Young guns miss top 3 by 0.7sposted in GT30 | 05 | 2016

    BLACK BULL ECURIE ECOSSE young guns, Sandy Mitchell and Ciaran Haggerty, missed out on a debut GT4 podium in the British GT Championship by just 0.757seconds at Oulton Park.


    The talented youngsters battled through the 60-minute race with an ill-handling car, a result of damage the McLaren 570S GT4 suffered in the day’s opening race. 
But as 16-year-old Mitchell, from Letham in Angus, reeled in the third-placed car, the race was red flagged, bringing it to a premature end five minutes before the scheduled finish.


    “First, I have to thank the team for managing to repair the car between races today after I damaged it in the opening race,” Mitchell said. “They did a terrific job.


    “Initially we struggled for pace in Race 2 in the #59 car but towards the end, as some of the other cars dropped off in pace, we were able to maintain our speed.


    “Over the last few laps I was catching the cars in front, and had got right on to the back bumper of the car in third. But when the red flag came out to stop the race, that was it: game over.
We finished P4, just 0.7s off a podium: close again, but we’ll get there soon.”


    And Haggerty, the 19-year-old from Johnstone, was quick to praise the performance of his young team-mate.


    “Early on I started to struggle with understeer on the car,” he explained. “Essentially it was the result of the quick, but temporary repairs the guys managed to do between the races.


    “It didn’t help that I fluffed the start a bit and dropped two or three places. I managed to get a couple back into Turn 2, round the outside, which was good. But after that it was a case of maintaining my pace.

    “To be honest, given how difficult the car was to drive, to finish P4, less than second behind the third-placed car, is brilliant. Sandy did a really good stint, keeping it on the pace and maintaining it right through the race.


    “Now we head to Silverstone for the next round in a fortnight determined to get that elusive podium.”

    QUOTES:

    
Sandy Mitchell, Black Bull Ecurie Ecosse McLaren 570S GT4:


    “My stint went pretty well, despite the fact the car was understeering badly after the damage it suffered this morning.


    “That said, the team did a fantastic job to repair the car and get it back on-track, given the short amount of time they had between races. I’m really thankful for that.

    
“Initially we struggled for pace in the #59 car but towards the end, as some of the other cars dropped off in pace, we were able to maintain our speed.


    “Over the last few laps I was catching the cars in front, and had got right on to the back bumper of the car in third. But when the red flag came out to stop the race, that was it: game over.
 We finished P4, just 0.7s off a podium: close again, but we’ll get there soon.”

    “It’s a terrific, positive result considering what happened this morning, and the repairs which had been done to the front-end of the car. We’ll take that, and it’s a great boost heading into Silverstone in a fortnight."

    Ciaran Haggerty, Black Bull Ecurie Ecosse McLaren 570S GT4:


    “Quite early on I started to struggle with understeer on the car. Essentially it was the result of the quick, but temporary repairs the guys managed to do between the races. That really just held us back the whole race.


    “It didn’t help that I fluffed the start a bit and dropped two or three places. I managed to get a couple back into Turn 2, round the outside, which was good. But after that it was a case of maintaining my pace, because I just couldn’t catch the guys in front because the understeer was so bad.
“

    To be honest, given how difficult the car was to drive, to finish P4, less than second behind the third-placed car, is brilliant. Sandy did a really good stint, keeping it on the pace and maintaining it right through the race.


    “Now we head to Silverstone for the next round in a fortnight determined to get that elusive podium.”

    Related: Hamilton masters rain-hit Monaco GP

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    Jim McGill

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