ASTON MARTIN SUITS DE ZILLE BUTLER - 1/9/09

Reflex (www.reflex-nutrition.co.uk) sponsored Ben's return to the driving seat was an impressive one but with ten minutes to go a technical fault denied the team of a great result.

Having not been in a race car since Easter weekend it would have been useful for the former Caterham Champion and BGT race winner to have a few laps to settle into the Nicholas Mee Vantage GT4 ahead of last weekends 4 hour Britcar endurance race at his home circuit of Snetterton. But with the deal being put together at the last minute this was not possible and Ben's first experience of the car was in his 5 laps of qualifying on Saturday morning.

"It's a shame I didn't get a few laps to test the car before qualifying as it meant I had to use my 5 laps to both familiarise myself with the car also try and set a good time.However, I have to give credit to the team as the car set up was very good and I was comfortable with the balance from the start. Unfortunately the brake pedal was a little soft and this meant my corner entry speeds were compromised a little. But otherwise the balance was great and I really enjoyed it."

Despite this Ben did a good job of posting a time that was quick enough for 3rd in the Aston Martin class and 16th overall, just 0.6 seconds off the team test driver and touring car ace, Anthony Reid's, time in testing.

With the 3 drivers to share the four hour race distance equally Ben was selected to do the middle stint in which he would have to pit for tyres and fuel at the halfway stage. Team regular and car owner Christiean van Lanschot started the race and did a good job of bringing the car in at the end of his stint in 14th overall and 3rd in the Aston Martin class.

The first half of Ben's stint saw him climb the leaderboard to within a place of the top ten and 2nd in class before his scheduled pit stop. "Despite a slight tap from an over zealous Ginetta G50 the first stint was fairly uneventful. The tyres were struggling a little after 2 hours but I was pleased my lap times were equal to that of qualifying."

With a very quick stop for tyres and fuel by a relatively inexperienced crew who executed their roles as if they had been doing it for years Ben returned to the track still 2nd Aston Martin. With new tyres the BGT race winner managed to close the gap to the lead car of professional driver Callum Lockie posting impressive lap times a second quicker than qualifying and half a second quicker than Anthony Reid had managed in testing.

With Lockie having to pit for tyres and fuel Ben managed to do enough to leapfrog the lead Aston with just under two and a half hours gone. Continuing to lap in the low 14's Ben brought the Nicholas Mee Vantage GT4 in to the pits for the final driver change and refuel in a more than respectable 9th overall and 1st in the Aston Martin class.

Vintage Aston Martin racer David Clark then continued the good work to defend that position despite a fast charging Lockie taking small margins of time out of the lead lap after lap.

"With just over ten minutes to go we were all stood around the timing screens calculating the gap to Callum and willing David on to keep the gap big enough. But unfortunately David came over the radio to inform us that the engine managament had shut the car down on the back straight."

Despite continual efforts to get the car running again David was forced to retire and all the efforts of the team and drivers were lost. The team did however score a few points to maintain their lead at the top of the Aston Martin table as classification is given to all cars completeing a certain percentage of the race distance.

"It is obviously disappointing not to get the top ten finish and class win we deserved but I enjoyed the race and found the car and team very easy to setlle in with. For a newly formed team with only a handful of races to their name their did a fantastic job of giving me the best car for the job and hopefully I will get the opportunity to drive for them again in the near future."