Race Report
Thruxton
2004 British GT Championship - Rounds 13-14

Team Jedi Racing Score First Ever Points in British GT Championship at Thruxton!

Team Jedi Racing finally scored their first points of 2004 at Thruxton this weekend.

The team made good progress throughout the weekend, but bad luck still nearly prevented them scoring a point. As neither Frazer Corbyn nor Rob Horsfield had ever driven at Thruxton before, the team used both free practice and qualifying to learn the track.

Race 1 looked to be going according to plan, with the team still building up speed and the car running in 7th place at the half way driver change. Rob Horsfield handed over to Frazer and the team all crossed their fingers. 9 laps from the end, all the hard work came to nothing when the clutch burnt out completely and Frazer coasted the car back into the pits.

"After race one, we were all nearly ready to pack up and go home," said team owner Rob Horsfield. "It felt like it was just an impossible task to run at race pace and finish!"

But the team did rise to the challenge. They removed the engine, fitted a new clutch and replaced the engine in 3 hours!

Race 2 was not easy for them either. Although the clutch was now in perfect working order … gremlins in the gearbox prevented both Frazer and Rob from running at the same pace as in race 1. By the end of the race, Rob Horsfield brought the car home, only able to select 5th and 6th gears. "It was quite a challenge taking the tight chicane in front of the grandstand in 5th gear,’ said Rob. ‘But we knew that quite a few other teams were also having problems, so we just kept going."

Team Jedi finished 8th in class and scored its first point of the year!

"Its nice to have a point at last", said Frazer, "but we still need to improve to be competitive at the level we want to achieve. Our next race at Brands Hatch is the last of the year, so we just have one more chance to get it right!"

The next GT round takes place at Brands Hatch at the beginning of October.