British GT (GT2) Magny-Cours 01/05/2005

Paragon take podium finish

A superb podium finish for the Paragon Porsche supported Team Eurotech came in round two of the British GT Championship at Magny Cours in France (1 May).

In the team's lead Porsche 911 GT3RSR, Mike Jordan and Michael Caine had to battle hard to fend off the TVR T400R of Jonny Kane in a fierce battle. "That was a great result for us," said Jordan.  Meanwhile, the similar Preci-Spark backed car of David and Godfrey Jones finished sixth as the British GT racers took part in the second round of the FIA GT Championship, which ran over three hours at the French track.   

After qualifying sixth, Jordan/Caine knew that scoring a podium finish would be a tough target to reach, but an excellent race strategy and a superb performance form both drivers clinched the result.  In rising ambient temperatures, Caine started the race and ran flat out for 80 minutes before a quick pit stop for enough fuel to run the car for another 20 minutes. Then, in the second and major stop, the car was fully re-fuelled, tyres changed and Jordan took over for the final 80 minutes.  

"I wanted to be able to run flat-out to the finish and we were able to do the main pit-stop while the safety car was out, which was a bonus," said Jordan. However, Jordan knew that he had a battle on his hands as he saw the TVR of Kane leaving the pits just as the Porsche started another lap. "I got baulked by slower cars a couple of times and Jonny caught me. By now, there were still 58 minutes to go!"  

With a mighty effort, Jordan managed to contain the former British F3 champion all the way to the end of the race to secure third place behind the two Scuderia Ecosse Ferraris. "For that time we were never more than half a second apart, but he never got past," said Jordan.  In truth, it took all of Jordan's experience and race craft to hold off the TVR in a tremendous contest. "Three times when a faster car was lapping us, Jonny followed into the gap made by the faster car, so I really had to defend hard," said Jordan. "That's a great result for us!"  

The team will now prepare for round three of the British GT Championship at Knockhill on 22 May.