Second place to Sherwood in round 11 was enough to settle the title, but Birch signed off in style on Sunday with an impressive victory in a race shown live on ITV4 and in front of 30,000 spectators.
Qualifying
The drivers had to deal with tricky conditions during the 20-minute qualifying session as heavy overnight rain left the track damp but drying and everyone elected to run wet tyres for the entire session. It was Harry Whale (IN2Racing), making his debut in the series, who topped the timesheets setting a best lap of 1m03.219s to secure pole position by a third of a second. “Fantastic! I was pleased it was wet, I knew going into it that it’d be better for me than if it was dry and it proved that way,” he said.
Steven Liquorish (Team Parker Racing) was second fastest for both races but claimed the two points for pole position as Whale was not scoring points a guest driver in the Championship. “I’m pleased with that,” said Liquorish. “Stuart Parker set the car up fantastically, all credit to Team Parker again: a great car underneath me.”
Championship leader Birch (GT Marques) was third quickest for both races, lapping within a tenth of Liquorish on both his fastest and second fastest laps. Double winner last time out at Donington, Justin Sherwood, (Team Parker Racing) was fourth with Pete Smallwood (Parr Motorsport) rounding out the top five.
Round 11
As the race got underway, pole-sitter Whale made a tardy start – in fact, his first ever standing start - while from the second row Sherwood hooked up a near perfect start to pull alongside Liquorish and sneak into the lead by the time he reached Copse corner.
Birch maintained third ahead of John Ferguson (ASK Racing) as Whale found himself fifth by the end of the first lap. Further back, contact between Guy Riall (Almara Racing) and Neil Houston (Team Parker Racing) at Copse ruined both of their races as the damage to Riall’s car caused him to retire instantly while Houston limped back to the pits with a puncture, consequently rejoining a lap down on the leaders.
The Safety Car was deployed while the marshals moved Riall’s stranded car and Sherwood judged the restart perfectly to pull a decent gap over Liquorish and the rest of the chasing pack. It was then confirmed that Liquorish had been given a ten-second penalty for a false start. That meant as long as Birch stayed within ten seconds of Liquorish by the finish he would be Champion.
However, unaware of the penalty, Birch pressed Liquorish and found a way through on lap nine and set off after Sherwood. Although initially the gap decreased, Sherwood had enough in hand to keep the gap to Birch at around two seconds and in the later stages he was able to pull further clear, taking the gap to over four seconds at the flag. He said: “It’s fantastic. I wasn’t expecting to win to be honest, starting from fourth. Steve, James and Harry are all quick lads in front of me but I had a cracking start.”
Finishing in second, Birch was confirmed as Champion. “So, so pleased to win the Championship, I’m lost for words a bit to be honest,” said Birch. “Massive thanks to GT Marques for a great end to the season and for being great support.”
Completing the podium was Whale who battled back to finish third at the flag. “I’m thrilled to be on the podium for my first race in the GT3 Cup Challenge,” he said. “Considering I started on pole I am perhaps a bit disappointed, I think it was my start but I’ve never started one of these cars before.”
Ferguson crossed the line fourth just half a second clear of Smallwood but the positions were reversed after the race as Ferguson was given a five-second penalty for exceeding the track limits. Liquorish rounded off the top six courtesy of his time penalty and a spin midway through the race.
In Class 2 Tom Hallissey (ASK Racing) took the honours, recording a top ten finish in the process. “I have to say I thoroughly enjoyed the race,” said Hallissey. “During the race we improved on our times from testing on Wednesday by a few seconds so we’re heading in the right direction.”
Results
Round 11: 1 Justin Sherwood; 2 James Birch; 3 Harry Whale. Class Two: 1 Tom Hallissey. Fastest Lap: Sherwood 58.031s (101.76mph).
Round 12
On Sunday Birch round off his title-winning year with a victory in the 12th and final round. Again pole-sitter Whale was slow away and he was swamped into the first corner. Sherwood tried a repeat of his move from the opening race but Birch covered the inside line and slotted in behind front row starter Liquorish as the pack went into Copse for the first time.
Birch pressured Liquorish and powered through before the end of the first lap. Liquorish was then tagged by Ferguson at Brooklands and the resultant delay demoted the pair to fifth and eighth. This promoted Sherwood to second and he quickly got onto the tail of Birch. However, this did not fluster the Champion and by lap nine he began to edge clear. Behind, Whale was starting to gain on Sherwood and was gifted second position when Sherwood had a spin while lapping Hallissey. Whale then ran into his own trouble with lapped traffic as he was severely held up, allowing the recovering Liquorish to get right behind him.
Whale defended his position and as the race entered the closing stages Liquorish began to struggle with tyres, as he dropped back from Whale and into the clutches of the charging Smallwood. Back at the head of the race, Birch cruised across the line to take his sixth victory of the season. “I’m so happy, fantastic race. Great end to the season, I couldn’t have wished for more,” said Birch.
Whale took his best result of the weekend with second. “I’m over the moon, I really enjoyed it,” he said. Smallwood battled past Liquorish with an excellent manoeuvre at the final corner of the final lap to claim a podium at his home circuit. “It was a fantastic race. I’ve worked so hard for this round, it feels like a win to me,” he enthused. Liquorish was a disappointed fourth with Sherwood fifth and Ferguson sixth. Hallissey again won Class 2 and claimed a top ten finish.
Results
Round 12: 1 James Birch; 2 Harry Whale; 3 Pete Smallwood. Fastest Lap: Birch 58.110s (101.62mph).
Provisional final overall points: 1 Birch 222; 2 Liquorish 191; 3 Sherwood 142; 4 Ferguson 119; 5 Mark Cowne 117; 6 Smallwood 113; etc.
Birch won six times in 12 races and was on the podium in five of the other six races in a season when he raced with both IN2 Racing and GT Marques. The 22-year old racer from Amersham made a huge effort even to get to Silverstone as the final two races came during a four-week training course in India with his employer.
“I’m absolutely over the moon and so, so happy,” he said. “I’m still a bit lost for words to be honest. It’s sunk in a bit but not properly yet, I’ve just had a really enjoyable weekend. Massive thanks to GT Marques for a great weekend of racing.”
For Birch and the rest of the GT3 Cup Challenge drivers, the season finale on the BTCC programme was a real highlight of the year. “Winning the final race at Silverstone was fantastic,” he said. “It was brilliant coming round Luffield on the last lap and seeing myself on the big screen: that was a really enjoyable moment. I’ve never driven in front of so many people before so it was a great experience as well.”
Now, Birch will turn his focus towards plans for next season. “For 2013 we’re looking to move into Carrera Cup. Obviously that’s going to be dependent on funds but hopefully off the back of this weekend we might get some more sponsorship opportunities. Porsche Carrera Cup GB is the logical step for us and that’s the reason we did the GT3 Cup in the first place. The Carrera Cup is certainly the route I want to go down.”
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