two rounds — first in Norfolk, then at Donington in September — offer genuine opportunities for more top three finishes.
And having started from the front row of the grid at Spa in their McLaren 650S GT3, having missed out on pole by just 0.042secs, McCaig was quick to stress the team will be doing everything it can to get that elusive first win.
“We know our car has the reliability and pace, and the team is fully committed to delivering the best results we can achieve over the final two race weekends,” the Edinburgh racer said.
“Snetteron is a circuit I don’t know too well, but it is a circuit I enjoy and one I believe the Black Bull Ecurie Ecosse McLaren 650S GT3 should be quick and competitive at.
“We’ll be pushing for that elusive win and treating each of the two one-hour races individually.”
It’s a sentiment backed up by team-mate, McLaren works driver Bell, who last raced at Snetterton in Formula Renault back in 2002.
“I haven’t raced at Snetterton for a long time, but I’ve tested there quite a bit with McLaren,” the Newcastle racer said. “We actually did quite a bit of development work for the 650 there, so it’s a circuit I’m pretty comfortable with.
“I think of all the circuits, Snetterton and Donington should be our strongest of the year.
“Snetterton has a bit of everything: it has fast corners, it’s got the hairpin, and a few long fast bits in between, which is why we use it for testing. It’s a great mix of fast and slow.”
And Bell, who also leads the Blancpain GT Drivers Championship, gave an insight into how difficult it is to win in the British GT Championship.
“It’s tough,” he laughed, “ and I think we’ve proved just how tough it is to win in the British GT Championship. At the end of the day, there’s a very strong field, and of that good field there are around six or seven cars that could win in any weekend.
“Then you have to factor in the success penalty structure, which affects different cars each race weekend.
“The good thing for us is we won’t have any success penalty at Snetterton because of what happened at the first corner in Spa, despite starting on the front row of the grid.
“I think this is another good chance for us to at least be on the podium. We’ve had good chances to win throughout the season and for one reason or another it’s just not come our way.
“But British GT is hard to win. Any race is hard to win. But I’ve got high expectations for Snetterton.”
QUOTES:
Alasdair McCaig — Black Bull Ecurie Ecosse McLaren 650S GT3 driver
“Snetteron is a circuit I don’t know too well, but it’s a circuit I enjoy and one I believe the Black Bull Ecurie Ecosse McLaren 650S GT3 should be quick and competitive at.
“We’ll be pushing for that elusive win and treating each of the two one-hour races individually.
“Although we’re not in the championship fight, we will be pushing harder than ever towards the end of the season to show our underlying pace.
“We know our car has the reliability and the pace, and the team is fully committed to delivering the best results we can achieve over the final two race weekends.”
Rob Bell — Black Bull Ecurie Ecosse McLaren 650S GT3 driver
“I haven’t raced at Snetterton for a long time, not since I did Formula Renault back in 2001/2. But I’ve tested there quite a bit with McLaren.
“We actually did quite a bit of development work for the 650 there, so it’s a circuit I’m pretty comfortable with.
“I think of all the circuits, Snetterton and Donington should be our strongest of the year. Snetterton has a bit of everything: it has fast corners, it’s got the hairpin, and a few long fast bits in between, which is why we use it for testing. It’s a great mix of fast and slow.
“We know we have a good set-up for the track, and we’ve done plenty miles round the circuit, so we should be quick.
“I think we’ve proved just how tough it is to win in the British GT Championship. At the end of the day, there’s a very strong field, and of that good field there are around six or seven cars that could win in any weekend.
“Then you have to factor in the success penalty structure, which affects different cars each race weekend.
“The good thing for us is we won’t have any success penalty at Snetterton because of what happened at the first corner in Spa, despite starting on the front row of the grid.
“I think this is another good chance for us to at least be on the podium. We’ve had good chances throughout the season and for one reason or another it’s just not come our way.
“But British GT is hard to win. Any race is hard to win. But I’ve got high expectations for Snetterton.”
Euan Shand — CEO of sponsors, Huntly-based Black Bull Scotch Whisky:
“We know how disappointed the team was to be taken out at the first corner of the last round at Spa, having started from the front row. We also know they have the pace to compete at the front, and hopefully this weekend will see Black Bull Ecurie Ecosse score their first British GT win at Snetterton.”
Related: Black Bull Ecurie Ecosse GT4 young guns aim for third time lucky
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Jim McGill