British GT Snetterton 18th June 2023
The Intelligent Money British GT Championship rolled into Snetterton for two one-hour races over the weekend of the 17th and 18th of June.
Qualifying: In the all-Am qualifying for race one, the championship table-topping 2 Seas Motorsport Mercedes of James Cottingham topped the times but copped a five-place grid drop for accruing too many penalty points after tripping over a GT4 car during Free Practice 2, which pushed the car over the edge. Donington Park polesitter Shaun Balfe’s Barwell Motorsport Lamborghini had set the second fastest time and was promoted onto pole position as a result, with Mark Radcliffe’s Optimum Motorsport McLaren alongside. The Century Motorsport BMW of Darren Leung headed the second row from GT3 newcomer Matt Topham, the two-time GT4 Pro-Am champion having stepped up to the GT3 ranks after Morgan Tillbrook’s decision to step down from driving duties in the Enduro Motorsport McLaren he shared with Marcus Clutton. The Pro-grade drivers took the wheel for the second qualifying session that would set the grid for race two. German Marvin Kirchhoefer’s McLaren took pole position for Garage 59 from Ross Gunn in the Beechdean Aston Martin. The D2-liveried Mercedes of Jules Gounon went around in the third fastest time and would share the second row with fellow works Mercedes pilot Raffaele Marciello in RAM Racing’s example. GT4 qualifying honours were split between the Raceway Motorsport Ginetta of Stuart Middleton/Freddie Tomlinson for race one and the championship table-topping McLaren of Jack Brown/Charles Clark for race two.
Qualifying: In the all-Am qualifying for race one, the championship table-topping 2 Seas Motorsport Mercedes of James Cottingham topped the times but copped a five-place grid drop for accruing too many penalty points after tripping over a GT4 car during Free Practice 2, which pushed the car over the edge. Donington Park polesitter Shaun Balfe’s Barwell Motorsport Lamborghini had set the second fastest time and was promoted onto pole position as a result, with Mark Radcliffe’s Optimum Motorsport McLaren alongside. The Century Motorsport BMW of Darren Leung headed the second row from GT3 newcomer Matt Topham, the two-time GT4 Pro-Am champion having stepped up to the GT3 ranks after Morgan Tillbrook’s decision to step down from driving duties in the Enduro Motorsport McLaren he shared with Marcus Clutton. The Pro-grade drivers took the wheel for the second qualifying session that would set the grid for race two. German Marvin Kirchhoefer’s McLaren took pole position for Garage 59 from Ross Gunn in the Beechdean Aston Martin. The D2-liveried Mercedes of Jules Gounon went around in the third fastest time and would share the second row with fellow works Mercedes pilot Raffaele Marciello in RAM Racing’s example. GT4 qualifying honours were split between the Raceway Motorsport Ginetta of Stuart Middleton/Freddie Tomlinson for race one and the championship table-topping McLaren of Jack Brown/Charles Clark for race two.
Race One: Poleman Balfe accelerated into the lead at the rolling start, with the qualifying order maintained among the top eight cars through the opening corners. Until Williams that is, when the Radcliffe McLaren ran wide onto the grass and lost second to Leung before dropping more places down the Bentley Straight as the Optimum Motorsport car lost momentum. Balfe led Leung by 1.192 seconds at the end of the opening lap from Topham in third, as Tse, Cottingham and Orange made up the top six. Topham's diffuser was bouncing underneath loudly the McLaren after opening lap contact with Sky Tempesta's similar car into Agostini. Radcliffe was bundled down to seventh after his moment, whilst Mike Price was elbowed onto the grass at Coram by John Ferguson in an incident which started with Loggie passing Sansom’s Lamborghini for ninth at Nelson. Price followed him through but ran wide at the Bombhole, which allowed Chris Hart's Mercedes through and Ferguson also tried to capitalise. Balfe soon edged away from the field after Leung had gone with him to begin with, the gap stretched out to 2.697 seconds after five laps. The Simon Orange McLaren was going well after starting seventh and joined the back of the train forming behind a fading Leung. Orange had a sniff up the inside of Cottingham at Wilson at the ten-minute mark before the McLaren made a move stick at the same spot a lap later. Around the same time, the Garage 59 McLaren of Alex West tipped Lucky Khera’s similar car into a spin at Wilson, a move which would have ramifications for the Race Two polesitter later on and the Swede is hit with a ten-second stop/go penalty. Orange soon moved onto the tail of the Sky Tempesta McLaren of Kevin Tse and dived inside into Wilson after a quarter of an hour. Ending the same lap, the third-placed Topham got on the marbles at Coram going around a GT4 McLaren and couldn’t stop for Murrays, with Orange moving swiftly past the rallycrossing McLaren. As a result of the grassy detour, Topham, Tse and Cottingham were abreast past the pit entry but the Enduro McLaren didn’t lose any more ground as Tse held off the 2 Seas Mercedes. Orange next caught Leung and had brought the gap down from 2.231 seconds inside two laps. The McLaren tried to pass immediately but the BMW was wise to the move at Wilson. The pit window was shortly due to open at the 22-minute mark, with a minimum transit time of 75 seconds. The leading four just missed the pit window opening but everyone below fourth stopped at the first opportunity - the order among them being Chris Froggatt's Sky Tempesta McLaren, Rob Bell's Optimum Motorsport McLaren, Martin Plowman's Paddock Motorsport McLaren, Sam Neary's Abba Racing Mercedes and Jonny Adam's 2 Seas Mercedes after their stops. The Cottingham/Adam car had to sit stationary for an additional ten seconds as penance for its Donington Park win. Balfe and co were in next time round and the Lamborghini had held a near seven-second lead when the car made its stop. Leaving their stops, Michael O’Brien’s Orange Motorsport 720S and Marcus Clutton’s similar car were side by side along the pit lane behind a slow-moving Harper BMW as the Century Motorsport car ensured it didn't fall foul of the minimum time, Clutton’s Enduro Motorsport car got ahead after O’Brien was faced with a narrowing road at pit exit. Behind the Barwell Lamborghini now in the hands of Sandy Mitchell that had retained the lead, the Sky Tempesta and Optimum Motorsport McLarens were the big winners at the stops and moved up three places into second and four places to third respectively. Dan Harper's Century Motorsport BMW lost two places to sit in fourth, whilst the McLarens of Clutton and O'Brien dropped one and three spots to sit in fifth and sixth. The Cottingham/Adam 2 Seas car fell to ninth and Adam had to fend off Ross Gunn’s Beechdean Aston Martin and works Mercedes superstars Jules Gounon and Raffaele Marciello. Mitchell soon started romping away from Frogatt in second, whilst Rob Bell in the Optimum McLaren was being hounded by Harper’s BMW. The BMW Junior driver took third in a drag race past the pits with just under 25 minutes left. Shortly after, O’Brien in the Orange Motorsport McLaren was handed a drive-through penalty for an unsafe release at the pitstops and plummeted to 13th. The Sky Tempesta McLaren began to fall into the clutches of Harper and Bell, the BMW going past with 22 minutes left into Riches and the McLaren also moved through with twenty minutes remaining. More penalties were announced as Clutton received a stop/go penalty for a short pit stop and dropped to tenth from fifth, whilst the Mark Smith/Plowman Paddock Motorsport McLaren in seventh also copped a one-second stop/go for a short stop. In the end, the Barwell Lamborghini of Balfe/Mitchell took an untroubled win by 11.110 seconds from the Leung/Harper BMW and Radcliffe/Bell McLaren in third. Tse/Frogatt's Sky McLaren finished as the top Silver-Am pairing in fourth, whilst the late penalties for the two McLarens elevated the Cottingham/Adam Mercedes into sixth. Adam finished sandwiched between the Nearys’ newly upgraded ‘Evo’ Mercedes, after their Balance of Performance 15kg weight hike at Donington Park, and Gunn's Beechdean Aston Martin on-the-road after the pair edged away from Gounon and Marciello. The Beechdean Aston Martin was subsequently penalised 45 seconds for causing a collision and was classified 17th. The penalised Clutton and O'Brien McLarens ended up finishing back together after their enforced pit visits in tenth and eleventh respectively.
Race Two: After taking over in Race One, the Pro-graded would drivers start the second bout. The race would go without the top qualifying Kirchhoefer/West Garage 59 McLaren, the car was withdrawn before the race as West was in trouble again after being judged to have caused a collision with Lucky Khera’s McLaren during Race One. The Beechdean Aston Martin of Ross Gunn was promoted onto pole position, with Jules Gounon's 2 Seas Mercedes shifted up to start alongside. RAM Racing's Rafaelle Marciello and Dan Harper's Century Motorsport BMW now formed row two, with Michael O’Brien's Orange McLaren and Jonny Adam's 2 Seas Mercedes on row three. The Race One-winning Sandy Mitchell/Shaun Balfe Lamborghini Huracan started from seventh. Gunn led the field away at the start of the sixty minutes, whilst Gounon swept across the nose of Marciello into Riches as they slotted into second and third. Immediately, Gounon forced Gunn to defend into the Wilson hairpin and tried to hang on around the outside to give the Mercedes the inside for Palmer but Gunn squeezed across the Mercedes' nose approaching the corner to hold onto the lead. Harper and O’Brien held fourth and fifth behind Marciello ending lap one. Behind them, Mitchell and Clutton spent most of the second lap side by side, with the McLaren always ending up on the outside and was unable to get through. The leading Aston Martin had built a slight advantage after the opening two laps, whilst second to fifth were formed in a line. Despite having that small chink of daylight, Gounon was still within a second of Gunn after ten minutes and Marciello was still in touch too. Eventually, the leading Aston started to edge away and the RAM Racing car moved onto the tail of Gounon's 2 Seas car. Gunn’s lead grew further to 2.158 seconds as the leading GT3s put a lap on the GT4 runners after twenty minutes. When Gounon was baulked by Joe Wheeler's GT4 Ginetta at Palmer, Marciello got a run at second place but the Frenchman held off his Italo-Swiss Mercedes stablemate into Agostini. The pit window ran from 22 to 32 minutes and the Orange Motorsport McLaren of O'Brien ducked into the pitlane early for its mandatory stop after 27 minutes to get some clear air, having been tucked up behind the Century BMW up to that point. The evenly matched remaining top four left it as late in the window as possible to pit and all peeled in with 31 minutes gone. The top three had no extra time to spend stationary, as well as the fifth-placed McLaren, but the BMW in fourth had a bill of seven seconds to pay. The top three emerged from their stops with an increased margin over the fourth-placed car, which was now the 2 Seas Mercedes of James Cottingham. The Orange Motorsport McLaren still sat in fifth but had jumped ahead of the BMW it had spent so much of the first half of the race tucked up behind, helped by the seven seconds success penalty for the Century Motorsport car now in the hands of Darren Leung. Ending the out lap, a feisty John Ferguson made a robust move on 2022 champion Ian Loggie under braking for Murrays after a moment’s hesitation for the defending champion in GT4 traffic was enough to tempt the RAM Racing driver to make his move. Loggie didn’t let Ferguson escape, with the RAM Racing Mercedes becoming very wide and his stern defence allowed Cottingham to reel them in. Disaster soon struck for the leading Aston as the car was slapped with a 1-second stop/go penalty for a short stop, after almost doubling its lead from how it stood prior to pitting. That left Ferguson, Loggie and Cottingham scrapping for the win with nineteen minutes to go. Just as the Aston served its penalty, Loggie got a run on Ferguson past the pits and was squeezed towards the grass. The Scot tried the other side but was met again with a face full of RAM Racing Mercedes so remained in second. When the trio arrived at Riches, Cottingham drove around the outside of Loggie and into second place. The DK-liveried Mercedes was quickly onto Ferguson’s tail, who weaved down the Bentley Straight and would be greeted by the driving standards flag at the end of the lap. Cottingham went toe to toe with him across the line as the flag is unfurled but Ferguson held on. The Simon Orange McLaren was taking chunks of time from the three Mercedes as they fought and would catch them with eleven minutes to go. Cottingham moved to the outside of Ferguson past the pits with nine minutes to go and had his nose in front across the timing line but couldn’t make the longer route work at Riches. A couple of minutes later, a determined Orange grabbed third using his favoured dive inside on the brakes into Wilson but the move opened a slight gap between the top two and their pursuers. Using the opportunity to make a move without immediate pressure, Cottingham drew alongside Ferguson down the Bentley Straight but was forced into the dirt lining the track edge so doesn’t complete the move, despite having the inside line for Brundle. The second-placed Mercedes is then forced to cover the inside line into Wilson next time around as Orange made a bid for second place. Leader Ferguson was next to be on the defensive as Cottingham looked to the inside of Agostini before the challenger was put on the grass heading into the Bombhole after getting a great exit from Nelson. Orange pounced on Cottingham’s slow exit from the Bombhole to drive inside the Mercedes into Coram but Cottingham held on. The Mercedes then outbraked itself into Murrays and Orange ran up the outside passing the pits, the McLaren tried to hang on around the outside of Riches but ended up losing third to Loggie into Wilson after running wide. The top four were still as one as they went onto what appeared to be the final lap, with the clock ticking down to zero and no chequered flag being waved. At the time, Cottingham had drawn alongside Ferguson again on the outside and the 2 Seas car was shown to be 0.017 seconds ahead. However, the official timing had shown the pack to have crossed the line three-tenths of a second after the sixty minutes were up but the top four continued their scrap unaware. In the battle for third and fourth, Loggie and Orange collide twice on the official ‘slowing down’ lap after Loggie closed the door too late into Wilson in the first instance before clouting the rear of the McLaren at Agostini as he attempted to dive up the inside. The Orange Motorsport car suffered deranged rear suspension in the incident. A halt is eventually called over the radios and Marciello/Ferguson thus took a dogged win by 0.042 seconds from Adam/Cottingham as pictures show the RAM Racing car to be half a car length in front. Gounon/Loggie and O'Brien/Orange were third and fourth as 0.668 covered the quartet after a titanic battle. Harper/Leung's BMW held off Gunn/Howard’s Aston Martin for fourth but the Beechdean Aston was penalised a further 30 seconds after the race for speeding in the pitlane and was classified fifteenth as a result. Having dominated race one, the Barwell Lamborghini of Sandy Mitchell/Shaun Balfe had a much quieter race two and trailed home in ninth behind Mike Price/Callum McLeod, Matt Topham/Marcus Clutton and Kevin Tse/Chris Frogatt.
GT4
Race One: The polesitting Raceway Motorsport Ginetta G56 of Stuart Middleton raced into an early lead from the Josh Miller R Racing Aston Martin and the squabbling Aston Millar and Charles Clark McLarens. However, at the pit stops the sister Pro-Am Ginetta of Thomas Holland/Michael Crees vaulted from fifth to second due to their shorter minimum stop time and were right with its stablemate when Freddie Tomlinson emerged from taking the car over. The lead Ginetta had left it right to the last possible moment to peel in, less than a minute of the window remained when Middleton guided the car into the pit lane. As partner Middleton had done in the opening stint, Tomlinson eased away up front and took a clear win. Raceway Motorsport's Ginettas took away a 1-2 result, with Crees bringing his Ginetta home in second. Third place was taken by Josh Miller/Seb Hopkins' R Racing Aston Martin, having fought off the Michael Johnston/Chris Salkeld BMW. The sister Century Motorsport BMW of Carl Cavers/Lewis Plato battled past the DTO McLaren of Aston Millar/Josh Rowledge twice inside the final five minutes for fifth as the four-way fight enlivened the closing stages.
Race Two: The Optimum Motorsport McLaren of Jack Brown/Charles Clark shared the front row with the Ginetta to be started by Mike Simpson, one of two changes in Toro Verde GT’s lineup. Ginetta Head of Motorsport Simpson joined James Townsend, who had split from Ian Duggan. Duggan was now partnered by Joe Wheeler in the team’s pair of Ginettas and both crews were now in the Pro-Am class. The R Racing Aston Martin of Seb Hopkins/Josh Miller and the sister Toro Verde GT Ginetta of Wheeler/Duggan completed the top four on the grid. The Race-One-winning Freddie Tomlinson/Stuart Middleton Raceway Ginetta went from seventh. Clark converted his pole position to head the field around the opening lap but back in the pack, the Tomlinson Ginetta pulled off after losing its bonnet. A concertina effect into Riches between the R Racing Aston Martin of Seb Hopkins, the DTO McLaren started by Josh Rowledge and the Ginetta had seen the damage done. Clark continued to lead throughout the opening quarter of the race, with Simpson's Ginetta following in his wheeltracks. After 21 minutes, Simpson took a lunge for the class lead into Wilson but didn’t make the pass cleanly as Clark was sent spinning. Simpson was soon hit with a 10-second stop/go penalty for the contact, which puts Clark back in front as the stops approached at the 28-minute mark. The fourteen extra seconds the silver-graded Optimum Motorsport McLaren had to spend at a standstill saw Brown emerge behind two Pro-Am class cars - the Carl Cavers BMW started by Lewis Plato and the Ginetta that Ian Duggan replaced Joe Wheeler aboard. Having dispatched the Duggan Ginetta with 21 minutes left, the Optimum McLaren drew up to Cavers' BMW and slid up the inside into Agostini with 10 minutes remaining. Clark pulled clear to win from Aston Millar in the DTO McLaren started by Josh Rowledge and the R Racing Aston Martin of Seb Hopkins/Josh Miller, after they removed Plato/Cavers from the podium in the closing stages but the BMW was still the top Pro-Am crew.
A post-race altercation in the paddock between Michael Crees and Erik Evans led to the disqualification of both cars from the meeting, the pair having made contact during the last ten minutes of the second encounter which sent the former's Ginetta into the barriers. Crees and partner Thomas Holland lost their second place in Race One as a result, with Josh Miller/Seb Hopkins’ R Racing Aston Martin going up to second and Michael Johnston/Chris Salkeld’s BMW moving onto the podium. Both Crees and Evans received six penalty points on their licences for their parts in the incident, whilst Crees also parted company with the Raceway Motorsport team in the aftermath.
Race One: The polesitting Raceway Motorsport Ginetta G56 of Stuart Middleton raced into an early lead from the Josh Miller R Racing Aston Martin and the squabbling Aston Millar and Charles Clark McLarens. However, at the pit stops the sister Pro-Am Ginetta of Thomas Holland/Michael Crees vaulted from fifth to second due to their shorter minimum stop time and were right with its stablemate when Freddie Tomlinson emerged from taking the car over. The lead Ginetta had left it right to the last possible moment to peel in, less than a minute of the window remained when Middleton guided the car into the pit lane. As partner Middleton had done in the opening stint, Tomlinson eased away up front and took a clear win. Raceway Motorsport's Ginettas took away a 1-2 result, with Crees bringing his Ginetta home in second. Third place was taken by Josh Miller/Seb Hopkins' R Racing Aston Martin, having fought off the Michael Johnston/Chris Salkeld BMW. The sister Century Motorsport BMW of Carl Cavers/Lewis Plato battled past the DTO McLaren of Aston Millar/Josh Rowledge twice inside the final five minutes for fifth as the four-way fight enlivened the closing stages.
Race Two: The Optimum Motorsport McLaren of Jack Brown/Charles Clark shared the front row with the Ginetta to be started by Mike Simpson, one of two changes in Toro Verde GT’s lineup. Ginetta Head of Motorsport Simpson joined James Townsend, who had split from Ian Duggan. Duggan was now partnered by Joe Wheeler in the team’s pair of Ginettas and both crews were now in the Pro-Am class. The R Racing Aston Martin of Seb Hopkins/Josh Miller and the sister Toro Verde GT Ginetta of Wheeler/Duggan completed the top four on the grid. The Race-One-winning Freddie Tomlinson/Stuart Middleton Raceway Ginetta went from seventh. Clark converted his pole position to head the field around the opening lap but back in the pack, the Tomlinson Ginetta pulled off after losing its bonnet. A concertina effect into Riches between the R Racing Aston Martin of Seb Hopkins, the DTO McLaren started by Josh Rowledge and the Ginetta had seen the damage done. Clark continued to lead throughout the opening quarter of the race, with Simpson's Ginetta following in his wheeltracks. After 21 minutes, Simpson took a lunge for the class lead into Wilson but didn’t make the pass cleanly as Clark was sent spinning. Simpson was soon hit with a 10-second stop/go penalty for the contact, which puts Clark back in front as the stops approached at the 28-minute mark. The fourteen extra seconds the silver-graded Optimum Motorsport McLaren had to spend at a standstill saw Brown emerge behind two Pro-Am class cars - the Carl Cavers BMW started by Lewis Plato and the Ginetta that Ian Duggan replaced Joe Wheeler aboard. Having dispatched the Duggan Ginetta with 21 minutes left, the Optimum McLaren drew up to Cavers' BMW and slid up the inside into Agostini with 10 minutes remaining. Clark pulled clear to win from Aston Millar in the DTO McLaren started by Josh Rowledge and the R Racing Aston Martin of Seb Hopkins/Josh Miller, after they removed Plato/Cavers from the podium in the closing stages but the BMW was still the top Pro-Am crew.
A post-race altercation in the paddock between Michael Crees and Erik Evans led to the disqualification of both cars from the meeting, the pair having made contact during the last ten minutes of the second encounter which sent the former's Ginetta into the barriers. Crees and partner Thomas Holland lost their second place in Race One as a result, with Josh Miller/Seb Hopkins’ R Racing Aston Martin going up to second and Michael Johnston/Chris Salkeld’s BMW moving onto the podium. Both Crees and Evans received six penalty points on their licences for their parts in the incident, whilst Crees also parted company with the Raceway Motorsport team in the aftermath.
The British GT Championship heads abroad to the Portimão circuit in Portugal for its next event on the 22nd and 23rd of July as the series begins its second half. The James Cottingham/Jonny Adam 2 Seas Mercedes leaves Norfolk heading the GT3 standings by 5.5 points from Darren Leung/Dan Harper's Century Motorsport BMW M4. In GT4, Race Two victors Jack Brown/Charles Clark are running away with the division in their McLaren Artura as they head Carl Cavers/Lewis Plato's BMW M4 by 48 points.
Other Highlights
Other Highlights
GB3: 2022 F4 dominator Alex Dunne may have topped pre-event testing but Matthew Rees placed his JHR Developments car on pole position for Race One. Rees was narrowly defeated by James Hedley by less than half a second come the race, Hedley having made a blinding start from fourth on the grid to lead by Riches for the first time. Callum Voisin, the new championship leader after Race One, sat on pole position for Race Two and had Tymek Kucharczyk starting alongside. Voisin made the best of the start to lead Kucharczyk by three-quarters of a second at the end of the opening lap but the Pole soon reeled him in. Kucharczyk attempted to take the lead at the Wilson hairpin for the fifth time but only succeeded in hitting Voisin’s car, which pirouetted into retirement with damaged suspension. Noah Ping went into the lead from Alex Dunne, with Kucharczyk third in the queue as the Safety Car was deployed. Ping controlled the restart well to take the win from Dunne in second and Kucharczyk third, having staved off a stern challenge from Hedley at Brundle/Nelson on the restart lap. Dunne took the championship lead after Voisin’s incident and pre-weekend leader Joseph Loake suffered a late spin. A complete reversal of the Race One grid set up the Race Three starting order, placing Daniel Mavlyutov on pole ahead of Arthur Rogeon. The top four places remained static during the early stages but McKenzy Cresswell made good progress from starting 14th to end lap one up in ninth, which became seventh ending lap five. His combative run came to an end after contact with David Morales in sixth broke his front wing. Turk Malyutov took a dominant win by 3.687 seconds after the 25 minutes, Frenchman Rogeon took second and Brazilian Lucas Staico third, Rogeon and Staico hung on to Malyutov for the first few laps before becoming spread out. The championship contenders finished in a line from the bottom of the top ten down, with overtaking proving difficult as Loake, Voisin and Dunne filled tenth to twelfth places.
GB4: KMR Sport would field 2022 Esports F1 World Champion Lucas Blakeley in a third car for the weekend, Blakeley having previously impressed in one of the team’s FF1600 Spectrums in selected outings. The 21-year-old had also claimed some notable scalps at the Race of Champions in Sweden during the winter, including those of Valtteri Bottas, Mika Hakkinen and Sebastian Vettel. Australian Cooper Webster set pole position ahead of Blakeley’s teammate Tom Mills for the opening race on Saturday. 2022 National FF1600 front-runner Colin Queen headed the second row ahead of an impressive Blakeley. The top three would finish race one in the order that they qualified in as Webster eased to a three-second win from Mills, who had Queen close behind in third, whilst Blakeley slipped back to eleventh. The grid for Race Two was determined by the second fastest qualifying times and Webster would again go from pole. Queen’s second-best time bettered Mills and the American joined the Australian on the front row, Mills shared the second row with Harry Burgoyne and Blakeley went from fifth. Webster held the lead off the line as Mills burst through to second. Webster ran wide at the Wilson hairpin for the first time and gifted Mills the lead, the pair of them moving away from Queen in third. Having stayed within half a second of Mills around the opening laps, Webster had a big slide starting the fifth lap through Riches which put the KMR driver almost a second clear but Webster rallied with the fastest lap to close right back in going onto the last lap. Mills shrugged off the pressure to win by 0.322 seconds from Webster, whilst Queen took his second third place of the weekend. Liam McNeilly passed Jeremy Fairbairn for fourth at Murrays for the last time and Sid Smith also pipped the American over the line. A complete reversal of the Race One qualifying order set up Race Three grid, which placed KMR Sport's Jack Clifford onto pole position. Come the race, Aditya Kulkarni fired into the lead from the outside of the front row and built a lead out front. Race One victor Webster charged up to second from gridding eleventh inside five laps and had a 2.139-second gap to reduce. The flying Australian was on the leader’s tail within three laps. Webster tried around the outside of Riches and hung on out wide into Wilson, where they bang wheels but Kulkarni doesn't relent. Later in the lap, the aggressive Webster made a move stick at Brundle/Nelson to take over the race lead. Championship leader Mills quietly moved up to fourth on the penultimate lap after McNeilly broke his front wing on teammate Smith's car, the reigning Fiesta Junior champion went out with a punctured rear tyre as a result. Webster won from the sixth row by 2.545 seconds from Kulkarni in second, whilst Mills took third in a photo finish with teammate Clifford.
Ginetta Junior: Freddie Slater’s dominance in 2023 continued with wins in each of the three races. Slater staved off challenges from Reza Seewooruthun and Chase Fernandez on Saturday, as 0.461 seconds covered the trio at the chequer. A busy race two saw Slater fall to third at one point, as an eight-car train built up for the lead. A hectic sixth and seventh laps characterised the race as the R Racing youngster took the lead at Wilson, only for Fernandez to take it back into Agostini. Fernandez then ran wide at Oggies, with Slater and Mikey Porter both taking advantage to go through into first and second. Porter then slipstreamed into the lead down the Wellington Straight. Next time around, Porter defended the inside from Fernandez at Agostini and Slater moved back up to second at the exit as Fernandez lost momentum, having slipped behind the Assetto driver into Riches. Slater then draughted into the lead down the Bentley Straight but a bad exit from Murrays allowed Fernandez to come along the outside into Riches but the Assetto car was hung out to dry by the pack, which was now eight cars strong, and fell to fifth. Slater and teammate Porter were able to eke out a small gap whilst they squabbled, before Slater broke the tow on the last couple of laps to take victory from Porter by 2.063 seconds. A restarted Race Three saw Slater ease away to a 2.063-second winning margin for the second time in a short three-lap encounter, Slater's R Racing teammate Porter again chased him home from Seewooruthun.
Ginetta GT Championship: Luke Reade was in sparkling form as he sped to each of the three race victories. Callum Davies finished within a second of Reade on Saturday before Blake Anglis was twice the runner-up on Sunday, having led the first four laps of Sunday's afternoon bout. Former National Hot Rod world champion Colin White put in a stirring drive in Race Three to take a podium spot. In the concurrent GT5 battles, Ella Lloyd beat the boys to the first two victories of the weekend before Luke Garlick stole the third victory on the penultimate lap and held Lloyd off to the flag.
Ginetta GT Academy: Nick White took two wins among the GT Academy pack, the second victory coming from a last-lap pass of Race Two victor Jon Kearney at the Brundle/Nelson complex. Ravi Ramyead had taken second place in the first two encounters, before spinning down to fifth in Race Three whilst sat in second once more.
GB4: KMR Sport would field 2022 Esports F1 World Champion Lucas Blakeley in a third car for the weekend, Blakeley having previously impressed in one of the team’s FF1600 Spectrums in selected outings. The 21-year-old had also claimed some notable scalps at the Race of Champions in Sweden during the winter, including those of Valtteri Bottas, Mika Hakkinen and Sebastian Vettel. Australian Cooper Webster set pole position ahead of Blakeley’s teammate Tom Mills for the opening race on Saturday. 2022 National FF1600 front-runner Colin Queen headed the second row ahead of an impressive Blakeley. The top three would finish race one in the order that they qualified in as Webster eased to a three-second win from Mills, who had Queen close behind in third, whilst Blakeley slipped back to eleventh. The grid for Race Two was determined by the second fastest qualifying times and Webster would again go from pole. Queen’s second-best time bettered Mills and the American joined the Australian on the front row, Mills shared the second row with Harry Burgoyne and Blakeley went from fifth. Webster held the lead off the line as Mills burst through to second. Webster ran wide at the Wilson hairpin for the first time and gifted Mills the lead, the pair of them moving away from Queen in third. Having stayed within half a second of Mills around the opening laps, Webster had a big slide starting the fifth lap through Riches which put the KMR driver almost a second clear but Webster rallied with the fastest lap to close right back in going onto the last lap. Mills shrugged off the pressure to win by 0.322 seconds from Webster, whilst Queen took his second third place of the weekend. Liam McNeilly passed Jeremy Fairbairn for fourth at Murrays for the last time and Sid Smith also pipped the American over the line. A complete reversal of the Race One qualifying order set up Race Three grid, which placed KMR Sport's Jack Clifford onto pole position. Come the race, Aditya Kulkarni fired into the lead from the outside of the front row and built a lead out front. Race One victor Webster charged up to second from gridding eleventh inside five laps and had a 2.139-second gap to reduce. The flying Australian was on the leader’s tail within three laps. Webster tried around the outside of Riches and hung on out wide into Wilson, where they bang wheels but Kulkarni doesn't relent. Later in the lap, the aggressive Webster made a move stick at Brundle/Nelson to take over the race lead. Championship leader Mills quietly moved up to fourth on the penultimate lap after McNeilly broke his front wing on teammate Smith's car, the reigning Fiesta Junior champion went out with a punctured rear tyre as a result. Webster won from the sixth row by 2.545 seconds from Kulkarni in second, whilst Mills took third in a photo finish with teammate Clifford.
Ginetta Junior: Freddie Slater’s dominance in 2023 continued with wins in each of the three races. Slater staved off challenges from Reza Seewooruthun and Chase Fernandez on Saturday, as 0.461 seconds covered the trio at the chequer. A busy race two saw Slater fall to third at one point, as an eight-car train built up for the lead. A hectic sixth and seventh laps characterised the race as the R Racing youngster took the lead at Wilson, only for Fernandez to take it back into Agostini. Fernandez then ran wide at Oggies, with Slater and Mikey Porter both taking advantage to go through into first and second. Porter then slipstreamed into the lead down the Wellington Straight. Next time around, Porter defended the inside from Fernandez at Agostini and Slater moved back up to second at the exit as Fernandez lost momentum, having slipped behind the Assetto driver into Riches. Slater then draughted into the lead down the Bentley Straight but a bad exit from Murrays allowed Fernandez to come along the outside into Riches but the Assetto car was hung out to dry by the pack, which was now eight cars strong, and fell to fifth. Slater and teammate Porter were able to eke out a small gap whilst they squabbled, before Slater broke the tow on the last couple of laps to take victory from Porter by 2.063 seconds. A restarted Race Three saw Slater ease away to a 2.063-second winning margin for the second time in a short three-lap encounter, Slater's R Racing teammate Porter again chased him home from Seewooruthun.
Ginetta GT Championship: Luke Reade was in sparkling form as he sped to each of the three race victories. Callum Davies finished within a second of Reade on Saturday before Blake Anglis was twice the runner-up on Sunday, having led the first four laps of Sunday's afternoon bout. Former National Hot Rod world champion Colin White put in a stirring drive in Race Three to take a podium spot. In the concurrent GT5 battles, Ella Lloyd beat the boys to the first two victories of the weekend before Luke Garlick stole the third victory on the penultimate lap and held Lloyd off to the flag.
Ginetta GT Academy: Nick White took two wins among the GT Academy pack, the second victory coming from a last-lap pass of Race Two victor Jon Kearney at the Brundle/Nelson complex. Ravi Ramyead had taken second place in the first two encounters, before spinning down to fifth in Race Three whilst sat in second once more.