FIA GT CHAMPIONSHIP

DISAPPOINTMENT AT BRNO - 26 JUNE 2005

Morley Porsche driver Tim Sugden had a disappointing trip to Brno in the Czech Republic this weekend when his #88 GruppeM GT3 RSR Porsche failed to finish the 3 hour FIA GT Championship race. The car was leading GT2 by 44 seconds when a small by-pass hose to a heat exchanger split causing the engine to overheat and, unlike at Silverstone when a broken engine mount caused a similar problem, the team were unable to effect a repair and the car retired.

Tim had started the race from third place on the grid and quickly moved up to second behind the sister #66 car of Mike Rockenfeller and Mark Lieb and a good battle ensued with less than 3 seconds separating the cars.

After about 45 minutes rain began to fall and the team called the car in to change to wet tyres and also take the opportunity to change drivers with Frenchman Emmanuel Collard taking over on full wet tyres. With the pit stop the #88 car took the lead but unfortunately, 3 laps into his stint Collard reported high temperatures and returned to the pits when the team found the problem.

The #66 car went on to win for GruppeM and so extend the team's lead in the championship where Lieb and Rockenfeller now have a healthy points lead over Sugden and Collard in second place.

The team's next FIA race is the 24 hours at Spa Francorchamps in Belgium on the 30/31 July when Tim will be hoping to return to winning form in this series. The one consolation is that the #66 car will now carry additional “success ballast” and thus the #88 car will have a slight weight advantage at Spa.

Tim will now fly out to America for the ALMS race at Lime Rock Park in Connecticut next weekend where his J3 racing team is lying second in the championship and Tim is third in the driver's points. He will be hoping for better luck in this race