Best result of the year for PFL Motorsport at Snetterton
Thursday, August 11, 2016
Jody Fannin, Peter Littler and the PFL Motorsport team achieved their best race result, 7th position, of the 2016 season, at the penultimate round of the British GT Championship last weekend at Snetterton.
After missing out on the previous round at Spa Francorchamps in Belgium due to a paddock incident which left the car badly damaged and after not much track time leading up to the event due to related niggles, Jody was itching to get back into the hot seat for the seventh and eighth British GT races. Free practice one saw the team continue to improve on set up and trial some major changes, “most of the time was spent in the garage” commented Fannin, but despite the lack of laps completed, the Aston Martin Evolution Academy racer was pleased with their progress considering he was not pushing the car to its full potential.
A disappointing second practice session meant Fannin sat out for the duration. When a wheel made a swift exit from the Aston Martin Vantage GT3 as Peter set out to complete his laps, it took some time for the team to repair the damage caused to the hub. By the time the car had been fixed, there was only a small period of time left in the session and the decision was made for Littler to head back out for more crucial track experience.
Fannin headed into qualifying “a bit blind”, due to the lack of practice laps leading up to the session, but the PFL Pro did a fantastic job to place the Vantage GT3 in 8th position, in a closely packed grid. “I was not 100% happy with my quali lap” explained Jody, “I was held up on my out lap and lost a lot of my tyre temperature trying to find a gap, so my first flyer just wasn’t quite there and the second lap was better but the tyres went off in the last sector.” Fannin’s qualifying position placed the car for the second race of the following day and Littler qualified 12th, in the Am session, for the first race.
Sunday morning saw Jody third fastest in the morning warm up session just 0.1 off the quickest time as he lapped very closely to the current GT3 lap record, which was very promising for the Surrey youngster. Race one turned out to be relatively easy going for Fannin, as he jumped behind the wheel following Littler’s great opening stint from 12th place. “I came out on my own and didn’t really see any GT3 cars for the entire duration.” commented Fannin, “I was held up by a lapped GT3 car as a result of him defending for some reason, but I found my way through! I was closing on the cars in front, but after getting ahead of a few cars with issues, there was a large gap to the next car with 15 minutes to go.” Making the decision not to take any risks, Jody brought the Aston Martin home safely and crossed the line in seventh place, the highest scoring position for the team this season.
The latter race of the day was rather short lived for the PFL team. As Jody took the race start, he was preparing to charge through the grid, until a clutch alarm flashed up on the dash as he came on to the Bentley Straight. “The Aston wouldn’t shift down” said a frustrated Fannin, “I tried changing different settings and overriding some functions for a lap or two but nothing seemed to work”. The young Pro brought the car into the pits for the team to investigate, here they discovered that the clutch sensor had failed which led to leaking fluid and therefore it would not allow the gearbox to change down. A disappointing DNF for the team, but that certainly did not overshadow their most successful finish of their season in the previous race.
Jody and the team now turn their attention to the final round of the British GT Championship at Donington next month. Fannin in particular cannot wait to head back to the circuit where he claimed a pole positon and a second place finish last year.
After missing out on the previous round at Spa Francorchamps in Belgium due to a paddock incident which left the car badly damaged and after not much track time leading up to the event due to related niggles, Jody was itching to get back into the hot seat for the seventh and eighth British GT races. Free practice one saw the team continue to improve on set up and trial some major changes, “most of the time was spent in the garage” commented Fannin, but despite the lack of laps completed, the Aston Martin Evolution Academy racer was pleased with their progress considering he was not pushing the car to its full potential.
A disappointing second practice session meant Fannin sat out for the duration. When a wheel made a swift exit from the Aston Martin Vantage GT3 as Peter set out to complete his laps, it took some time for the team to repair the damage caused to the hub. By the time the car had been fixed, there was only a small period of time left in the session and the decision was made for Littler to head back out for more crucial track experience.
Fannin headed into qualifying “a bit blind”, due to the lack of practice laps leading up to the session, but the PFL Pro did a fantastic job to place the Vantage GT3 in 8th position, in a closely packed grid. “I was not 100% happy with my quali lap” explained Jody, “I was held up on my out lap and lost a lot of my tyre temperature trying to find a gap, so my first flyer just wasn’t quite there and the second lap was better but the tyres went off in the last sector.” Fannin’s qualifying position placed the car for the second race of the following day and Littler qualified 12th, in the Am session, for the first race.
Sunday morning saw Jody third fastest in the morning warm up session just 0.1 off the quickest time as he lapped very closely to the current GT3 lap record, which was very promising for the Surrey youngster. Race one turned out to be relatively easy going for Fannin, as he jumped behind the wheel following Littler’s great opening stint from 12th place. “I came out on my own and didn’t really see any GT3 cars for the entire duration.” commented Fannin, “I was held up by a lapped GT3 car as a result of him defending for some reason, but I found my way through! I was closing on the cars in front, but after getting ahead of a few cars with issues, there was a large gap to the next car with 15 minutes to go.” Making the decision not to take any risks, Jody brought the Aston Martin home safely and crossed the line in seventh place, the highest scoring position for the team this season.
The latter race of the day was rather short lived for the PFL team. As Jody took the race start, he was preparing to charge through the grid, until a clutch alarm flashed up on the dash as he came on to the Bentley Straight. “The Aston wouldn’t shift down” said a frustrated Fannin, “I tried changing different settings and overriding some functions for a lap or two but nothing seemed to work”. The young Pro brought the car into the pits for the team to investigate, here they discovered that the clutch sensor had failed which led to leaking fluid and therefore it would not allow the gearbox to change down. A disappointing DNF for the team, but that certainly did not overshadow their most successful finish of their season in the previous race.
Jody and the team now turn their attention to the final round of the British GT Championship at Donington next month. Fannin in particular cannot wait to head back to the circuit where he claimed a pole positon and a second place finish last year.
Source material - Jody Fannin PR
