All posts by Cassandra Hebbourn

British GT 2018 – Silverstone 500 Preview

June 8, 2018 Cassandra Hebbourn Leave a comment

It’s time to go long again.

June has finally arrived, and with it comes the blue riband event of the British GT season, the Silverstone 500. 500 kilometres is a fair distance for the championship to face, and the longest race of every season always brings a good scrap and a surprise result or two. So what can we potentially expect from this weekend’s endurance event? Perhaps we need look no further than last time out at Snetterton.

What happened at Snetterton was a massive display of V12 Vantage dominance from Aston Martin – try as the other GT3 teams might, there was little chance of an Aston not being top across the whole weekend. And this won’t have gone unnoticed by SRO. It’s unusual for one manufacturer to have such a good time of it across a race weekend. But to have almost all the GT3 Astons at the pointy end of the results will probably hit the Warwickshire concern with a change in Balance of Performance. Add to that the victory in May’s Blancpain Endurance race at Silverstone for R-Motorsport (incidentally running ½ of the Dane Train in the form of TF Sport’s Nicki Thiim) there will be severe concerns that the Aston will need the anchors added for the longest race of the season. While nothing has yet been disclosed, don’t be surprised for the V12 Vantage to be perhaps a little ‘fatter’ for the weekend ahead.

And yet, with the Aston dominance last weekend, it’s the ERC Sport Mercedes pairing of Lee Mowle and Yelmer Buurman who top the tables by 4 ½ points from the title-hungry #33 Barwell Lamborghini drivers Jon Minshaw and Phil Keen. Things never change for the Barwell pair – another year, another title challenge, but still second, for now anyway. Leading the Aston fight is the #99 Beechdean pairing of Andrew Howard and Darren Turner, who’ve a 12 point deficit from Mowle/Buurman.

So, there’s impetus for drivers to maintain points scores. Minshaw and Keen will want to repeat 2016 where they took victory at the Silverstone 500. Mowle/Buurman will want another endurance race win, and Buurman’s ability to charge for long periods of time will help that. Then we have last year’s winners – Rick Parfitt took the Bentley round to a majestic win, and there were green shoots of promising performance at Snetterton for he and Ryan Ratcliffe. A good race at Silverstone would bring a little joy to the Team Parker garage, where Ian Loggie and Callum McLeod’s podium at Rockingham in #7 has been the sole reason to shout loudly so far.

There’s always an augmentation to the field at Silverstone, and this year we welcome back the ABBA Rollcentre Racing Mercedes for a wildcard role in this year’s race weekend. Richard Neary has been driving the Merc in the Britcar Endurance series, but returns with factory driver Adam Christodolou for this one. Last year, Neary had a promising performance in the early stages of the race before suffering a spin. Also returning are new series regulars Balfe Motorsport, after their McLaren suffered a big hit at Rockingham. Shaun Balfe and Rob Bell had a great weekend in the McLaren during International GT Open’s visit in 2017, and there is no reason why they can’t have another crack of the whip on their return. Rounding out the new faces, Nissan’s Gran Turismo star Ricardo Sanchez will partner Struan Moore in the #24 GT-R for this weekend to have another hustle round after having had a play in the Blancpain race last month.

The battle for GT4 is even tighter than that for GT3. So tight infact that you can barely fit a sheet of paper width between Callum Pointon and Patrik Matthiesen’s #55 HHC Motorsport Ginetta and the #4 Tolman McLaren pairing of Charlie Fagg and Michael O’Brien. The battle of the Silver cup drivers in GT4 is back again this year, and as we come to this round there is only ½ a point between Pointon/Matthiesen from Fagg/O’Brien. This is testament to how consistency vs wins works. Fagg and O’Brien have always loitered around the steps of the podium, whilst Pointon/Matthiesen have had a big win at Rockingham to take the larger points score.

HHC Motorsport can be proud of what they are doing in the GT4 series. To be at the top for the second year running in their second year of British GT competition is nothing short of spectacular. Snetterton for them wasn’t brilliant – no podiums allowed the Tolman #4 car to catch back up to their championship leaders, but keeping up the pace is tough, especially when you’ve two Silver drivers facing off against some fantastic professional drivers. Silverstone will be another hard ask for them, but with Ginetta struggling at Snetterton they may yet receive a BoP boost to help them against the McLarens.

We’ve another returnee to GT4 at Silverstone in the form of the Appleby Engineering Aston Martin driven by James Holder and Matthew George. Yes, that Matthew George. George will be piloting both the Jaguar F-Type and the Aston V8 Vantage, requiring him to drive all 3 hours of the race at Silverstone in one way or another. Anyone who frequents the paddock will have spotted him maintaining a thorough fitness routine, so at least physically he’ll be more than capable of coping. It’ll be a fair juggling act at pitstops though. Sadly, for this race, we’ve lost the Johansen/Anttila #54 Ultratek Nissan, which is beyond repair after a punishing race at Snetterton.

The cards are on the table for the weekend ahead at least. 3 hours is a long time to face, and there’s so much that can happen across the field in that time. Will the experience of Minshaw/Keen pay through? Will it be a fairytale return for Beechdean and Andrew Howard with Darren Turner backing him up before his Le Mans trip? Can either of the GT4 Silver pairings make advantage of the extra half point on offer for an endurance race win? All will be revealed on Sunday afternoon.

British GT News - Previews - Reviews

British GT 2018 – Round 3 – Snetterton

June 1, 2018 Cassandra Hebbourn Leave a comment

A solid weekend all round

When you look back at the opening two rounds of the season at Oulton Park and Rockingham, you begin to wonder whether there’s any hope of there being a race weekend where the drivers can stop worrying about the weather and just get on with the job in hand. The first knockings of summer bring with them optimism, a feeling of serenity and the threat of those barbecue-quelling storms that make everything feel like a typical British year.

The weekend of 26-27^th May though will go down as a generally pleasant weekend though, and for no reason less than we got our usual feast of GT action at the Norfolk venue of Snetterton, where drivers and teams stare down the barrel of a narrow, tight and twisting circuit surrounded by wonderful high speed blasts which brings with it a question of whether to make the most of cornering or fit the car up for the acceleration and top speed for the two 1 hour sprint races on Sunday.

Sadly, we were short of the #101 Balfe Motorsport McLaren 650S which pranged at Rockingham’s Turn 4 last time out. Shaun Balfe is a canny man though, and knows to rush back would probably only have been a disadvantage. Better to be ready for the 3 hour blue riband Silverstone 500 event in a few weeks time where more points, and more space await the field. Also missing was Devon Modell from the #24 RJN Nissan, who was replaced by Jordan Witt, making his return to the championship after previously having wielded the “small but mighty” Chevron in past seasons in British GT.

The Mercedes was the car to have last time out at Rockingham, or at least Lee Mowle and Yelmer Buurman thought so, with justification. As free practice began though it was clear that a British Summer weekend needed a British manufacturer to make hay, and Aston Martin looked imperious, with Nicki Thiim in the #11 TF Sport Aston and Darren Turner in the #99 Beechdean cars leading the way with the other Astons looking serious behind them. Rather worryingly, the competition looked like not being at it’s usual strength. We are used to having Lamborghinis from Barwell being there or thereabouts at Snetterton, but Minshaw/Keen and De Haan/Cocker looked like being the best of the rest at best. Buurman was pushing the #116 Mercedes as best he could with the changed BoP on the Mercedes following the Rockingham win, but not even the flying Dutchman could halt the Warwickshire-made titans.

GT4 thankfully was as open as ever, and although the #62 Aston of Matt Nicoll-Jones took the second free practice session, it wasn’t by a huge margin, and the rest of the field, including the #66 Mercedes of Jones/Malvern which topped FP1 were still in close contention. It wasn’t all plain sailing though as the RJN Ultratek Nissan #53 of Fletcher/Plowman suffered engine troubles which would keep the car firmly in the garage needing severe transplant surgery under the bonnet, which the mechanics went at with heart and vigour to get the 370Z out on track once more.

Qualifying in GT3 though was all about one car and two men. Mark Farmer and Nicki Thiim made the most of the improved weather in the #11 Aston to top both the qualifying sessions for TF Sport. A little adjustment to the set up saw the blue car take the pole from its rivals, much to the delight of the pairing. Mark Farmer has history at Snetterton of podium visits, and another wouldn’t harm his morale or reputation. Graham Davidson got P2 for race one with the #47 Jetstream car holding off the #1 Team Parker Bentley of Rick Parfitt and the #33 Barwell Lamborghini of Jon Minshaw, who made an effort to prevent it being a total walkover for the Astons for Race 1. Qualifying’s second session saw Yelmer Buurman and Maxime Martin attempt to topple Nicki Thiim’s top time, but both fell afoul of the rules – Buurman pushed the #116 ERC Sport Mercedes beyond the limits of inhabitable race track, and Maxime Martin set a blistering time only to not set enough timed laps to qualify the #47 car properly, sending him to the back of the GT3 pack.

GT4 qualifying saw the #42 Century BMW of Ben Tuck/Ben Green take pole for the first race, happily putting a different marque top of the times for each separate session up to and including Quali.1 in the class. Tuck made a very neat and tidy lap to give himself space over the #55 HHC Ginetta of Pointon/Matthiesen. Behind them, Will Moore in #62 Aston headed off the suddenly speedy #68 Toyota of Tom Canning. The Toyota is the least-cylinder bound car on the grid, but it has legs when it needs them. The second qualifying session saw Nicoll-Jones nab race 2 pole, heading off Jack Mitchell in the #43 Century BMW, who was riding on the crest of the wave caused by #42 earlier. Jan Jonck, fresh off a solid performance in the GT4 European Series at Brands, took the other #61 Academy Aston to third, with Scott Malvern pushing the #66 Mercedes to fourth spot.

Race one got underway with the #11 Aston pulling away from the start to try and keep itself there. Behind Mark Farmer, Jon Minshaw reminded Graham Davidson that being a newcomer in British GT should be an ‘experience’ by passing him to take 2^nd place and try and keep up with Farmer. But Davidson soon got the bit between his teeth, back past Minshaw and started to close up to Farmer, bringing the #1 Bentley of Parfitt with him to keep him company in pursuit of the top step. Infact it was all going really well for Graham Davidson, and then the safety car came out. A 60 minute sprint with a safety car period is rather frustrating for everyone, especially when it coincides with the pit window opening. In came the drivers for a change around – Davidson got out and Martin got in, but were held up, so Nicki Thiim once again pushed to the front as the #11 Aston retook the lead, which it would hold to the finish, taking the first “Dane Train” win in British GT, a highly popular score with the fans. Behind the TF Sport car, Davidson/Martin held a solid second, with Minshaw/Keen taking third after pit stop calamities held back the #1 Bentley from achieving further progress.

The GT4 race was fairly similar at the start. Ben Tuck got his head down behind the wheel of the #42 BMW, but sadly it wouldn’t last as the safety car meant that it was advantage neutralised when the pit window opened. With the field closer than it had been before, it was down to who could change and profit best. Cue the entry of one of the most popular men in the paddock: Joe Osborne in the #56 Tolman McLaren. Osborne is fast at Snetterton (he’d set pole last year here and had a podium with David Pattison), and the McLaren was in good shape to profit from the extra time required to be taken by the Silver driver pairings. 12 seconds is a huge time in motorsport, so when Tuck and Green swapped round, they had to watch and wait as the Pro-Am McLaren with David Pattison having driven a reliable and neat stint gave the #56 to Osborne who promptly waved goodbye to the cars behind and hello to a GT4 race win. Behind him, Charlie Fagg and Michael O’Brien came through to take 2^nd place, proving their speed and consistency in the Silver Class again in #4 McLaren, with Will Moore and Matt Nicoll-Jones climbing up to 3^rd after Martin Plowman’s #53 Nissan got a penalty for a pit infringement late on in the race, robbing it of a podium place when everything looked good for the rather unlucky 370Z.

So, Race 1 yielded two of the most popular wins of the season so far, but Race 2 was coming. To add to the drama and perhaps increase the blood pressure of some drivers, just as the field took to the formation lap, some drops of warm (but not unpleasant) rain started hitting the track. As the Pro drivers would take the start first, it was clear that the rain in the air was completely psychological and could be ignored. Sadly in GT4 though, this meant that when the field bunched up for the tight Agostini hairpin, the cars infront were psychological and could be ignored too, as the #86 Toyota of McDonald/Quinn hit the #72 track-club McLaren piloted by Ben Barnicoat, putting both cars out of the race, and the track into neutralisation with barely a lap gone.

Nicki Thiim wasn’t complaining though. He’d led from the first moment of the race and the #11 TF Sport would only have a 10 second penalty in the pit stop to serve which would knock them back down the order, but Thiim barely saw the back of anyone else in his stint, lest it were a backmarker or the safety car, which came out early to suspend proceedings a little. Behind him though was WEC teammate and fellow Dane Train driver, Marco Sorensen, who was in the #17 sister TF Sport Aston. And it was he who would profit from a lack of pit penalty this time round when the window opened. Sorensen handed over to Derek Johnston, and Darren Turner handed over to Andrew Howard in the #99 Beechdean Aston, which would finally make a race distance having failed to manage it in race 1. What then happened was one of the finest pressure/defence drives we’ve seen as Howard nailed his nose to the rear bumper of Johnston’s car, in an effort to put the 2016 champion off his stride. Johnston is no fool though and kept his business to himself as the Beechdean car started to sniff out gaps and put pressure on him. The two cars finished neatly, cleanly and safely first and second, with Howard having to settle for second to Johnston/Sorensen. Behind them, Mark Farmer held on to 3^rd with the #11 TF Sport car, which was holding off the #75 Optimum Aston driven by the scarily fast Flick Haigh, who was making up time hand over fist in the late stages. It would have been Astons 1-2-3-4-5, but for a penalty for the #47 car of Davidson/Martin, which went in a little too heavily on the #33 Lamborghini of Jon Minshaw in the last quarter of the race, putting Minshaw off the road, but thankfully not out. 1-2-3-4 still looks good for Aston though, if a little too dominant ahead of the next race.

Despite the messy beginning, GT4 played out pretty cleanly in the end, as Nicoll-Jones led the field to begin with, but Jack Mitchell squeezed the #43 BMW into the lead in the opening half of the race, showing his credentials as a solid racer in any machine once more. Behind them, the other BMW of Ben Green got nudged into a spin, and had to work hard to get ground back. As the pit stops came, it was now time for the third Tolman McLaren to take over the lead, as the #5 of Jordan Albert and Lewis Proctor got a shift on and went to the front. Behind them though, Ben Tuck had been shown the proverbial red rag, and was turning bullish laps to recover the time lost by Green’s earlier spin. He made up time and time each lap, and positions, to be in place when Proctor succumbed to pressure on the last lap of the race, demoting the #5 McLaren to second, and giving the #42 BMW a deserved win on sheer effort. Once again, Nicoll-Jones/Moore took 3^rd place to remind everyone that Aston Martin weren’t done with GT4 yet either.

Snetterton had provided us with a fair bounty of racing again. And Aston Martin came away with a huge pile of trophies, a pair of happy Danes, and a potential headache of BoP, ballast and pit stop penalties to be applied at Silverstone next time out, for the 500km, 3 hour event which sees the winning drivers awarded the RAC Trophy and is the highlight of the British GT year. Good things come to those who work hard, but that doesn’t mean you can’t escape the hammer of racing justice of course… Silverstone, and its long race, await.

BTCC

BTCC – Thruxton

May 25, 2018 Cassandra Hebbourn Leave a comment

This weekend saw the British Touring Car Championship roar into Thruxton Race Circuit, located in Hampshire. Halfords Yuasa Racing’s Matt Neal, Power Maxed TAG Racing’s Josh Cook and Mac Tools with Ciceley Motorsport’s Adam Morgan took a win apiece. This sees Morgan move into the lead of the championship standings as the championship heads to Oulton Park next.

Neal dominated the opening race of the day, taking a lights-to-flag victory, keeping Team BMW’s Colin Turkington at bay for sixteen laps. The season so far had been largely in the favour of the young drivers but Neal showed that the experienced drivers are still more than capable when he fought back to take the first pole position in the new Type R. Turkington pulled alongside as the pair accelerated off the line before Neal managed to get ahead and stay there until the end of the race but was kept honest by the BMW driver every corner for the sixteen lap race.

Sam Tordoff chased down Neal’s teammate Dan Cammish aboard his Team GardX Racing with Motorbase run Ford Focus to catch the Honda man in an attempt to take the final podium position. Cammish fought back and took third place with Tordoff taking fourth. The latters stablemate Tom Chilton in one of the Shredded Wheat backed Focus RS’ rounded out the top five.

Josh Cook kept his winning form going as the Power Maxed TAG Racing driver took the victory in race two. Neal started on pole but was unable to hang on as they accelerated off the line, Turkington blasted ahead into the lead on the entrance into the Complex. Cammish bogged down as the race started which allowed Tordoff and BMW Pirtek Racing’s Andrew Jordan to fly past, fighting for third place. The Power Maxed TAG Racing duo of Josh Cook and Senna Proctor soon started to make progress as they slipped past Chilton. Proctor’s progress stopped there but his teammate Cook charged forward, quickly passing Tordoff and Jordan. He then went on to drive around the outside of Neal at the final chicane to take second. By the tenth lap of the race Cook was challenging Turkington for the lead of the race. His moment came at the end of lap eleven as he passed Turkington around the outside, which saw Cook move into the lead. Turkington finished the race in second ahead of Neal in third, Tordoff in fourth, Jordan in fifth and Proctor in sixth.

Mac Tools with Ciceley Motorsport’ Adam Morgan took his second victory of the season so far in the final race of the day at Thruxton. He led the race from the moment the lights went out until the flag flew at the start line at the wheel of his Mercedes Benz A-Class. Morgan got a blinding start off the line and defended well from a quick starting Senna Proctor. WIX Racing with Eurotech’s Jack Goff was crawling all over the bumper of Proctor’s Astra which allowed Morgan some breathing space. Goff made his move stick on the youngster towards the end of the race but he was unable to chase down or challenge Morgan for the lead. Tordoff enjoyed a strong weekend as he took his third top five result of the race weekend as he finished in fourth. Turkington finished the final race in fifth, which puts himself back into strong championship contention.

Morgan now leads the overall Drivers’ championship by just a single point ahead of Cook in second. Tom Ingram sits third in the championship with ten points splitting second and third after he suffered a rather challenging day, suffering a DNF in the opening race. However, the rapid Toyota driver went on to take a brand new lap record in the final race.

Yvan Muller’s Thruxton lap record was set in 2002 and had been the longest standing lap record on the BTCC calendar but was beaten multiple times during the weekend this year. Ingram now holds the lap record of 1:17.060s.

Vauxhall leave Thruxton in the lead of the Manufacturers’ standings. Power Maxed TAG Racing leave in the lead of the Team’s championship. Mac Tools with Ciceley Motorsport’s Adam Morgan leads both the Independents Teams’ and Drivers’ championship tables. A trio of top ten finishes sees BTC Norlin Racing’s Chris Smiley now at the head of the Jack Sears Trophy.

The Dunlop MSA British Touring Car Championship returns in three weeks’ time at Oulton Park.

At the end of racing at Thruxton some drivers were handed penalties, those being;

Michael Caine – received a verbal warning and two penalty points for an incident involving Tom Boardman during race one.

Josh Cook – received a verbal warning for gaining an unfair advantage in an incident involving Andrew Jordan in race two.

James Cole received a verbal warning for an incident involving Tom Oliphant in race two.

Adrian Flux Subaru Racing were deducted 10 points in the Manufacturers’ and Teams’ championship as they exceeded the engine allowance for this season.

BTCC, Reviews, Working In BTCC

BTCC Brands Hatch

May 7, 2018 Cassandra Hebbourn Leave a comment

The opening round of the British Touring Car Championship got underway on the 7th/8th of April at Brands Hatch,using the Indy circuit format.

Qualifying took place on Saturday afternoon at around 3:15pm where Wix Racing with Eurotech’s Jack Goff came out on top, taking pole position for the first race of the new season. Joining Goff on the front row was Team GardX Racing with Motorbase’s Sam Tordoff ahead of Team BMW’s Colin Turkington and Halfords Yuasa’s Dan Cammish on row two.

The three races took place on Sunday with three different drivers each taking a win as well as nine different drivers taking the steps on the podium.

Race one saw Jack Goff take the win ahead of Team BMW’s Colin Turkington and BMW Pirtek Racing’s Andrew Jordan. During the race twenty-seven laps were completed with many trading places before the chequered flag came out.

Three drivers failed to complete the first lap of the race, those drivers being; Trade Price Cars with Brisky Racing’s Mike Bushell, Eurotech run Matt Simpson and Halfords Yuasa Racing’s Matt Neal. Power Maxed TAG Racing’s Josh Cook was not classified in the results after only completing eighteen racing laps. Post race BTC Norlin Racing’s Chris Smiley was handed a 0.6 second time penalty for breaching regulation C2.3 due to gaining an unfair advantage over a fellow competitor.

Post race BTC Norlin Racing’s James Nash received a verbal warning for an incident with Senna Proctor.

Race two saw Jack Goff once again start from pole position. The race began to confuse a lot of people when the leader changed three times over two laps of the race with Power Maxed TAG Racing’s Senna Proctor going on to win the race, taking his first BTCC career victory. Trade Price Cars with Brisky Racing’s Jake Hill took his first podium in the BTCC with a second place finish ahead of AMD with Cobra Exhausts’ Ollie Jackson, who also took his first BTCC podium in third place.

Three drivers failed to finish the race, those being; Team Parker Racing’s Stephen Jelley, Ciceley Motorsport’s Tom Oliphant and Team HARD with Trade Price Cars’ Bobby Thompson.

Post race AMD with Autoaid/RCIB Insurance Racing’s Tom Boardman received a verbal warning for an incident with Matt Neal. Senna Proctor was also given a verbal warning for an incident with Aiden Moffat.

For the final race of the weekend it was Duo Motorsport with HMS Racing’s Rob Austin on pole position with Laser Tools Racing’s Aiden Moffat alongside. After twenty-seven laps of the race had been completed it was Speedworks Motorsport’s Tom Ingram who came out on top to take the victory. Mac Tools with Ciceley Motorsport’s Adam Morgan finished in second place ahead of Rob Austin in third.

Three drivers failed to complete the race, those being; Team BMW’s Rob Collard, Team Shredded Wheat Racing with Gallagher’s James Cole and BTC Norlin Racing’s James Nash.

Post race five drivers were handed penalties. Mike Bushell receieved an official reprimand and had his license endorsed with two points for an incident involving Aiden Moffat. Team BMR’s Ashley Sutton receieved a verbal warning for an incident with James Nash. Senna Proctor received an official reprimand and had his license endorsed with two points for an incident with James Nash. Stephen Jelley received an official reprimand and had his license endorsed with two points for an incident with Tom Chilton. The final driver to be penalized was Jack Goff, he was given a verbal warning for an incident with Ollie Jackson.

BTCC, Reviews, Working In BTCC

BTCC – Donington Park

May 7, 2018 Cassandra Hebbourn Leave a comment

The second race meeting of the British Touring Car Championship took place at Donington Park on the 28th/29th April. The weekend saw a new pole sitter for this season as well as three different winners during the races, resulting in five different winners so far. Josh Cook, Tom Ingram and Adam Morgan took a win each. Speedworks Motorsport’s Ingram is the only driver to get two wins during the 2018 season so far. The average age of the three winners from Donington Park is just twenty-six years, the three wowed the crowds of thousands of spectators around the circuit on race day which more than made up for the weather fans had braced on the Saturday.

Qualifying saw Power Maxed TAG Racing’s Josh Cook take pole position in one of the two Vauxhall Astra’s with BTC Norlin Racing’s Chris Smiley alongside on the grid in second aboard his Honda Civic Type R, his best qualifying yet in the BTCC. Third on the grid went to Sam Tordoff at the wheel of the Team GardX Racing with Motorbase’s Ford Focus RS ahead of Halfords Yuasa Racing’s Dan Cammish in one of the new for 2018 Honda Civic Type Rs. Laser Tools Racing’s Aiden Moffat qualified his Mercedes in fifth ahead of Wix Racing with Eurotech’s Jack Goff alongside in sixth aboard his Honda Civic Type R. BTC Norlin Racing’s second Honda in the hands of returning BTCC racer James Nash finished the qualifying session in seventh ahead of Team Shredded Wheat Racing with Gallagher’s Tom Chilton in eighth. Wix Racing with Eurotech’s #39 Honda Civic Type R in the hands of Brett Smith qualified in ninth with Ciceley Motorsport’s Tom Oliphant rounding out the top ten.

Race one saw Josh Cook take his first victory in the 2018 season ahead of Cammish in second and Moffat in third. Initially Cook got a great start but second placed Chris Smiley got the jump as they headed into turn one at Redgate to briefly snatch the lead, followed through by Tordoff. Lap two saw Cook back in the lead of the race with Cammish having passed Tordoff and Smiley to be running in second place ahead of Tordoff in third, Moffat in fourth and Smiley in fourth.

Smiley was holding out well before Brett Smith pounced and demoted the BTC Norlin driver to sixth. Lap five saw Jack Goff, James Cole, Colin Turkington, Senna Proctor and Tom Ingram all battling for seventh place. Half a lap later the battle got a tad too close with Turkington receiving contact forcing him take to the grass.

Three laps later saw Goff leading a train of half a dozen cars as they all wanted to break inside the top ten with the Honda driver holding his position in tenth. On lap fourteen the order up the front was; Cook, Cammish, Moffat, Smith, Cole, Neal, Smiley, Proctor, Oliphant and Turkington in the top ten which is how the race ended.

After the race Power Maxed TAG Racing’s Senna Proctor was handed his third strike of the season for an incident involving Team BMW’s Colin Turkington. As a result of his third strike the youngster will start the second race from the back of the grid. The only driver to not finish the race was Team GardX Racing with Motorbase’s Sam Tordoff as he retired in the pits after completing just ten racing laps.

Race two of the day saw championship leader Tom Ingram take victory after starting in thirteenth on the grid. Chris Smiley was immensely happy with how he drove in the second race as he took both his and BTC Norlin Racing’s first ever podium in the BTCC. Jack Goff completed the overall podium in third.

At the start of the second race it was Dan Cammish who got a rocket start and found himself in the lead, he soon found himself struggling to hang on to the lead as he was battling against the harder compound tyre. Drivers on the Dunlop Sportmaxx Prime tyre were able to storm their way through. Smiley and Ingram were both on the prime tyre and at about half race distance they began putting Cammish under immense pressure, Ingram followed Smiley through as they both passed the leader. Smiley then ran wide on lap ten, allowing Ingram to see his opportunity to pass and take over the lead of the race on the run down to the final chicane.

Jack Goff rounded out the podium in third after starting in twelfth. Cammish drove his Honda to the best of his ability to take fourth. Adam Morgan finished the second race in fifth ahead of James Cole in sixth, race one winner Josh Cook in seventh and reigning champion Ashley Sutton in eighth. Ninth place went to Rory Butcher with Tom Chilton rounding out the top ten.

Three drivers failed to complete the race, those being; BTC Norlin Racing’s James Nash after completing no laps, Team BMW’s Colin Turkington and AMD with Cobra Exhausts’ Sam Smelt who both completed eight laps of the race.
Jack Goff was the ony driver to be penalized in the second race of the weekend after receiving his second strike for an incident with Josh Cook.

After race two Jonathan Palmer, the boss of MSV circuits completed the reverse grid draw for the final race of the day. He pulled out number nine, promoting Rory Butcher on to pole position for the final race.

Initially Butcher held on to the lead of the race as the field launched off the line at the start. Reigning champion Ashley Sutton and Ciceley Motorsport’s Adam Morgan managed to pass the MG racer before the end of lap one. Drama surfaced through the pack as Power Maxed TAG Racing’s Senna Proctor, Team Shredded Wheat Racing with Gallagher’s James Cole, Team GardX Racing with Motorbase’s Sam Tordoff, Wix Racing with Eurotech’s Brett Smith and Autoglym Academy’s Josh Price all saw their races ended on the opening lap of the race. Due to the multi car collision and the number of stranded cars around the circuit a safety car was called out to allow the cars to be moved to a safe place.

On lap eight Morgan made his all important move to take the lead of the race from reigning champion Sutton. The latter then fell into the clutches of the chasing pack. Morgan took the win from Josh Cook in second and Aiden Moffat rounding out the overall podium in third place. Team BMW’s Rob Collard finished the final race in fourth ahead of fellow BMW racer Andrew Jordan aboard the BMW Pirtek Racing 1-series. Sutton completed the race to take sixth ahead of Halfords Yuasa Racing’s Matt Neal in seventh and Tom Ingram in eighth. Ninth place went to Tom Chilton with Trade Price Cars with Brisky Racing’s Jake Hill rounding out the top ten.

Seven drivers did not manage to finish the race, those being; Price, Smith, Cole and Tordoff who did not complete any laps, Proctor finished one lap before retiring in the pit lane, Tom Boardman retired his MG after ten laps of the race and Dan Cammish only completed eleven laps before retiring. BTC Norlin Racing’s Chris Smiley was not classified in the results after completing fifteen laps of the race.

Upon leaving Donington Park Speedworks Motorsport’s Tom Ingram leads the Drivers’ standings by seven points from Adam Morgan with Josh Cook a further eight points behind in third.

The Power Maxed TAG Racing team running Vauxhall’s currently lead the Manufacturers’ standings as well as the Teams’ championship standings.

Ingram and Speedworks Motorsport lead the Independents’ standings. Dan Cammish currently leads the Jack Sears Trophy.
Jake Hill currently sits at the top of Dunlop’s #ForeverForward standings as he has been the driver to make the most passes so far this season.

The next round of the season takes place at Thruxton, located in Hampshire on the 19th/20th May.

British GT News - Previews - Reviews, Reviews, Working In Motorsport

British GT 2018 – Round 2 – Rockingham Motor Speedway

May 2, 2018 Cassandra Hebbourn Leave a comment

What A Difference A Day Makes

After the controversy of Oulton Park, what British GT needed was a race weekend that ran smoothly, without things suddenly being thrown into doubt and confusion. So as the teams emerged from their garages on Saturday morning, it was a case of “oh no, not this again” as the weather decided that it would be a wet beginning to the weekend. Wet, and bitterly, painfully cold. Rain and cold are the enemies of successful practice. That said, any track time is a good thing, especially at Rockingham where drivers must contend with a lap of two distinct halves.

The main feedback from drivers was the lack of adhesion during practice. It was visibly evident that even the top drivers were reluctant to pile into the fearsome banked Turn 1 with any particular gusto. It’s possibly down to this that the Free Practice sessions ran so relatively smoothly. Only the #88 Team HARD Ginetta of Joshua Jackson and Ben Wallace suffered any heavy calamity, as they met heavily with a barrier and severely dented their front end. Tony Gilham’s team is all “never say die” attitude though, and the car was fixed for the afternoon’s qualifying sessions, a feat worthy of recognition. On the whole, most teams came out without much concern, other than helping the car stick to the road in right places.

If there’s one wonderful thing about wet and cold practices it’s the one lap pace of the classes. In the first session, Yelmer Buurman showed his strength in the #116 ERC Sport Mercedes, with the fastest GT4 car being the #4 Tolman McLaren of Charlie Fagg and Michael O’Brien. There was only 5 seconds between them, with the GT4 car outpacing some of the GT3 runners. Let it be said on record once more, that perhaps this should not be a surprise as the Bentleys, for all their excitement are a real trouble in the wet conditions, and Parfitt/Ratcliffe and Loggie/McLeod in nos 1 and 7 respectively didn’t really put down scintillating times while the big cars scrabbled for traction. The second session went the way of Flick Haigh and Jonny Adam in the #75 Optimum Aston Martin, whilst Will Burns set down a laptime good enough to give him and Mike Newbould top spot in GT4 in the #50 HHC Ginetta.

As Saturday wore on, the cold remained, but the rain lessened, and became a steady nagging drizzle, which in part relieved the tarmac of some excess water, but didn’t exactly improve grip around the course. As if to prove this, during the GT3 Am qualifying session, Jon Minshaw in #33 Lamborghini and Lee Mowle in the #116 Mercedes both rotated their vehicles at Deene and Turn 4 of the oval within moments of each other. Embarrassment for Minshaw, but heartbreak for Mowle, as the Barwell man went on to set second fastest time, but the Mercedes was buried firmly in the tyres protecting the pit entry wall. The fastest GT3 Am was once again the mercurial Flick Haigh, who went nearly a second faster than Minshaw.

The GT3 Pro session flipped things about though, with Phil Keen taking over from Minshaw and going nearly a second faster than Jonny Adam, who’d taken over from Flick Haigh. There was enough in it to give the green and red Lamborghini pole, which was handy considering the 20 second success penalty the #33 had to take in the pit stop during the 2 hour race.

In GT4, qualifying was pride and joy of the Tolman team, as the #4 and #5 cars took positions one and two on the class grid, with Jordan Albert and Lewis Proctor backing up Fagg and O’Brien from their earlier morning exploits. As cars received penalties for yellow flag infringements, the third car on the grid made it a McLaren 1-2-3, as the Pro-Am track-club #72 car of Adam Balon and Ben Barnicoat backed up the Tolman development drivers.

As Sunday dawned, the grey layers of cloud over Northamptonshire remained, as did the unpleasantly chilly winds which swirl round the quad-oval at Rockingham on a year-round basis. Thankfully though, the rain which had saturated Saturday, didn’t decide to trouble the circuit on Sunday, but the cold still gave a prevailing absence of grip to the tarmac. Warm-up was interrupted briefly by a clash between the #66 Team Parker Mercedes of Jones/Malvern and the #10 Equipe Verschuur McLaren of McKay/Hutchison, but the field went out for the full allotted 10 minutes and finally got some relatively dry track time in.

With the cars and drivers prepared, the only thing remaining now was for the race to begin. As the field got away, the Minshaw and Haigh battle began at the front of the pack in GT3. What neither of them figured on was the sudden awakening of Sam De Haan in the #69 Barwell Lamborghini. The pink and black machine looked a colourful missile chasing the pair, eventually passing Haigh to make it a Lamborghini 1-2 in the early stages. And then the first safety car came out when the #101 Balfe Motorsport McLaren of Shaun Balfe clattered the outside wall of the oval at Turn 4, leaving him stranded on the high line. With the field neutralised it was time to take stock of the early proceedings. Balfe had managed to claw himself up to 4^th behind MInshaw, De Haan and Haigh, before his unfortunate crash. In GT4, Charlie Fagg was giving it everything in the #4 McLaren for Tolman, but was being reeled in by HHC Motorsport’s Patrik Matthiesen in the #55 GInetta, which was benefitting from a drier surface on race day.

As the race returned to green flag conditions, it was clear that things were very different from Saturday. Rick Parfitt now had the bit between his teeth in the #1 Bentley and started to go up the order, and Derek Johnston in the #17 TF Sport Aston also fancied a piece of the action. Flick Haigh however wasn’t enjoying the pursuit of the Barwell pairing and she speared off the track in the #75 Aston at Tarzan before rescuing and rejoining. Lee Mowle also took to the outskirts of Tarzan in the #116 car, but came out unscathed.

A second safety car period ensued when David Pattison beached the #56 Tolman Pro-Am McLaren in the gravel at Chapman Curve, and required a snatch to pull him from the depths. By this time, Graham Davidson in the #47 Jetstream Aston had taken an interest in the chase of the Barwell Lamborghinis. Davidson is no stranger to the front end of the field and before long he had overhauled De Haan, and taken second behind Minshaw. Flying Scotsmen are no strangers in British GT and Davidson is the latest to prove his mettle. His charge was helped by what sounded like the imminent demise of the #69 Lamborghini, which suddenly took on a melodic tone not dissimilar to a selection of nuts and bolts in a tin can.

Behind the lead battle, there was a squabble for space at Tarzan between Johnston and Parfitt, and with the Bentley seemingly occupying the space that the #17 Aston should have been in, Johnston decided to assist the #1 car out of its path, causing Parfitt a nervous spin and an even more nervous wait for the traffic to pass around him before he wellied the throttle to point the Bentley in the right direction. Another hard charge had been ended, and from that moment the #1 Bentley failed to make any further inroads into the race. During his stint, Ratcliffe even had the misfortune of the car suddenly requiring a “hard reset” as he cruised to a stop just past the Deene hairpin.

Pitstops in British GT are a thing requiring precision and good timing. Every team member must be ready to play their part properly for any incident that may arise. The Optimum Aston squad had a small fire to deal with, which hindered Jonny Adam from getting a clean getaway back out to chase after the pack in his stint. The Barwell squad welcomed both their cars in, the #33 for the regular stop plus 20 seconds penalty, and the #69 permanently with transmission issues stopping the car from rejoining the race. Unfortunately, Phil Keen did not have his helmet equipped at the right point, and breached safety laws, which required the team to serve a further stop go penalty, denting their hopes of remaining in the top 3. Graham Davidson swapped for Maxime Martin in the #47 car, and the Belgian got to work on showing his factory talents.

In GT4, things had been relatively calm. The #4 Tolman McLaren led the #55 HHC Ginetta, and those positions soon reversed as Callum Pointon took over from Matthiesen. Making ground since the pitstops though were Finn Jesse Anttila, who had taken over in the #54 Ultratek Nissan, and was looking very competitive and very fast suddenly in one of the oldest cars on the grid, and Ben Barnicoat in the #72 track-club McLaren, where Adam Balon had once again put in an underrated but competent drive. Sadly, the track-club challenge blunted when the car started spitting a huge jet of flame from its exhaust. This left the way clear for the chasing pack, and the Tolman team were finally losing their grip on the weekend. Eventually, it was the #62 Academy Aston Martin piloted by Will Moore and Matt Nicoll-Jones that seized the initiative for 3^rd place in class, despite a hairy moment into Turn 1 when Moore brushed sidepanels with the #11 TF Sport Aston of Mark Farmer, thankfully without major damage to either car.

GT3 though, was about to change utterly. Maxime Martin had set off from the pits in the hope that outright speed would put him on top of the pile come the chequered flag. A penalty coming for Keen would give him breathing space. What he didn’t anticipate was for the penalty that would apply to himself as the overran the track limits one too many times for the clerk of the course’s liking, and that turned hope into “what if” for the Jetstream Motorsport team. Cue the surprise package of the weekend.

At Monza the weekend before, the German Black Falcon squad took their car to 3^rdplace overall in the Blancpain Endurance Series race. One of their drivers that day, Yelmer Buurman, was more than keen to show off his ability in the driving seat. A good series of fast laps let him up to the tailpipes of the #99 Beechdean Aston Martin, which was now driven by Darren Turner, who had inherited a podium spot following Andrew Howard’s usual gritty drive.

Buurman didn’t like the Aston being infront, but being a fair man he decided to give him a real show. Buurman showed the nose of the #116 Mercedes down Turner’s inside at Tarzan, knowing the British driver would give him short change for the cheek of an attempt. Buurman and Turner then went side-by-side along the following straight, where the left-right-left of the Brook chicane was located. With no regard for the average way of overtaking, Buurman launched the Mercedes round the outside of Turner into the first left hander in what was a superb passing manoeuvre with no comeback. From then on, it was top spot or bust for the Dutchman, and so it proved to be, with the Mercedes barely missing an apex or a cylinder blast to the chequered flag, whilst others behind him squabbled, struggled, slithered and slipped back. Lee Mowle had until this weekend never won a British GT race. It was high time after some near misses for him to achieve this goal. Behind them, Marco Sorensen had taken over from Derek Johnston in the #17 Aston and taken second on the road, only for this to be rescinded following an additional time penalty for the team for causing the spin for Rick Parfitt’s Bentley in the opening hour of the race.

Whilst the #1 Bentley suffered, Callum McLeod made up for Team Parker’s rather under-par start to the season by inheriting 2^nd place after pushing the #7 Bentley up to 3^rd on the road at the flag, whilst the #99 Beechdean car of Andrew Howard and Darren Turner took 3^rd spot on the rostrum.

GT4 finished as it had been in most of the second hour. The major change being the rise of the #62 Aston to 3^rd spot, although the performance of the Ultratek Nissans in 2^nd and 4^th was definitely something of a remarkable achievement. It was a definite reversal of fortune for the Tolman squad though, whose cars went from top of the world to off the rostrum in a 2 hour period on Sunday. HHC Motorsport were now back again, and Matthiesen and Pointon look no less effective than Middleton and Tregurtha did last year.

The most remarkable thing though was this – the race winner, who nobody expected, started from the very back of the GT3 pack, following Lee Mowle’s spin and prang during qualifying. It often shows how much a difference a race makes, and how much time can pass between being nowhere and being somewhere. Next time out, it’s two one hour long races at Snetterton, where there’s usually always something occurring to change the order of the field, and usually quite spectacularly.

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British GT 2018 – Round 2 Preview – Rockingham

April 26, 2018 Cassandra Hebbourn Leave a comment

We’re barely touching the opening half of the season in this year’s British GT Championship and as the juggernauts of the British sportscar scene arrive at the oval/road course at Rockingham Motor Speedway there’s already tension, confusion and a bit of head scratching going on.

Let’s roll back a few weeks to the leafy green setting of Oulton Park where the first two sprint races of the year took place. Or more appropriately where rain forced a stoppage to Race 2 with barely 15 minutes of 60 complete, and the field having barely lost sight of the safety car.

A cancelled race is a thankfully rare occurrence in British GT. What has happened though is the application of full points to the field in the order they were in at the time the red flag flew. How is this controversial? Not a single open racing lap was completed. Time started ticking behind the safety car but as the weather worsened it was clear that nobody would benefit from starting full speed competition in the prevailing conditions. It was simply too dangerous.

The Championship rulebook stated that for a race to be a race, two laps of a closed circuit track must be run, otherwise it is not considered a race. Under the safety car, the field completed four laps. Therefore by the rules it is a race. But without an actual green flag lap turned it didn’t feel like one. It was more a parade of cars than a race.

Full points were awarded as there is no obligation to resume or re-run a race, and any car which crossed the line at the end of lap three under its own power would be awarded championship points where their position covered it. This meant that Minshaw/Keen in #33 Lamborghini and Jones/Malvern in #66 Mercedes took home full points for first in GT3 and GT4 respectively.

Many drivers and spectators have called foul on this. We cannot disregard regulations though. The same regulations that make it possible to stop a race on the grounds of safety, also allow points to be awarded should a race become official and subsequently declared. Like it or lump it, rules are rules and everyone must adhere.

Rockingham then comes to everyone once more and the championship welcomes the chance to have its first endurance race of the season. 2 hours and one pit stop await the field, and Rockingham is a popular circuit which last year yielded both exciting racing and controversy itself following a mistake under the Safety Car which saw the win go to the Spirit of Race Ferrari before being sent back to the Team Parker Racing Bentley.

The field has slimmed by one car, as the #2 Lamborghini of Leo Matchitski and Patrick Kujala has moved to the Blancpain Series, with a return promised on a one off basis for the Spa round later in July. Otherwise, it’s business as usual. After a torrid wet weekend drivers will hope that the racing will be less about maintaining grip and more about maintaining a challenged. The Rockingham circuit has favoured the hard charger over the last few seasons and with a wealth of factory driver experience it’s a matter of “who can shout loudest” when crunch time comes.

In the break between rounds testing has taken place and there’s strong hope that the Bentley will be able to get back on form. The rain in Cheshire did not suit the big V8 machine, and a 2 hour race and no penalties will suit the drivers down to a T. Rockingham was the scene of the first endurance victory for Team Parker last year, and there’s hope lightning (but perhaps not rain) will strike twice.

Aston Martin are possibly the strongest challengers, with Flick Haigh and Jonny Adam keen to make headway after being stuck in the pits as the field rolled by in Race 2 at Oulton. A win and then no points is not the ideal position to start the season, but there is definite promise.

It’s also very tough to rule out perennial front runners Minshaw and Keen in the Barwell Lamborghini. A race win with no race (see the technicalities above) means that they’re up at the top of the tree again. Three times runners up won’t ring well.

Flick Haigh – Optimum Motorsport Aston Martin Vantage V12/ / Jakob Ebrey

The surprise package of GT4 last season, Track-club are leading the class going into this race and that in itself is a welcome sight, as it is not often in motorsport that a team without all the big pomp and circumstance heads up the list. Adam Balon and Ben Barnicoat are no slouches, and a low position finish in Oulton race 2 will mean that there is no pit stop penalty to concern them in this race. The race win (again, see comments on rules above) for Jones and Malvern will be a big boost to them, and the Mercedes looks a decent weapon in GT4 terms, so they may yet show well here.

GT4 though has a brace of big Beemers which with two Silver drivers behind the wheel of each will put the pressure on Century Motorsport to have a strong weekend. Ricky Collard is back with the BMW factory once more so Aleksandr Schjerpen takes his permanent seat in the M4, and his 2018 season kicks off here. 2nd place in the title standings will be enough to motivate his team-mate Jack Mitchell to push for a good finish here too.

It’ll be a time for concentration and bravery round Rockingham. We hope that the differences in opinion shown after Oulton can be laid aside for a weekend of pure grit and quality racing. Bring on the Rock.

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British GT 2018 – Round 1 – Oulton Park

April 3, 2018 Cassandra Hebbourn Leave a comment

Surprise, surprise, surprise

April has arrived once more and this means that the British GT season kicks off for 2018 with gusto and new fresh blood coursing through its veins. After an off season of brief uncertainty, the entire field has been lifted by new entries, new drivers and a really exciting mixture of fan favourites and promising combinations of car and driver.

Andrew Howard / Darren Turner Beechdean Aston Martin Vantage GT3. Jakob Ebrey.

In GT3 the big guns came rolling in. The pleasing sight of the #1 plate on the Bentley meant that Rick Parfitt Jnr would return with Team Parker Racing, with his former GT4 championship winning teammate Ryan Ratcliffe partnering him following Seb Morris’ departure to Blancpain GT duties. Ian Loggie and Callum Macleod retained the sister car. The challenge though was ramped up from every direction. Aston Martin is saying farewell to the Vantage V12 in 2018, and with a big shove from the factory to try and take the honours away from the boys at Crewe. Every Aston contains a factory driver. TF Sport retain Derek Johnston and Mark Farmer, who are partnered by the fabled Dane Train duo of Marco Sorensen and Nicki Thiim. Jonny Adam has switched to Aston newcomers Optimum Motorsport, who signed Flick Haigh who has been making progress in GT3 with their Audi around European circuits. Jetstream Motorsport have Graham Davidson partnered by speedy Belgian Maxime Martin, but the possibly most welcome addition was the return of the celebrated Beechdean Aston Martin, driven by Andrew Howard and Darren Turner. A truly formidable prospect.

Barwell Lamborghini are expanding for 2018 as well. Jon Minshaw and Phil Keen return for another crack of the whip at a title push, and nothing less than victory will suffice after two years of runner’s up spots. They are joined by Leo Machitski, back in British GT after a period of racing in historic cars and Blancpain Endurance, partnered by Finnish hotshot Patrick Kujala. A third Lamborghini Huracan for Sam de Haan and Jonny Cocker (another British GT stalwart and Barwell regular) is being run by the team to back up Minshaw and Keen. Add to those the Mercedes AMG GT3 of ERC Sport with Lee Mowle and flying Dutch factory driver Yelmer Buurman, and now full-time returnees Balfe Motorsport, fresh from International GT Open Pro-Am title triumph in their McLaren 650S with Shaun Balfe and Rob Bell sticking with their winning partnership. We also have a welcome return for Godzilla, as RJN bring back the Nissan piloted by the sole Silver GT3 entry for Devon Modell and Struan Moore. There was certainly no decline in GT3, as rather worryingly had been predicted.
GT4 was chop and change in every way. HHC Motorsport have sent their title winners Stuart Middleton and Will Tregurtha off to conquer Europe. In their place, Jacob Matthiesen and Callum Pointon take the #55 Silver class car, with Mike Newbould and Will Burns moving from Team HARD to the second HHC machine. McLaren have come to the party in force this year. Tolman Motorsport have the greatest responsibility, taking on the McLaren Junior squad of Charlie Fagg, Michael O’Brien, Lewis Proctor and Jordan Albert in 2 cars, as well as their tried and tested Pro-Am car of David Pattison and the ever enigmatic Joe Osborne. There are McLarens too for Equipe Verschuur with Scots drivers Finlay Hutchison and Daniel McKay, last season’s surprise package Track-Club with Adam Balon and Ben Barnicoat, who like Joe Osborne represents the McLaren factory, and for Balfe Motorsport, who are running former champions Graham Johnson and Mike Robinson.

The German manufacturers have a vested interest in GT4 now, and Century Motorsport have taken responsibility for the new BMW M4 GT4 in the UK. Ben Green and Ben Tuck hop out of their respective Ginetta G55s to join the team, while Jack Mitchell and Aleksandr Schjerpen pilot the second car, with Ricky Collard on loan for the first race of the year whilst Schjerpen is unavailable. Team Parker Racing have a Mercedes AMG GT4 for Nick Jones and Scott Malvern who are in their third year of competition, and their third make and model of GT4 car in that period! Fox Motorsport also come back with a Mercedes in place of a Ginetta, and Michael Murfitt and Michael Broadhurst (another familiar face to the historians in GT4) filling the driving seat.

There is also Japanese interest with the RJN Nissans of Kelvin Fletcher and Martin PLowman, and Stephen Johansen and Jesse Anttila, with the newly homologated Toyota GT86 in the hands of Steller Racing for young talents Tom Cannon, Sennen Fielding, Dean MacDonald and Alex Quinn.

The field is rounded out by the British manufacturers – Jaguar have arrived after months and years of hopes and speculation with the F-Type GT4, and Invictus Racing are supporting Am drivers who have suffered life changing injuries. The two cars are piloted by Ben Norfolk and Jason Wolfe, and Steve McCulley partnering the returning Matthew George. A very inspiring team line up.

Team HARD return with Ginetta G55s for Callum Hawkins-Row and Ginetta stalwart Anna Walewska, with Will Phillips returning to the team to partner Ben Wallace in their second car. GT4 isn’t Aston-free either, as Academy Motorsport have two cars for Tom Wood and race-winning Dane Jan Jonck, and Will Moore back to drive alongside Matt Nicoll-Jones.

Flick Haigh / Jonathan Adam Optimum Motorsport Aston Martin Vantage V12. Jakob Ebrey.

With the teams and drivers set and ready to race it was off to Oulton Park in Cheshire for the annual Easter Bank Holiday burn up. And with winter only having just passed the UK, it wouldn’t be Oulton Park without some dubious weather forecasts. At one point, a Yellow Warning for snow threatened to take the gloss off the entire weekend, but the truth was possibly a lot worse.

The Saturday qualifying sessions threw their usual surprises. The first came in the opening session for the Am drivers in GT3, where Flick Haigh put pedal to the metal and stuck her Optimum Aston on pole. The first outright pole for a woman in British GT, and it was a sensational lap to beat the competition behind her, as Rick Parfitt and Ian Loggie made the Bentleys hustle on a dry track. The Pro session was claimed by Phil Keen whose green and red Italian bull held up the Aston Martin matadors behind him to take a solid Race 2 pole. GT4 was wiped cleanly by the new Dutch squad, Equipe Verschuur, until it was pointed out that they had incorrectly sent the wrong drivers out to qualify in the wrong sessions. This left the way clear for Callum Pointon in the #55 HHC Ginetta and Scott Malvern in the #66 Team Parker Mercedes to take the respective poles, with Verschuur suffering the indignity of starting from the back for their indiscretion.

Sunday is a rest day in Cheshire, and teams prepared themselves for the coming Monday race day by practicing pit stops driver changes and musing over the potential change in the weather. Which inevitably came in the form of the nemesis of every good Bank Holiday: Rain, rain and more rain. A slippery Oulton Park greeted the teams for the warm-up, and Rick Parfitt’s Bentley found the scenery easier to get to than the track, rather setting back his charge after a good Saturday session. The race was then held up following several earlier incidents in other races with drivers struggling to come to terms with the slick tarmac. At midday though, behind the safety car, the drivers set off in grid order. Well, almost, as Nick Jones stalled his Mercedes in GT4, and suddenly found himself a lap down with not a racing lap complete.

Flick Haigh though knew exactly what to do as the race director called in the safety car after 4 laps of investigative touring – and she pressed on free of spray and other impediment in the #75 Optimum Aston Martin, whilst behind her in GT3, others came to grief. Mark Farmer was tipped into a spin at Old Hall Corner, whilst Derek Johnston took to the scenery (but thankfully not the barriers) at Hizzy’s chicane, rather spoiling TF Sport’s day. The Bentleys as usual, hated the rain, and Rick Parfitt and Ian Loggie soon found themselves losing touch with the top drivers, as Jon Minshaw found the Lamborghini’s boots stuck to the tarmac much more happily in the watery conditions. In GT4, the field settled down to eat the wall of spray left by the GT3 cars. And there were plenty of reasons to be cheerful for Callum Pointon, who held calmly onto his lead in the #55 HHC Ginetta. Behind him, a collision between Jack Mitchell and Will Moore sent the Yorkshireman’s Aston nose first into the wall at Lodge, sufficiently bending the radiator beyond repair and ending the #62 Academy car’s race early.

By the time the pitstop window opened for driver changes, Flick Haigh now had an ever decreasing amount of breathing space as Minshaw caught and passed and pushed onwards in the #33 Lamborghini, but she held on long enough that when the driver changes were made, Jonny Adam came out infront of Phil Keen. The driver changes in GT4 had also taken place, and Callum Pointon swapped out for Jacob Matthiasen. But then, the race lead battle changed in the blink of an eye.

Phil Keen got the bit between his teeth, and was now charging after Jonny Adam, keen to prove that being a factory driver doesn’t mean you can’t be put under pressure for a win, but as they lapped the traffic, they approached the tricky narrow run to Druids, and the GT4 leader Matthiasen. Past the leading two went, but on exiting Lodge, Keen slowed and dived for pit lane again. A brush with the left side of Matthiasen’s Ginetta left the Lamborghini with a broken wheel rim and a puncture, which ended his victory charge and Matthiasen’s. Jonny Adam now had only to maintain a good speed, and he would bring it home safe and sound ahead of fellow AMR factory team mate Darren Turner in the #99 Beechdean Aston, who now had Yelmer Buurman hounding him, as the Dutchman put his own factory talent behind the accelerator of the #116 Mercedes, turning some spectactular laptimes in chasing down Turner’s Aston. But Adam would not be caught.

In that moment, history was made again. Flick Haigh had become the first female winner in GT3 in British GT, and this was possibly one of the most popular victories of all time, with hardly anyone feeling that the race win was either a fluke, a fix or anything other than well deserved. The smile on Haigh’s face on the pit wall was matched by Adam’s and the entire Optimum team’s. Beechdean were happy with a solid second, and Lee Mowle mounted the podium alongside Yelmer Buurman in what was a very fine podium for the Pro-Am racing formula.

GT4 yielded another surprise result. Creeping steadily up the order once more was the often under-fancied track-club McLaren piloted by Balon and Barnicoat. Ben Barnicoat hadn’t raced in the UK save for his local kart track for some time, but looked so at home in the #72 car as he glided up to the top of the field, aided by a well timed pit stop. The Derbyshire driver pulled out enough time over the #42 BMW of Green/Tuck to ensure he could celebrate a comfortable victory by the flag. Unfortunately for the Century team, the BMW was penalised for a pit infringement, handing their 2^nd place to the #4 Tolman McLaren of Fagg/O’Brien, who had had another solid drive in the pouring rain. Supersub Ricky Collard put the sister #43 BMW of Century into third, allowing he and Jack Mitchell to stand on the podium following the demotion of their teammates.

Race 1 was complete, and the anticipation grew for the second race. Sadly, so did the rainfall. The decision was made once more to start the race behind the safety car, with the Pro drivers taking the opening stint this time. 10 minutes of circulation though was enough to convince the race director Peter Daly, that the weather was nowhere near ready to let up. After another long delay on the grid, and with the standing water encroaching on the track from the trackside, leaving puddles on both run off and road, there was nothing else to be done but to abandon the race.

Not a popular decision, but there is sense in it for so many reasons. A driver puts himself at risk with every moment in the seat of the car. And an aquaplaning car at high speed is little more than a metal cage preparing for a crash. Safety is paramount, and pleasingly, there is much more to takeaway with every car and driver in one piece at the end of the day rather than the near certainty of danger on a wet circuit however the thrill of a race.

We await to see what news comes on a rescheduling of a race. There are rumours points may be scored, but this would demean the point of a race, with only 10 minutes behind the safety car to show for any movement in Race 2. The weather was the true winner of the second outing at Oulton, but you couldn’t complain at all about the opening race of 2018. Roll on Rockingham Motor Speedway, where hopefully the weather will behave long enough for the enjoyment of all

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British GT – 2017 Round 6 Review – Brands Hatch

August 10, 2017 Cassandra Hebbourn Leave a comment

The 2017 season is now drawing to its close, and in a return to tradition, the penultimate round of this season took place on the Brands Hatch Grand Prix circuit, which is a fantastic venue for sports car racing of almost any kind. British GT knows how to put on a show here for better or worse, and with titles on the line by now, everyone was gunning hard for a shot at glory.

Going into the round, in GT3, Minshaw & Keen held the standings lead over Parfitt & Morris. Neither team had scored perfectly at Spa last time out, although the Barwell Lamborghini did take one race win away from the Ardennes. The gauntlet was laid down to the Team Parker Racing Bentley boys: “catch us if you dare”.

GT4 is no less challenging, with even the Optimum crew in with a mathematical but unlikely shot at the 2017 honours, however the strength of the two Silver driver pairings of Middleton/Tregurtha and Pittard/Reed in the HHC & Lanan Ginettas has meant that the fight stayed between them as Brands arrived.

Saturday morning dawned with cloudy spells, and rather sadly, in the first Free Practice session the #19 GT3 Ginetta G55 of Century Motorsport, this weekend piloted by Tom Hibbert and Ben Tuck, found the bare Armco at the exit of Stirlings Bend and damaged itself beyond a feasibly safe repair. Century are a fantastically well run team, but Nathan Freke has struggled with misfortune in ways that scriptwriters could not manage. On the plus side, they had hired Niall Murray, a Formula Ford hot shot to partner Jacob Mathaissen for the weekend in the #43 GT4 car, and Murray took to it like the proverbial duck to water.

Meanwhile, things looked rosy at the front for both GT3 championship leading crews, as the Bentley took the first free practice session, and Phil Keen’s hot lap put the #33 Lamborghini second behind Jonny Adam, who showed that he was hardly fatigued from his recent title winning exploits at the 24 Hours of Spa the previous weekend.

With everything settling in well, the fickle gods of weather cast their hand. A rather dramatically timed short and sharp thunderstorm settled in on Brands Hatch. It came and laid a lot of water over the Kent countryside, making a mess of everyone’s hard work in setting up the cars, and instantly changing the face of qualifying.

With the Pro-Am qualifying format taking place this weekend, with aggregate times deciding the grid for the 2 hour race, it was clear that the turbocharged teams would suddenly be at a disadvantage. Aston Martin, Lamborghini and Mercedes cars were the ones to have. Sure enough, Minshaw and Keen put their experience of low grip to good use and bagged the overall pole, with the MacMillan AMR #24 Aston with its Silver pairing of Jack Mitchell and James Littlejohn occupying second place on the grid. Not far behind were the #11 TF Sport Aston of Mark Farmer and Jon Barnes, with the #6 Lamborghini of Griffin & Tordoff also up high. But, for the Bentley, rain is the great enemy. As the big machine pulled out of the pit lane its traction control kicked in, it’s handling went to pot and the two Team Parker cars were nowhere near where they wanted to be for the Sunday afternoon start. Wet tracks, wet settings and the Bentley do not mix in any way, and the hope was that Sunday would be much improved. The #7 Bentley was already suffering this weekend as it was, after Callum MacLeod found the front brakes not working as he wished in free practice, narrowly avoiding a monster shunt at the fastest part of Brands.

By the time GT4 qualifying started, the rain had truly stopped, and a dry line began to appear. Pole in class went to the #62 Academy Motorsport car of Will Moore and Matt Nicoll-Jones, whose slick tyre strategy decision in the second part of GT4 qualifying put them forward. Things were not so rosy however at Lanan, after David Pittard suffered the ignominy of falling off the road on the Grand Prix loop, and leaving Alex Reed a nervous wait to see that their #51 Ginetta would be allowed out for him to drive. The format of qualifying for GT4 showed the gap in quality between the Silver pairings and the Pro-Am ones. Joe Osborne’s time of 1:35 in the second half of the session was an excellent time, however the aggregate with his Bronze graded teammate David Pattison sadly wouldn’t see the Tolman car as high up as it could have been.

To the rescue of many teams, the sun came out on Sunday morning, and stayed out. Warm up went off without a hitch, and some teams even had the confidence to complete only one lap of the circuit. The sun beat down hotter, and everything was set.

As the lights changed, James Littlejohn sent out a warning shot to Jon Minshaw by attempting an audacious pass round the outside at the first entry to Paddock Bend, and Minshaw defended for his life. The game was afoot. Minshaw needed to break the field to extend his title lead, and having the hot pace of a Silver grade driver around wasn’t going to make matters easier. The big issue though wasn’t what was immediately behind him. Rick Parfitt had pushed the “go faster” button in the #31 Bentley, and he was making moves through the field. A dry track, a hot day and a point to prove, and Parfitt was off to prove it. He despatched Derek Johnston, Liam Griffin, Mark Farmer and eventually Jon Minshaw and set off in pursuit of the now leading James Littlejohn, who had cleared the Lamborghini and was trying to get away, knowing a pit stop penalty was coming for the #24 Aston for a podium finish in the last race at Spa.

Fate though, would intervene with plans once more. The fast starting Will Moore in the #62 GT4 Aston had done his best to hold the lead in class, before eventually Sandy Mitchell in the #100 Garage 59 McLaren had given the Aston a lesson in overtaking. But as Moore exited Surtees with about 25 minutes elapsed, the Aston suddenly slowed, rattled a little and ground to a halt. The black Aston was abandoned and retired necessitating a Safety Car period to rescue the Academy car.

A small respite ensued, and gave everyone a chance to take stock. GT4 was now back to its usual squabble between the #100 McLaren of Mitchell/Haggety, the #55 HHC Ginetta of Tregurtha/Middleton and the #51 Lanan Ginetta of Pittard/Reed. Nobody though, expected what was coming. What infact was coming was the #42 MacMillan Aston of Will Phillips and Jan Jønck. The Aston is usually a decent bet around Brands Hatch, and for whatever reason, it was all coming together for Will Phillips, who was having his best race of the year so far.

The theme of Brands Hatch was contrasts in fortune. Whilst one car was pushing up, another was struggling. Jon Minshaw had used up whatever the #33 Lamborghini had to give, and was now languishing in 6th place as the pit window approached. He was pushing no less hard than usual, but things wouldn’t work for him. He could see the Bentley disappearing, and could do little about it.

Just as the time ticked over for the pit window to open, the Bentley roared under the bridge at Clearways in what looked like a commanding lead. What had befallen James Littlejohn and the #24 MacMillan Aston which had led for so long? In it came to the pits, up it went onto the jacks. Back into the garage, and out of the race. A sticking throttle is a bad thing in itself, and sticking wide open is nothing short of terrifying. It was a sad end to a very commendable effort, and the Bentley was unchained to go on its way unopposed.

This is more or less what it did now. The pit stops saw Sam Tordoff, Jon Barnes, Jonny Adam and Phil Keen step into their respective cars behind Seb Morris in the Bentley, and this was the order to the finish of the race, with little hiccup or error. Tordoff put in a very solid drive holding off a pack which was little more than a couple of seconds away from his tail at any given time.

GT4 however, was still in the process of sorting itself out properly. David Pittard’s Ginetta suddenly found itself lacking the right kind of steering movement, and Alex Reed was not going to be taking over a fully fast machine. Sure enough, they fell by the wayside, and it was Will Tregurtha’s time to make hay while the sun shone. What he didn’t count on though, were three things. One was Ciaran Haggerty in the driver’s seat of the #100 McLaren. The second was Jan Jønck in the #42 Aston. And the third was Joe Osborne, in the #56 McLaren. Each one of them was on a real charge. Jønck had picked up where Phillips left off, and he began hassling Haggerty for all he was worth. Eventually, the pressure told, and the Aston went by. Haggerty then had Joe Osborne for company, and Joe went by as well, making the most of perfect conditions to push the #56 Tolman car harder and faster. Osborne would eventually get closest to the young Dane, but nobody would prevent MacMillan taking their first ever race win in British GT. Behind, Tregurtha had now got to Haggerty, whose tyres were suffering.

As the final lap approached, Tregurtha got a better run out of Stirlings, and passed Haggerty into Clearways. Haggerty wasn’t going to stand for this, and out came a flying dive up the inside at Paddock. The McLaren didn’t like this. The asphalt didn’t. The gravel trap at Paddock and the tyre wall did though, and they welcomed the unfortunate Scot with open arms. So close to a podium, and one moment changed it all. Tregurtha came home to extend a championship lead that will give him and Stuart Middleton a brief amount of breathing space going into Donington.

But even more elated were the Bentley boys. An unpromising start on Saturday had become a charge through the pack and a victory, and more significantly, a 10.5 point lead going into the final race at Donington, where titles are won and lost. It’s advantage to the Team Parker squad, but will fate be as kind to them this time round.

A few thoughts on the future of the British GT:

Whilst LITP took their summer holiday to Spa, the SRO announced its plans to separate the GT3 and GT4 classes of British GT. The GT4 class will now become the British GT4 Cup, and will have races at the usual GT rounds of the season, and an additional standalone race at Thruxton, which will see a return to GT racing for the first time in a long while after the horror shunt for Bradley Ellis on the approach to the chicane. GT3 would run its own races as well, encompassing the usual rounds, but with the addition of entries from one-make GT racing series such as the Lamborghini Super Trofeo, Porsche Carrera Cup and Ferrari Challenge to bolster grid numbers.

Those dreaded words. “Bolster grid numbers”. It really doesn’t take a mathematician to see that GT4 is the most popular class in the series at the moment, and to separate GT3 and GT4 will mean that teams will have to choose their destiny for the season ahead. At Brands Hatch, there were 10 GT3 entries. One of these was not a regular season entry. One of the regular teams, AmD were missing due to an accident in a different series that left their Mercedes bent and broken. A race cannot be appealing to spectators, or teams when there’s potential for the starting number to be only in the single figures.

GT4 Cup will be the most popular option next year. More races, more competitors, a more appealing entry for Bronze graded drivers. More manufacturers making more new cars. More options. More and more and more, compared to the rather uncertain and unsure footing provided by the future of GT3 racing.

The general feeling according to many in the paddock over the last few seasons was that SRO were looking to promote GT4 harder than GT3, and that the trend was showing that the class was growing. While there is the message that “16 to 18 cars are expected for GT3 in 2018” the reality is that the teams are not able to commit to that number now. So where does that leave it all?

Part of the appeal of the series for the spectator is the noise, size and power of the GT3 class. The class is popular for its variety, the talent of the drivers, and the fact that the SRO BoP has made the racing very very watchable. This isn’t to say the racing is bad in GT4, or that the category is uninteresting or undersubscribed. It just lacks that extra appeal that GT3 has to myself, and to many others.

From what I have heard inside the paddock, it is going to take a lot of effort to save GT3 in Britain now. Teams will look elsewhere to establish true competition. There are very successful series in other countries, which run full GT3 grids. Admittedly, these are run outside the full control of SRO, but nonetheless they are very well subscribed and popular for it. It may be too late to bring in a similar set of regulations to those series to make it work in Britain.

Time will tell. My gut feeling is that Donington Park will be the last time we see a dedicated GT3 class race in a UK national series. Come 2018, if the GT4 Cup is the premier event of a British GT weekend, it will be the acid test for the true future. We lost GT1, GT2, and GT3 is looking ominously close to loss now as well. It is my hope that the series cannot, and does not go into a state of ever decreasing spectacle.

British GT News - Previews - Reviews, Reviews

British GT – 2017 Round 4 Review – Silverstone 500

June 15, 2017 Cassandra Hebbourn Leave a comment

All’s well that ends well.

At the beginning of June, the British GT paddock descends upon the longest race weekend of its year. Granted that 3 hours may not seem much, but it’s the blue riband event of each season and every team involved wants to prove their worth round Silverstone’s Grand Prix layout.

Saturday arrived and for once the anticipation in the air was for genuine contest. There wasn’t a hint of elbows out bodywork bashing, more expectation of a race which promised to showcase driver talent and ability.

One team however who were not best pleased about the arrival of the race were Barwell, whose Huracans had taken a hit under the Balance of Performance adjustments applied by SRO ahead of the weekend to rein in the Lamborghinis after what has been more or less a runaway start to the year. Although only the #6 car of Tordoff and Griffin would take a success penalty of additional pit stop seconds on Sunday, the team faced a mountain to climb to defend their championship points lead.

Ginetta’s GT4 entries also felt the pressure at Silverstone. The nimble G55 is excellent in twisting corners, but on Silverstone’s vast and fast expanses, there is little to enjoy for the Yorkshire built machines. The change of Optimum to switch the #501 car of Johnson/Robinson to the McLaren 570S from this weekend onwards showed the shifting sands in the class, although there’s much to be said for the exuberance of youth, with Lanan, HHC and Garage 59 fighting out the top 3 points spots in the GT4 standings with 3 young driver crews proving that raw talent can be measured carefully.

There was another factor that made the weekend a very pleasurable one for both driver and spectator alike. This time of year and this race is usually plagued by a unseasonable downpour, spoiling everything formbook wise even more so than usual, and turning Silverstone into an unpleasant quagmire. 2017 broke away from this though, and the entirety of Saturday and Sunday, Silverstone stayed dry, albeit a bit windy. Teams put on their sunglasses and stored the rain tyres safely so that the gods of motor racing could not be tempted to blow some adverse weather their way.

Practice threw up a new name to the top of the timesheets, as Adam Christodolou climbed into the familiar cockpit of the Mercedes AMG GT3 of ABBA Rollcentre Racing and put in a stonking lap around the circuit to lead the way by over a second. Christodolou’s British GT bow could hardly have been better for morale and for excitement. Rollcentre were saying a fond farewell to team boss Martin Short (as a driver, for now), and a top spot in any session is enough to put a smile on the face of any team principal.

GT4 had two interlopers to contend with this weekend in the Invitation class as Stuart Hall and Gavan Kershaw employed their talents in pedalling the Stratton Lotus Evora, whilst Stefan Hodgetts and James Fletcher did the same in the GPRM Toyota. Neither of these cars was there for show and the Evora fairly looked like trumping the entirety of the field as it wailed around the course, making light work of the bends in true Lotus fashion.

10 minutes of qualifying around the Silverstone Grand Prix circuit isn’t a massive amount of time to get a good lap in, however needs must when there’s honour and points to be won. And each driver went around cleanly and admirably in each session. The pole position was eventually taken by the #24 MacMillan Racing Aston Martin of Jack Mitchell and James Littlejohn, with two consistent times seeing them steal pole from the #31 Team Parker Racing Bentley of Seb Morris and Rick Parfitt, who looked on course to make the most of a happily dry circuit.

Behind them, the #21 Spirit of Race Ferrari driven by Duncan Cameron and Matt Griffin just pipped the sister #7 Bentley of Ian Loggie and Callum MacLeod from having Team Parker concerns in 2nd and 3rd on the grid. Christodolou once again topped the pro session times in the #88 Mercedes, but sadly the averages didn’t favour the team on this occasion.

HHC Motorsport didn’t let the balance of performance smother their GT4 drivers in qualifying as the young hotshots Will Tregurtha and Stuart Middleton put in a fine average timeset to get them to the top in their Ginetta. They were only pipped by the invitation class Lotus, as Hall and Kershaw put in times nearly a second faster than the rest of the field.

Sunday arrived bringing scores of spectators to the ticket gates, as the sunshine settled in for the day, allowing a sense of rude health and optimism to boost the support for this 3 hour race. A lot of teams sat out the warm up, not feeling the need to make adjustments or to seek any further improvement on their capabilities for the race.

The field duly formed up and rolled round to take the start, at which point, the two snarling Bentleys ganged up on the pole sitting Aston and pushed it backwards down the order. After last year’s disappointment it was time for Team Parker Racing to make up with a victory, and Rick Parfitt set off at an electric pace to try and establish the #31 at the head of the field. Behind him, Derek Johnston in the #1 Aston Martin suddenly found himself spinning off the road, but thankfully without damage to be able to rejoin the race, albeit dead last with work to do to catch up. In truth, TF Sport had a rather lacklustre weekend, and neither the #1 car of Johnston/Adam nor the #11 of Farmer/Barnes would make a heavy dent in the end results, although it would never be for the want of trying.

Richard Neary was having a good go in the #88 Mercedes from the start as well, and found himself making good pace up in the top 5 before he too dropped back after leaving the circuit, again, thankfully without damage to the car.

In GT4, the field had been joined by Will Moore and Matt Nicoll-Jones in the #62 Academy Motorsport Aston Martin, who were made to start from the back as their penalty for missing qualifying on Saturday in favour of going racing in the GT4 European Series at the Red Bull Ring. They would need a charge from the back of the field to have any effect on the final race results. There was no question that GT4 would be where the best battles would be fought this weekend, as the small cars revelled in the wide open spaces of Silverstone.

Sure enough, as the race went on, there developed a fantastic battle for the lead of the class, which kept people on their toes. Academy had made the climb up the order, and was now dicing with the #29 In2Racing (Hoggarth/Graham) and #72 track-club (Balon/Mackay) McLarens, and the only other GT4 Aston, the #42 MacMillan car of Jonck/Phillips. These four conspired to swap places around the circuit, with the strongest looking like the #72 track-club car. Whilst the Silver class has hogged the limelight pointswise this season, the track-club team have arrived without pomp and ceremony and raced hard. Adam Balon and Adam Mackay were pushing the little white McLaren with the experience of two men who knew how to coax the most out of a lightweight rear engine sportscar.

Drama befell the HHC Motorsport team though, as a driveshaft in the #55 Ginetta decided to break under the strain of the high speed. Tregurtha and Middleton’s race was more or less over without affecting the scoresheets, but the team would rally, replace and repair parts, and send the car back out for a fine flourish towards the end.

Another strong performance came from Kelvin Fletcher in the #54 Nissan 370Z. Fletcher, to date had hardly set the world alight, but suddenly, he was making progress up the order in the baby Godzilla, and turning a few heads as he passed some well capable drivers (including Ciaran Haggerty in one of the title contending machines)! With Struan Moore stepping into the hotseat later, it would have been prime time to see how the car would fare, but unfortunately, a puncture halted their charge.

GT3 though was becoming the Parfitt and Morris show. Parfitt’s driving was cool, calm and calculated, and no matter how much Mitchell and Littlejohn pushed in the #24 Aston behind them, they couldn’t stop the #31 Bentley from going further into the distance. The big V8 powered beast barely missed a step or a beat at the front. Unfortunately, its stablemate #7 in the hands of Ian Loggie and Callum MacLeod suddenly ended up exiting the track at speed and shunting, ruining a solid race for the team.

The two teams who gambled with longer driving stints, Spirit of Race and Barwell, endured the waiting game to see if gambling on a true endurance stint would pay off. Barwell’s gamble was to be the biggest one as they would have the most to lose at this weekend. In truth, 4th place at the flag for the #33 Minshaw/Keen Lamborghini would be enough to keep their title challenge rolling, although a podium finish (which eventually fell the way of the #21 Ferrari of Cameron & Griffin) would have been a nice little addition to the weekend.

As the race drew towards its close, the lead Bentley tangled with the #11 TF Sport car of Farmer/Barnes, but was found not to have been guilty of any indiscretion in terms of conduct, despite a spin for the Aston. Team Parker Racing celebrated 2 victories in the 2 longer races of the season so far, and another collection of 37.5 points to their total for the season, propelling Parfitt and Morris closer to Minshaw and Keen at the top of the standings. Second for the #24 MacMillan Aston gave plenty for Jack Mitchell and James Littlejohn to smile about, with another podium to add to their driving CVs. The Ferrari rounded out the podium, and pushed Duncan Cameron and Matt Griffin up the order in the championship standings too, behind the Barwell & Team Parker pairings. Still plenty to play for in that respect.

Behind the GT3 field, the GT4 class tried its best to keep up the excitement. After having its battle with its rivals, the #72 track-club car kept the momentum to the flag, as Balon and Mackay revelled in having no pit stop penalties, a quick and nimble car, and reason to drive it as fast as possible. Although Matt Nicoll-Jones and Will Moore would try their hardest to keep chase, they would fall short of a charge from last to first, and would have to settle with second place ahead of Marcus Hoggarth and Matty Graham, who were making gains on the #62 Aston in the #29 In2Racing McLaren, making both teams and fans sweat in anticipation of an exciting close finish. There was no appearance on the podium for any of the top 3 in the GT4 championship standings, and the closest finishers frm that group to the top were David Pittard and Alex Reed in the #51 Lanan Ginetta. Their lead was now shrinking to single digits, closed in heavily by Balon and Mackay, who were looking a very strong pairing in what is in truth, not a very large or heavily sponsored team. Talent will out in motor racing!

The Silverstone 500 had one extra piece of excitement in store for the winners this year, as Rick Parfitt and Seb Morris collected the RAC Trophy for winning the blue riband event of the year. If there were ever a gloss to put on a race weekend, this was it. Tradition is a rare thing in racing, a sport which doesn’t stand still, and it is nice to have a championship like this share in an old and respected piece of silverware for its latest winners. The champagne flowed faster and higher than usual. Perhaps it was relief at completion of 3 hours. Perhaps it was the sunshine. Perhaps though, it was just that the best job had been done by everyone to make this an excellent race.

Surmises from Silverstone:

One of the features of the weekend from a non-racing point of view was the Supercar display on the Sunday, which included everything from a Chevrolet Camaro, to a Dodge Viper GTS, several McLaren 675LTs, almost every Ferrari possible, and even a Jaguar XJR-12, as seen at Le Mans in 1990. A very impressive companion to an exciting weekend for the spectator.

On track, one thing missed from the entire weekend in terms of British GT and that was the often expected and much lamented Safety Car. There was no cause for it! Although there were incidents that required marshal attention and car retrieval, no need for a full course caution period was required. This ruined the caution to the wind strategies of some teams, but there’s nothing like the spectacle of drivers being allowed to run flat out for the full duration of a race. And that’s perhaps something that was needed after the last couple of years of this race!

The weekend welcomed a new championship as a supporting series this weekend, and it was one of the best we’ve seen yet. The Caterham 420R Championship turned a wheel at Silverstone, and during the afternoons of Saturday and Sunday, people were treated to a fine spectacle of racing. Up to 14 cars were nose to tail at one point during the race on Sunday following the leader, with barely an incident to report, but plenty of shuffling for position. We’d quite like to see these racers return to the timetables in future – after all, there’s only so many Ginetta G40s that can race during one weekend!