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<body> <Table Width="550" border="0" style="border-collapse: collapse" cellpadding="0"><TR><TD Width="35"><IMG SRC="//www.totalmotorsport.com/images/spacer.gif" WIDTH="35" HEIGHT="1"></td><td> <CENTER><Table border="0" width="100%"> <TR><TD width="100%" align="center"><B><FONT FACE="Tahoma" SIZE="5">PRIVILEGE INSURANCE BRITISH GT CHAMPIONSHIP</FONT></B></TD></TR> <TR><TD width="100%" align="left"><B><FONT FACE="Tahoma" SIZE="2">01/05/2001</FONT></B></TD></TR> <TR><TD width="100%" align="center"><B><FONT FACE="Tahoma" SIZE="4">Privilege Testing</FONT></B></TD></TR> <TR><TD width="100%" align="center"><B><FONT FACE="Tahoma" SIZE="3">At Oulton Park</FONT></B></TD></TR> <TR><TD width="100%" align="center"><FONT FACE="Tahoma" SIZE="1">  </FONT></TD></TR> <TR><TD width="100%" align="left"><FONT FACE="Tahoma" SIZE="2">Paul Lawrence reports:<BR> <BR> "That's four seconds quicker than we went last year," reckoned Bobby Verdon-Roe after a mighty lap in the Cerbera Speed 12 during the afternoon session at Oulton park today. Even though warm spring sunshine meant that some cars set their best times in the morning, BV-R charged around Oulton Park to highlight the fact that the Viper and Lister will not have things their own way this weekend.<BR> <BR> Tim Harvey and Rob Wilson were second quickest in the Hayles Racing Viper GTS-R, just three tenths of a second adrift of the TVR. "We're trying to find a set-up that helps the tyres," said Harvey, after they lost Sunday's Donington Park race on the final lap. "Oulton is a favourite track and it certainly gets your attention in the Viper!" Wilson, meanwhile, was back at the Cheshire track for the first time in around 20 years.<BR> <BR> Mike Jordan and David Warnock were limited to a handful of laps in the morning before a diff. problem sidelined the Lister for the rest of the day. "It's a big brave circuit," said Warnock of his home track. "The car felt very good in the laps we did," added Jordan.<BR> <BR> A whisker slower than the Lister was another promising performance for Ashley Ward and Jonathan Rowland in the second TVR Cerbera Speed 12. An oil pump problem prevented them running in the afternoon, but it was still an encouraging time. "We're getting nicely on it and there's more to come," promised Ward.<BR> <BR> <BR> <BR> GTO category<BR> <BR> "I've only done the track in a Formula Ford," said Marino Franchitti after his first taste of Oulton Park in the Porsche 911GT3RS. "It's a big learning curve," he added. His team mate Burt again set the GTO pace, but the Hayles Racing Viper was close.<BR> <BR> "I've only been here once, and never on this circuit," reckoned Devlin. "It's not really designed for a car like the Viper, and the chicanes are very narrow," he added with a grin. But none of that slowed him down very much as the Viper lapped within a fraction of a second of the leading Porsche.<BR> <BR> Third fastest in GTO was a good effort from Mark Sumpter and Shaun Balfe in the Paragon Porsche. They worked steadily through a number of changes and ended the day pleased with progress after suffering a lack of rear end grip in the race at Donington. The Porsches of Matt Turner/Ed Horner and David Jones/Godfrey Jones were next up, with the Cirtek Motorsport Porsche close behind.<BR> <BR> Partnering Gavin Pickering in the Cirtek car for this race will be Steven Brady, who raced the Ohana GT Marcos Mantis GTO at Silverstone. "This is a one-off at the moment," said Brady.<BR> <BR> Leading times:<BR> <BR> GT<BR> <BR> 1 Bobby Verdon-Roe/Michael Caine (TVR Cerbera Speed 12) 1:35.341s<BR> <BR> 2 Tim Harvey/Rob Wilson (Chrysler Viper GTS-R) 1:35.643s<BR> <BR> 3 Mike Jordan/David Warnock (Lister Storm) 1:37.712s<BR> <BR> 4 Ashley Ward/Jonathan Rowland (TVR Cerbera Speed 12) 1:37.734s<BR> <BR> GTO<BR> <BR> 1 Marino Franchitti/Kelvin Burt (Porsche 911GT3RS) 1:38.814s<BR> <BR> 2 Curtis Hayles/Ben Devlin (Chrysler Viper GTS) 1:39.104s<BR> <BR> 3 Mark Sumpter/Shaun Balfe (Porsche 911GT3RS) 1:40.608s<BR> <BR> 4 Matt Turner/Ed Horner (Porsche 911GT3RS) 1:41.603s<BR> <BR> <BR> </FONT></TD></TR> </TABLE><BR> </CENTER> <BR><CENTER><font size="1" color="#808080" face="Tahoma">Copyright ©2000-©2023 TotalMotorSport</font></CENTER> </td> </tr> </table> </body>