Lister regains Empire Trophy

Lister therefore regained the British Empire Trophy that they last won in 1955 and 1957, with a Lister Bristol. "It's a very emotional race for us - if there was one race I would have loved to win again it's the British Empire Trophy, so I thank Jamie and Julian for this win," marque founder Brian Lister said afterwards.

The Lister Storm had dominated proceedings all through the weekend, following fastest times in practice with pole position for Campbell-Walter. In the race, Bailey led from the start, keeping ahead of Boris Derichebourg in the Paul Belmondo Racing Chrysler Viper and was never seriously challenged for the lead. The only hiccup in an otherwise faultless race was a ten second stop and go penalty for Bailey, timed at 84.8 km/h in the pit lane, restricted to 60 km/h. Campbell-Walter served the penalty, emerging in third place and charging to make up the lost time. He set the fastest race lap so far in the process, regaining the lead on lap 43.

The Storm built up an impressive lead, taking the chequered flag ahead of two Chrysler Vipers, Monza winners Hezemans and Hart in the Carsport Holland, and the Belmondo/Gosselin Paul Belmondo car. "We effectively won our class," Hezemans said afterwards. "We were in a different league - the Lister is 1.5 seconds quicker than us - we will have to try and improve the car."

Early contenders Derichebourg and Vosse went out halfway through the race with a broken gearbox, losing a near-certain second place, while Chamberlain Motorsport had their best weekend so far this year, with Stephen Watson and Didier Dufourny finishing fourth and Brun and Seiler seventh.

The N-GT race within the race was less straightforward, with differing
pit-stop strategies leaving the result in doubt until the closing stages.
Luca Riccitelli got the better of pole-sitter Christophe Bouchut at the
start, then stayed in the car for the longest possible time allowed by the
regulations, building up a healthy lead. Larbre's Bouchut and Goueslard ran a more traditional strategy, lying third after their final pit-stop. But Bouchut was significantly faster than the cars ahead of him, and soon hauled them in, helped by a gearbox problem for Magnus Wallinder in the #50 G-Force Porsche 996 GT3 which eventually dropped him down to fourth. Bouchut took the win ahead of Riccitelli and Willems, with Michel Neugarten and Nigel Smith third for G-Force.

Lister leads the GT Championship, with Bailey ahead in the Drivers Classifications, while Larbre and Christophe Bouchut continue to dominate N-GT. The next round of the Championship is at the Hungaroring on July 2nd, after the traditional mid-season break for Le Mans.

2000 FIA GT Championship - Round 4 - Silverstone
British Empire Trophy

Ps..No. Driver , Car Laps
-- ---- ----------------------------------------------------- -----
1 14 GT Bailey/CampbellWalter Lister Lister Storm 94
2 25 GT Hezemans/Hart Carsport Chry. Viper 94
3 11 GT Gosselin/Belmondo Belmondo Chry Viper G 93
4 1 GT Watson/Defourny Chamberlain Chry. Viper 93
5 10 GT Martinolle/Lagniez Belmondo Chry Viper G 93
6 5 GT Konrad/von Gartzen Konrad Porsche 911 92
7 2 GT Brun/Seiler Chamberlain Chry. Viper 92
8 15 GT Springer/Favre Lister Lister Storm 92
9 29 GT Lafon/Jarier Art Chry Viper G 91
10 45 GT Felbermayr/Felbermayr Felbermayr Chry Viper G 91
11 52 NGT Bouchut/Goueslard Larbre Porsche 996 91
12 77 NGT Höfer/Riccitelli/Willems RWS Porsche 996 90
13 51 NGT Smith/Neugarten G-Force Porsche 996 90
14 50 NGT Wallinder/Nearn G-Force Porsche 996 89
15 53 NGT Chereau/de Lesseps Larbre Porsche 996 88
16 8 GT Vuillaume/Jurasz/Ward Haberthur Porsche 911 87
17 55 NGT Bertuzzi/Masselli ART Porsche 996 87
18 68 NGT Burgess/Olivar Seikel Porsche 996 86
18 67 NGT Collini/Mancini MAC Porsche 996 86
19 78 NGT Topping/Schirle/Phillips Cirtek Porsche 996 85
20 70 NGT Pregliasco/Lamberti JMB Ferrari 360 85
21 63 NGT Ligonnet/de Sadeleer/d'AnLR Porsche 996 85
22 56 NGT O'Rourke/Sugden EMKA GTC Porsche 996 85
23 71 NGT Kulemann/Alliot JMB Ferrari 360 80

Not Classified

7 GT Reid/Reid/Casadei Proton Porsche 911 59
12 GT Derichebourg/Vosse Belmondo Chry Viper G 50
27 GT Sabatini/Spinelli/Villa Autorlando Porsche 911 44
21 GT Cappellari/Matteuzzi Racing Box Chry. Viper 27
3 GT Kaufmann/Ortelli Freisinger Porsche 911 9