GTE Round 2: Jadwat secures maiden GTE win

Posted on March 4, 2015 by Jason Holden-Jones in National Championships, NEWS, SA simGTE Series // 0 Comments

It was Basheer Jadwat (Squadro GhostworX) who lead from the start to pull away from the intense battle for second position between Chris Browne (Shadow GhostworX) and teammate Jonathan Bentz.

Peter van Vuuren (Trigon Racing) was quick to hassle Bentz until he dropped down to tenth position after conducting his drive through penalty. The penalty was carried over from the previous round at Silverstone.

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Holden-Jones desparately defends from Henebury.

Laps four to seven produced an entertaining scrap between Jason Holden-Jones (H-J Motorsport) and Mark Henebury (HRT) for seventh position. Continued pressure from Henebury forced Holden-Jones into an error while leaving the Alte Chicane, as Holden-Jones’s black Ferrari, while on power, veered off the racing line to loose precious momentum.

Browne dropped to seventh when he ran wide at the tricky Rivazza combination, to leave Holden-Jones with enough time to slip through into sixth. Browne and Holden-Jones would go on to race each other on two separate occasions. The first battle would go Browne’s way after Holden-Jones ran wide at Villeneuve.

Race leader Jadwat conducted his pit-stop on lap 14 allowing Steyn and Holden-Jones to assume the lead briefly before they too conducted their mandatory pit-stops

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Impressive recovery drive from van Vuuren earns him fourth.

Once the pit-stop phase was completed, Jadwat comfortably lead from Steyn. As a result of a comprised pit-stop strategy due to re-joining the track in traffic, Bentz found himself in third position, behind Steyn defending from Henebury, who in turn had Browne and van Vuuren catching up at a significant rate.

The second fight between Holden-Jones and Browne would occur as a result of Browne dropping back after having to conduct a drive through penalty for contact with Henebury. The two drivers engaged in yet another exciting battle, Browne’s Ferrari seemingly quicker through the higher-speed corners while Holden-Jones’s Ferrari proved to be better thought the slower corners. This time Holden-Jones did enough to survive the seven lap onslaught from Browne to secure a sixth place finish.

van Vuuren, with an impressive recovery drive from tenth position, finished the race in fourth.

Jadwat was left relatively unchallenged to secure his maiden SA simGTE victory.

Race Results: