BEING lumped with an extra compulsory pit stop sent a scare through the Bruce Lynton Bodyshop camp at Sunday's Bathurst 6 Hour but it did little to hinder them.
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After setting a blistering pole time in qualifying Orange's Tim Leahey, co-driver Beric Lynton and their team had to redraw their pit strategy in a short space of time.
They nailed it, leading every single lap of the race, but had to put in plenty of planning to make their new plans work.
Leahey said the extra pit stop allocation - bringing their compulsory stop total up to five - could have been handled better by stewards.
"It was a little bit stressful trying to work out what our strategy was because we were preparing for four stops but all of a sudden we're doing five stops," he said.
"That was done on balance of performance because of the lap time I did in qualifying. It's annoying because they issue it without coming to the driver or team without any input or looking at the data.
"That time was a ripper time because it was on a totally green tyre. The next lap was a second and a half slower, but despite all that we led from start to finish and the team did a great job."
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Lynton and Leahey won the race by more than a lap ahead of their nearest rivals, defending champions Grant and Iain Sherrin.
The Bruce Lynton Bodyshop BMW M3 was on fire all weekend.
It may have been a stellar effort from Leahey and Lynton behind the wheel but the Orange driver was quick to give his crew praise for adapting to the extra pit stop.
"Aaron, who prepares the car, did a great job and Ralph Bellamy, who's an 81-year-old ex-Formula One engineer who lives on the Gold Coast, and is a good mate of Beric's, was there doing the strategy and engineering for us," Leahey said.
"Bez had great pace at the start then I jumped in and managed to stretched the gap a little bit. A few things played out for us but ... it was a real game of chess and we managed to come out on top today."
Bellamy boasts Formula 1 experience with the Brabham, Ensign, Fittipaldi, Lola, McLaren and in more recent times brought his experience in V8 Supercars with Tony Longhurst Racing.