Glynn Geddie (l) and Jim Geddie on the Silverstone podium (Photo Credit: Jakob Ebrey)
Jim and Glynn Geddie became the first father and son driving pairing to win the Avon Tyres British GT Championship, their third place finish at Silverstone good enough to protect their advantage in the points.
Their title did not always look assured. Taking the first stint in the Apex Tubulars backed CRS Racing entry Jim fought hard with Duncan Cameron and Michael Guasch – his two closest rivals in the championship rising up the order all the time. Admitting later his main aim was to keep pace with Cameron in the MTECH Ferrari 458 Jim had to avoid both Guasch and Julien Draper who spun in separate incidents exiting Club corner.
“He spun in front of me and I had to brake almost to a standstill,” Jim told The Checkered Flag in hindsight. “There was still contact on the door then I was able to go around him but by then the Porsche [of David Ashburn] had pulled away. I was delighted with the way I was catching the Porsche because that's the first time this season we've been able to keep up with them.”
Handing the car over intact to son Glynn the 21-year-old put in a consistent stint to put the car on the podium. Despite all that was at stake Glynn's driving was occasionally necessarily robust, for example fighting past Zak Brown in the United Autosports Audi, the pair almost touching as the battled wheel to wheel down the Wellington Straight.
“I just really had to push on,” Glynn told TCF. “Richard Westbrook was ahead so if he won we needed to finish third, it was a bit on an off the radio seeing where we were at. We had good pace, the fastest car on track for a while and then at the end we were mega, like through the complex where we'd struggled in qualifying the car was unreal so great thanks to Tim Mullen and the team, the engineers have been great all season and the team's done a mega job.”
All but assured of the title in the closing laps Geddie was able to pressure Westbrook in the second placed Trackspeed Porsche.
Geddie said; “my team an engineer were screaming down the radio but you want to race and you want another step up the podium. I know Richard and I just wanted to make a point really. It was good to know we had the legs on him and couple more laps and we would have done it.”
“In an ideal world we would have loved to have gone out and won our final race of the season but third was enough for us to take it,” he is quoted on a press release. “This victory should now create new opportunities for me in the seasons ahead but I now need to plan carefully for my future. I’m willing to consider any suitable offers but I’d like to think I’ll be back in the British GT championship alongside dad as defending champion.”
