Late drama for the #33 Barwell Motorsport Lamborghini saw Ian Loggie and Callum Macleod surge to their first British GT victory in the #7 Team Parker Racing Bentley, whilst Ebor GT charged to a GT4 clean sweep.
A collision with a GT4 runner cost championship leaders Jon Minshaw and Phil Keen crucial points towards the title race, whilst their main rivals Rick Parfitt Jnr and Seb Morris were struck with a drive-through penalty.
An excellent start from the sole remaining Ferrari of Carlo Van Dam saw the Kessel Racing machine power ahead of both Team Parker Racing Bentleys into second up through Eau Rouge. Despite fervent pressure from Macleod down the Kemmel Straight, Van Dam maintained second whilst Keen streaked away at the front.
Whilst one Barwell led the field, another trailed at the back, with Sam Tordoff limping to the pitlane with front-end damage before retiring to the team garage.
A disastrous weekend for Silverstone winners Track-Club saw the #72 McLaren 570S suffer further reliability problems, with another retirement in race 2 capping a difficult event.
In GT4, a determined Joe Osborne built a four-second lead gap over the #29 In2Racing McLaren of Jesse Anttila, with the Tolman Motorsport driver eager to bounce back from a late puncture that cost the #56 car race 1 honours.
David Pattison and Joe Osborne looked to make up for race 1 heartbreak. (Credit: Jakob Ebrey Photography)
Anttila was soon jumped by Matthew Graham, who after starting from the back quickly eviscerated Osbourne’s three-second lead and fired the #60 Ebor GT Maserati GT MC into top spot.
After finishing bottom of GT3 in race 1, a much improved fourth-place performance in the early stages from Patrick Kujala in the #77 Barwell Motorsport Lamborghini was ruined by a terminal problem, seeing a second Barwell car retiring in quick succession.
Another victim of reliability issues in GT4 was the #59 Black Bull Garage 59 McLaren of Dean MacDonald, whilst a tight tussle in the midfield of GT3 saw Jonny Adam snatch fourth from Morris.
The GT3 podium battlers that had become backed up by the defensive #39 Ferrari of Van Dam were released into clean air when the Dutchman became the first of the front-runners to make a mandatory driver change pitstop.
The top two of Keen and Macleod darted in for their stops at the halfway point, with Keen’s partner Minshaw emerging 8.7 seconds ahead of Loggie in the #7 Bentley.
A fierce duel for the final podium spot raged in GT3, with Piti Bhirombhakdi‘s Ferrari fending off fervent pressure from Parfitt Jnr’s #31 Bentley.
As a result of having a 24 second longer minimum pitstop time than the rest of the GT4 field, the charging Ebor GT Maserati dropped down to fourth in class – taking little time to catch and pass Marcus Hoggarth in the #29 In2Racing McLaren for third.
Parfitt Jnr’s elation from passing Bhirombhakdi swiftly turned to dejection when the #31 Bentley was forced to serve a drive-through penalty for breaching track limits, a crucial decision with significant championship implications.
A late-race penalty proved costly for the #31 Bentley. (Credit: Jakob Ebrey Photography)
Another dramatic penalty was handed out in GT4 with 13 minutes to go, as the class-leading #62 Academy Motorsport Aston Martin was awarded a six second stop-go penalty for a pitstop infringement.
Having made short work of David Pattison‘s #56 McLaren, the #60 Maserati of Charlie Fagg quickly inherited the lead after Will Moore‘s penalty, making it consecutive GT4 victories from the back of the grid in a sensational British GT return for Ebor GT.
A determined Loggie halved Minshaw’s lead gap suddenly at the front of the field to four seconds, before disaster struck the race and championship leading Lamborghini. Contact through piff-paff with a GT4 competitor left Minshaw’s Barwell machine stricken in the middle of the road with damage, handing top spot to the #7 Bentley.
A perfect opportunity to close the points gap was quickly scuppered as a result of the drive-through penalty for the #31 Bentley, Parfitt Jnr emerging 8th in GT3 whilst Minshaw toured round in 10th.
Minshaw’s demise handed another second spot to Alain Ferte in the #17 Team WRT Audi R8 LMS GT3, whilst Jack Mitchell inherited the final podium spot in the #24 Macmillan AMR Aston Martin.
Loggie surged across line to bag his and Macleod’s maiden British GT victory, with Team Parker Racing becoming the first team in British GT to win with multiple cars this season.
Fagg cruised home victorious in GT4 ahead of Will Tregurtha, who snatched second spot late on for HHC Motorsport from Pattison’s Tolman Motorsport McLaren.
Fagg and Graham powered their Ebor GT Maserati to a GT4 clean sweep. (Credit: Jakob Ebrey Photography)
