Castle Combe, Wiltshire. A 2.980 km old airfield perimeter road, a village so pretty it is on biscuit tins, and on a normal day the loudest thing around is a duck. Yesterday, it was also the place where Fernando Horta took his Chevrolet Corvette C6-R GT2 to an 11-lap sprint, set the fastest lap of the race (1:02.587) and finished… sixth. Behind Sam Rolfe's Gumpert Apollo. Behind a Porsche 996. Behind two Aston Martins. The fastest lap trophy was put in the cabinet, next to the other useless ones, where he collects them like bottle caps.
Twenty-four hours later the duude came back to the same track with the same yellow Corvette, a longer race (25 laps, 74.5 km) and, apparently, something to prove.
What the numbers say
Fernando Horta won by 51.341 seconds, crossing the line after 25 laps in 26:55.717. Only three other cars finished on the lead lap. The other 28 cars, from 5th place all the way down to 32nd, were lapped.
His best lap was a 1:01.289, which is 1.298s faster than his own fastest lap yesterday. The next best lap of the whole field was Vincent Loi's 1:03.772 in the Reiter Lamborghini Gallardo, 2.483 seconds slower. Loi finished 23rd, a lap down, which suggests his one heroic lap came between some less heroic moments.
Here is the stat that the Corvette Racing engineers printed and stuck to the fridge: Horta's average lap over the full 25 laps (standing start included) was 1:04.629. Only eight of his 31 rivals managed even a single lap faster than that. Sam Rolfe got in by one hundredth (1:04.619). Everybody else's personal best was slower than Horta's average.
Vlado Kenats brought the Multimatic Panoz Esperante GTLM home second. He was the only man to finish within a minute, but still lost 2.05 seconds per lap on average to the winner. The real fight was behind him. Gup Douglas (BMW E46 M3 GTR) held off Eiran Parsons (Kissling Corvette Z06R GT3) for the last podium spot by 1.274 seconds, even though Parsons had the quicker best lap (1:04.664 against 1:05.152). Parsons was on the podium yesterday too, so today he did 25 laps just to go backwards by one place.
We cannot tell you where the lead changed hands, or whether it ever did. The grid column for this session is empty (see below), and the lap-by-lap timing screen was being used as a coaster for a pint of bitter. Horta's version of events is further down, and we do not believe him either.
Down in the lapped traffic, the closest finish of the day was for 15th: Rich Hromin in the MaTech Ford Mustang FR500-GT beat Christian Hamilton by 0.314s. Christian Hamilton drives for Corvette Racing, in the same C6-R as the winner. He finished 16th, a lap down, and his best lap was 3.440 seconds slower than his teammate's. The team debrief is expected to be short and awkward.
The two drivers who embarrassed Horta yesterday had a different kind of day. Yesterday's winner Sam Rolfe finished 14th, a lap down. Yesterday's runner-up Bruno Said (Flying Lizard Porsche 996 GT3-RSR) was classified 31st, two laps down. Revenge is a dish best served cold, and at Castle Combe it is served with a scone.
Quotes
Fernando Horta (Corvette Racing, winner): Yesterday I did the fastest lap and finished sixth, so today I thought: what if I do the fastest lap and also, you know, don't finish sixth. Revolutionary idea. I don't remember much of the start, and what happened in between is between me, the car and God. The car was a rocket. The Corvette was yellow, the traffic was not, and I spent half of the race asking people to kindly move, like the Radial Leste at 6pm but everyone speaks English. I don't want to brag. OK, I want to brag a little. 51 seconds. Somebody hide the champagne before I spill it on the car again.
ToeJam (race engineer, on loan from CamelToe Racing and not asking any questions): We told him 1:02 was good. He did a 1:01. We told him to calm down. He did not calm down. Twenty-eight lapped cars, man. We ran out of blue flags and started waving our own laundry.
Earl (tyre whisperer): I'm not fat, I'm big funkin', and that car was big funkin' too. He only touched somebody a little, maybe. And if he did, he didn't slam 'em, he didn't bump 'em… he rubbed 'em. Rubbin', son, is racin'.
Vlado Kenats (Multimatic Motorsport, 2nd): Second place is the best result of the day for a human who is not him. I checked my mirrors for Douglas, I checked my pit board for Horta, and every time I checked the pit board the number was bigger. At some point I just stopped looking. Is healthier.
Gup Douglas (BMW Motorsport, 3rd): Podium! I had Parsons in the mirrors for what felt like a whole week. Both of us were being hunted by a yellow Corvette, which is not the kind of hunting we signed up for.
Eiran Parsons (Kissling Motorsport, 4th): I had a faster best lap than Gup and I finished behind him. I had a podium yesterday and I finished fourth today. Castle Combe gives and Castle Combe takes. Mostly it takes.
Christian Hamilton (Corvette Racing, 16th): Same car. SAME CAR. I looked at the telemetry and the telemetry looked back at me and asked if I was okay. And then a Mustang beat me by three tenths. Please don't write that down. No comment. Fine, write it down.
Sam Rolfe (HHF Hybrid Racing, 14th, yesterday's winner): Yesterday I was the king of Castle Combe. Today I was a lapped car with a nice view of a yellow rear wing going away. The Gumpert was fine. The Gumpert is always fine. Is the other guy that is not normal.
The council investigates
The Super Mario World MotorSport Offline Solo Sessions Castle Combe Duude Foundation (SMWMSOSSCCDF, not to be confused with yesterday's SMWMSOSSCDFCC) went through the timing sheets and filed the following, in order of seriousness:
- Motion 20260925/01: the missing grid. The starting grid for this session was not recorded. Every driver has an empty grid position, so we cannot say who started where, who took pole, or how many places anybody gained. The council has ruled that everybody started "somewhere near the front", and that is its final answer.
- Motion 20260925/02: the triplets. Jon Wathen (Maserati Trofeo Light), David Poel (Spyker C8 Spyder GT2-R) and Chuck Carter (the other Maserati) all set exactly the same best lap: 1:04.915. Three different drivers, two different makes, the same lap time to the thousandth. The council suspects Vesuvan Doppelganger involvement and has requested DNA samples from all three cars.
- Motion 20260925/03: Roy Simmons. The Rocketsports Jaguar XKR GT was classified 32nd, 21 laps completed (four down), with a best lap of 1:12.534. That is more than 11 seconds off the winner's pace and 6.7s slower than the next slowest best lap in the field. Something clearly went wrong for him. Whether it was damage, a long stop or a nap, the data does not say. Neither does Roy.
- Motion 20260925/04: Björn Hehmann. The Gravity Racing Mosler MT900R finished 30th on 24 laps, but took the flag 36 seconds after the car in front of him, in a race where the lapped cars mostly came home a second or two apart. The council notes that a Mosler with a 1:04.969 best lap should not be that lonely, and suspects a trip to the gravel or the pits.
No further thoughts will be given on these matters, and the ElderCouncil will now nap. *snore*
So what now?
One sixth place and one crushing win at the same track in two days. The Corvette clearly had the pace both times; the difference was 14 more laps for the pace to add up, and (we assume) fewer ducks in the braking zones. Horta says the lesson is "consistency". Team Principal Skinner, who was visiting from Scuderia Libra for no clear reason, said "Wait, we won? Which one of those was ours?" and was escorted out.
Next time, the saga continues…
Ps. There was a Brazilian on the grid, Thiago Canola, in a Flying Lizard Porsche, finishing 20th. A Brazilian and a Lizard in the same car. The universe is trolling me. I miss tib. Liz, where are you?!