2003 Race Reports

	A1 Ring, Austria, 29-31 August 2003
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	Race Report "Changeable" would best describe our weekend in Austria. From glorious sunshine to torrential rain, from blisteringly fast laps to mechanical let down, the weekend ebbed and flowed. Front row men, Law and Chris Randall (Nissan NPT-90), were separated by a mere 13 thousandths of a second, but a thrilling showdown was denied when the Nissan suffered engine failure in qualifying. In Race 1 Nigel James fired his New Man Porsche 962C to the head of the field from fourth on the grid. Pole sitter, Justin Law (Jaguar XJR-10) tucked in behind and powered by on the second lap, despite an intermittent misfire. Law went on to take a comfortable victory after the red flag was shown 20 minutes in to the race due to a combination of oil on the track coupled with rain and slick tyres. Nick Randall (Porsche 962CK6/3) and Martyn Konig (Porsche 956B) completed the top three after James retired at half the scheduled distance with no water in one bank of the Porsche motor. Despite a wild ride, pirouetting down the track, Ian Stinton (Harrier GT1) claimed fourth overall and first in class. He would add a second in class on Sunday. Jim Graham claimed the first of a brace of class wins in his Dow Corning EMKA-Aston Martin followed by Richard Bateman (Tiga-Ford Cosworth GC287). John Edwards (Porsche 934R) followed Graham home on track whilst the unfortunate Neil Clark (Harrier LR-9) pulled off with yet another input shaft failure. With no more spares left, Bill Tully would be unable to take his drive in the car on Sunday morning. Having taken a chance in bringing the car and worked their socks off to support the grid, the Don Law Racing crew were frustrated to be unable to put John Grant's Jaguar XJR-17 on track. On a brighter note, we watched Nick Rini give Jaguar XJR-12-190 its Group C/GTP Racing's debut & take a third & fourth in class. Justin Law was unable to take the start of Race 2 when the Jaguar's gearbox failed to engage low gears. Having lead all the way in treacherous conditions, Nick Randall spun on the final lap, gifting the race to Konig. The Brunn Racing Porsche 956B is proving to be the car to have in inclement weather, adding to its rain-soaked victory at Spa last year. Randall recovered to take second followed by James, locking out the podium for the Porsche marque. Philipp Brunn fielded the interesting Sauber-BMW C5 taking fourth and first Invitation car ahead of Stinton. Michael Schuster (Argo-Judd JM19C) put Saturday's differential failure behind him and came home sixth. Despite the fickle climate, the circuit found unanimous favour as a challenging venue but, with its closure next season for reworking, it may be some time before we return.
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	Race 1 1 GTP1 Justin Law Jaguar XJR10 13 Laps 22:26.259 150.141 kph 2 GTP1 Nick Randall Porsche 962 CK6 13 Laps 23:26.576 143.703 kph 3 GTP2 Martyn Konig Porsche 956 13 Laps 23:27.885 143.569 kph 4 GTP5 Ian Stinton Harrier GT1 13 Laps 24:35.314 137.007 kph 5 GTP4 Jim Graham EMKA Aston Martin 12 Laps 23:06.336 134.585 kph 6 GTP5 John Edwards Porsche 934R 12 Laps 23:32.057 132.134 kph 7 GTP5 Philipp Brunn Sauber C5 11 Laps 22:27.513 126.924 kph 8 GTP4 Richard Bateman Tiga GC287 11 Laps 22:33.241 126.387 kph 9 GTP1 Nick Rini Jaguar XJR12 10 Laps 23:24.865 110.675 kph 10 GTP1 Nigel James Porsche 962C 9 Laps 14:30.843 160.689 kph 11 GTP5 Neil Clark/Bill Tully Harrier LR9 4 Laps 07:42.978 134.333 kph 12 GTP1 Michael Schuster Argo JM19C 1 Laps 02:40.263 97.018 kph   GTP1 Justin Law Jaguar XJR10 Fastest Lap 01:32.432 168.214 kph Race 2 1 GTP2 Martyn Konig Porsche 956 14 Laps 30:19.450 119.639 kph 2 GTP1 Nick Randall Porsche 962 CK6 14 Laps 30:31.479 118.853 kph 3 GTP1 Nigel James Porsche 962C 14 Laps 30:41.172 118.227 kph 4 GTP5 Philip Brunn Sauber C5 14 Laps 31:57.052 113.548 kph 5 GTP5 Ian Stinton Harrier GT1 14 Laps 32:05.055 113.076 kph 6 GTP1 Michael Schuster Argo JM19C 14 Laps 32:25.845 111.867 kph 7 GTP1 Nick Rini Jaguar XJR12 13 Laps 31:17.584 107.653 kph 8 GTP5 John Edwards Porsche 934R 13 Laps 31:44.390 106.138 kph 9 GTP4 Jim Graham EMKA Aston Martin 13 Laps 32:04.773 105.014 kph GTP1 Nick Randall Porsche 962 CK6 Fastest Lap 02:00.047 129.519 kph Winners List     Race 1 Race 2           1st Overall Justin Law Martyn Konig         Class 1 1st Justin Law Nick Randall   2nd Nick Randall Nigel James         Class 2 1st Martyn Konig Martyn Konig         Class 4 1st Jim Graham Jim Graham   2nd Richard Bateman           Class 5 1st Ian Stinton Phillip Brunn   2nd John Edwards Ian Stinton