ARM : Paul Denby 2009/2010 Total UAE GTB Champion

June 14, 2010 - PRLog -- How does it feel to be Champion?
Paul: It is a great feeling to have won the GTB Title, both for myself and for the team, for the team it is a reward for all the effort put into previous seasons to develop the car to a point where it was capable of challenging for top positions. On a personal level it is hugely satisfying to have raced in such good company and to have come out on top in my first season, I am proud of what I have achieved
Describe your season from Round 1 to the final round...
Paul: Round one was very much a case of not knowing what to expect, the start was OK, I was too tentative into the first corner, obviously keen not to bend the car first corner, first race; the GTA cars disappeared into the distance followed closely by the leaders of GTB and I was able to drive a steady race, unreliability put pay to the dreams of a few faster GTB cars ahead of me, leaving me to finish the race in third, with which I was delighted, although there was a distinct feeling that I had inherited third position from others who had mechanical failures, rather than gone out there and earned it.

For race two on the International circuit I was sharing the car with team owner John Sinders and was out second, the pit change didn’t go as well as it could have done, maybe we should have practiced that a bit more! The race itself was quite quiet for me, I guess you could say it was, like race one a gentle introduction to racing, the only real racing I did was in the last two laps.
I was catching Will Drew in the BMW M3 at quite a good pace, but with the last lap board coming out and still 2-3 seconds to catch it was going to be tight, also I didn’t know if he was actually in front of me in the race or I was lapping him, every straight I was on the radio asking the team but no response, eventually coming through turn 12 on the final lap whilst I was on Will’s rear bumper Alex came on and confirmed Will was in third, if I could pass him I would be on the podium again. I dived down the inside of him in the Bowl, but then not wanting any contact (and being far too polite) I left him lots of room in the last two corners and we ended up side by side through turn 16, with Will managing to have his nose in front across the line.

That bothered me after the race, not because I had been beaten to third, but because I knew I was past will in turn 15 and should have gone into 16 on a narrow line, leaving him no space to come back at me, I was under no illusions that I gave that position away through being too careful and too polite, a mistake I vowed not to repeat. Two solid points finishes meant I was leading GTB, but it felt like I was leading by luck only, not like I had actually done anything special in my driving to deserve the position at this stage.

Round three was a turning point both for the season and for my driving, in the first two races Harris in the 996 GT3 and Martin in the Ginetta seemed to be in a different league to me, they were so much faster on the club and international circuits, I could not imagine being able to keep up for even a lap, much less a whole race. However round three was on the National Circuit and that is my favorite circuit configuration of all the tracks I have driven, it offers a series of corners and inclines that reward precision and mercilessly punish the lap times of the over exuberant or overcautious.

Prior to the practice day the guys from ARM made a few significant set up changes to the car and come practice I discovered they had the car set up perfectly, I was on my own for this round as John was away on business so had plenty of time to practice and by Thursday evening after practice I was on the pace of the GTB front runners and knew I had a chance to run near the front the following day. That night and the following morning were terrible, for the first races I was not unduly nervous, as the new boy no one expected much of me and more importantly I didn’t expect much of myself, but after Thursday practice I was coming to the race with a very real change of a good result and I wasn’t my normal relaxed self.

Come race day I qualify third in the GTB class, but a good start by me and a not so good one by Harris & Martin allow me into the lead at the first corner and for three nervous laps I try to calm myself into a state of concentration, focusing on speed and line rather than the growing image of a Blue 996 GT3 in the mirrors, on the third lap disaster strikes for GTB driver Will Dew, a mistake coming onto the back straight has meant an accident that has left his destroyed M3 sitting in the middle of the track and the Code 60 comes out, this allows me to calm down and get back to heart rate that is manageable, at the restart Martin’s Ginetta gets past Harris’ GT3 and is now glued to the back of my car, but a careful defensive line and good corner exit speed leaves him no room to get by and I retained first place until the pit stop.

After the pit stop Martin handed the car to his team mate Eric Charles, who wasn’t as fast and whilst they are now ahead i was catching Eric easily with Harris glued to my tail during the second stint Harris and I swapped positions several times, but somehow I managed to be in front at the end of 45 minutes and eventually took my first win of the season.

After Round 3 my confidence grew every round, with the help of Shk. Hasher for two rounds and then on my own again for two more the season turned into a race for the title between Harris & I, up to round 6 we ran nose to tail for the length of each race and whilst it was very close, probably the closest racing in the GT Championship, I managed to be ahead of him at the end each time. Coming into Round 7 I had a clear points lead and had taken the decision to do everything possible to ensure the Championship was decided this round, leaving the final round as a backup in case anything went wrong.

Come race day the Stewards decide to give me a performance penalty of an additional 10 seconds waiting in the pit lane during the mandatory stop. I was furious, having fought nose to tail with my title rival Harris for 4 consecutive rounds I could see no logic to this decision other than to hand a race win to another driver to keep things interesting for the last race. Harris was smart enough to qualify with a slow time which served to justify the penalty and so my objections were dismissed and the penalty stood.

Getting into the car I was still talking myself into my sensible strategy of forgetting the win and concentrating on the championship, arguing with myself that a ten second gap simply could not be overcome and so why try? The problem was I was really mad (in an I’ll give you penalty…type of way) at what I still see as an unjustified penalty based upon my performance relative to the second place contender. I had asked ARM owner and Team Manager Alex to get me in for a stop the minute the pit stop window opened, thereby putting me out of sequence with the other GTB runners as soon as possible so I could run my own race and see how things were shaping up once the pit stops were over. It is a strange thing anger, when it is out of control in a race car it can lead to stupid mistakes, but controlled anger of the sort I was feeling during round 7 can lead to great focus and without a doubt to the best drive of the season, not only did I catch up and retake the lead in GTB, but ended the race winning by the largest margin of the whole season, maybe the penalty had some basis after all…….
Round 8 was all set to be a celebration of our achievements, John Sinders was back with me in the car and we were set for an all out run to the flag to stand together on the podium and celebrate the teams achievement, Khaleji Motorsport exists because of John’s love of racing and those of us lucky enough to drive for him owe him a great deal for the opportunity he gives us.

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