Century Motorsport’s new GT4 pairing of Zoe Wenham and Declan Jones got off to a perfect start in pursuit of the class title in the Avon Tyres British GT Championship with two wins from the two hour long races at Oulton Park.
Victory in the first of Easter Monday’s two races came courtesy of a stop-go penalty for Ryan Ratcliffe that pulled the Optimum Motorsport driver out of the class to leave the way clear for Jones – new to the championship having previously been a front runner in the Ginetta GT Supercup – to secure the first win in the series for both he and Wenham, who finished second in the GT4 class standings in her first year of GT4 racing last year.
Jones had been the class of the field the whole weekend at his home track, leading both practice sessions and claiming pole for the second race of the weekend – Wenham having qualified third in class for the first event. From pole Jones romped away into an early lead at the start of the second race, with APO Sport’s James May second in class, though some distance behind.
However, a slow driver change at the half way mark left Wenham in second place, chasing APO’s Alex Osborne for the class lead, a task that ended when Osborne was harpooned from the class lead by a GT3 car at the Britten’s chicane.
Following a safety car period for marshals to tend to a car on fire at Deer Leap Wenham faced strong opposition from Rick Parfitt Jr. in Optimum’s entry to complete the double victory for the teenaged driving duo.
“I was really expecting that race to end under the safety car so I was a little caught out when I saw the green flag with cold tyres,” said Wenham. “Rick put me under a lot of pressure in those last few laps but fortunately I was able to hold him off and achieve the perfect ending to a great weekend.”
“Zoe did a great job to bring the car home for our second win,” added Jones. “On those final laps she hit every apex and did a great job defending the lead. Overall it’s been a great weekend and I’m really looking forward to Rockingham.”
The Avon Tyres British GT Championship continues at the Northamptonshire roval on May 6.