AEC is a multi-class team racing championship. During 2015, 8 rounds were schedule although 1 was cancelled due to scheduling issues.
Black Adder initially entered 3 cars in the GT3 class for the series and for the final 2 rounds a Daytona Prototype was added.
The series started at Daytona with an 8 hour night race. Due to drive unavailability, we reduced the entry to 2 cars. #67 was driven by Braith Morrow, Lewis Cugaly and John King. Lewis wasn't available for the 1st 3 hours of the race so the inital plan was for Braith to start but when we came to grid, we realised that because John had set a slightly fastest time in qualifying, he had to start the race. After 20 laps there was a caution period and John was one of the few GT3's to stop for fuel & tyres. When the race went green, John quickly moved back into the leading pack of GT3's and when another caution came out on lap 33, he was the only GT3 to stay out and because the lead protype stopped, John got a wave around the pace car and took the lead of the GT3 class. From that point, it was a case of running consistently and ensuring we covered all the other cars tactically. This worked perfectly and #66 came home comfortable winners of GT3 (and 6th overall!). #66 was driven by Jake Fox, Paul Rogers and Oliver Searles. They had some mishaps and finished 18th.
Round 2 was Bathurst and it turned into a disaster for the whole team. Things initially looked good, with John, in #67 again with Braith and Lewis and Christian Challiner, driving #66 with Jake, Oliver and Tommy Vandergucht running 1-3 in the GT3 class during the 2nd hour. But, a myriad of delays, crashes and damage for both cars dropped them way down the field. #66 eventually finished 18th and Braith somehow managed to drag a very beaten up #66 around for the last 2 hours, finishing 27th.
For Round 3 at Watkins Glen, 3 cars were entered and with strong pairings in both 366 and 367 (the number now reflected the class the car ran in), the team were confident of a good showing. Initially Braith in 367 and Tommy in 366 ran well and were in the led pack of GT3s. There was a caution on lap 27 and both cars pitted and did driver swaps. At the restart they was a huge crash and both cars were badly damaged. In the panic, the 367 car was pitted without having the new optional reset flag set and so had to wait 35 mins while the damage was repaired "normally". #366 finished 28th and #367 33rd. Meanwhile, proving that the tortoise beats the hare sometimes, the 368 car, driven by Oliver and Joseph Cardamone, drove consistently to finish an excellent 25th.
After 2 poor rounds, the team needed to bounce back at Mosport and Lewis and Braith did just that, taking a great win in #367, beating Shane van Gisbergen and Justin Ruggier in the process. #366 was driven by Jake and Paul and although they had a few problems, they finished a good 7th in class. Oliver and Joseph again did well in #368, finishing 9th.
The next round was the big one - the 24 hours of Spa. The full report of the race is on another post but it was another victory for the team - with #366 winning this time.
Round 7 (the 6th race) was Monza and with the speed difference between the Rufs and BMWs, all we could hope for was a clean, consistent run from the cars and we got exactly that with Braith, Stephan Spantig and Robin Rosenvinge taking 3rd place in #367. The toher cars also ran well, #366 finishing 8th and #368 10th.
The final round was VIR. Again the Rufs had a bit of an advantage (although not as large as Monza) but the BAM cars ran well with #367 and #366 running in formation for the last few laps of the season to finish 5th & 6th and clinch 2nd spot in the championship for #367. Another solid performance by #368 saw Oliver, Mark Dyall and Sam Harris take 9th place.
Final Championship Standing
Full Race Results
Round 1 - Daytona: http://members.iracing.com/membersite/member/EventResult.do?&subsessionid=12806181&custid=50412
Round 2 - Bathurst: http://members.iracing.com/membersite/member/EventResult.do?&subsessionid=13046423&custid=50412
Round 3 - Watkins Glen: http://members.iracing.com/membersite/member/EventResult.do?&subsessionid=13794059&custid=50412
Round 4 - Mosport: http://members.iracing.com/membersite/member/EventResult.do?&subsessionid=14187322&custid=50412
Round 5 - Phillip Island: Cancelled
Round 6: Spa 24 Hours: http://members.iracing.com/membersite/member/EventResult.do?&subsessionid=14682868&custid=50412
Round 7 - Monza: http://members.iracing.com/membersite/member/EventResult.do?&subsessionid=15148394&custid=50412
Round 8 - VIR: http://members.iracing.com/membersite/member/EventResult.do?&subsessionid=15248456&custid=50412
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