This live blog post will be updated through the opening round of the 2014 Avon Tyres British GT Championship race from Oulton Park.
12:14
That concludes the live coverage of the first British GT race. We’ll back for race two later!!
12:14
Jake Giddings and Ross Wylie take GT4 victory in the first race for Beechdean AMR’s ‘junior squad
12:13
Michael Caine crosses the line to win the first British GT race of the season. He and co-driver Ahmad Al Harthy led from lights to flag
12:09
Caine starts his 35th a final lap of the race with a 3.6 second lead over Lyons who has a similar buffer to Jonny Adam
12:08
Damage on the front of John Gaw’s Aston tells the story of what happened to Barff’s Ferrari
12:06
Jonny Adam is catching Richard Lyons in second, but with 4 minutes of the hour remaining is there time??
12:05
Rob Barff comes into the pits, the FF Corse Ferrari sporting rear end damage. Did that battle for the top five turn nasty
12:04
Lyons inherits second place, but is 4 seconds behind Michael Caine
12:03
Luke Hines has a stop-go penalty. He actually stops twice, but that’s the end of their chase for the lead with 7 minutes to go.
12:02
Matt Nicoll-Jones brings the Academy Motorsport G55 GT4 into the pits
12:02
Even closer is the fight for 4th, 5th, 6th and 7th where Jonny Adam leads Matt Bell, Rob Barff and John Gaw
12:00
Caine is bottled up behind Benny Simonsen’s #3 car. Hines 0.8 behind the leader
11:53
Gavan Kershaw takes GT4 second at Old Hall, but the ISSY racing Lotus is under investigation by the stewards
11:53
Hines has the gap down to just 0.6 seconds with 17 minutes to go.
11:52
Steven Kane hooks up three best sectors in the M-Sport Bentley for a new fastest lap – 1:36.888. But he’s in 14th, part of the Buncombe lead train fighting for the minor placings.
11:50
Hines is cutting into Caine’s lead, just 1.2 seconds between the pair now.
11:49
Beechdean’s GT4 team has preserved their lead through the pit stops – Jake Giddings now at the wheel of the #407
11:48
The Safety Car SNAFU has split the race in two. Buncombe is 80 seconds behind John Gaw in 8th place
11:47
Caine has a 3 second margin over Hines, but the rest of the top eight are nose to tail, fighting around GT4 traffic
11:45
Jonny Adam in the #1 Aston Howard had in 2nd is back in 4th place
11:45
It’s actually 9th place Alex Buncombe who crosses the line to recieve the green flag. Caine, meanwhile, leads Hines and Richard Lyons in the #29 AF Corse Ferrari.
11:44
Uh-Oh. Safety car about to come in, but it never picked up the leader….
11:42
We’ve crossed the half way mark. Everyone has made their pitstops under the safety car
11:40
Michael Caine in the #4 started by Al Harthy is shown as the leader with Luke Hines in the #888 in 2nd – apparently.
11:39
So, the order will be very, very shuffled by the safety car. We’ll update you when the timings have organised themselves
11:37
Al Harthy pits a lap after the bulk of the field, as does Lathouras.
11:36
Johnston also stayed out, as did Lathouras and Mark Patterson on the United Autosports Audi, but pretty much everyone else is in the pits
11:35
Al Harthy passes the pits nine seconds before the window opens. Howard pits as the Safety Car comes out!
11:35
Coming up to the pit window opening – Al harthy leads by 7.3 seconds.
11:32
Parfitt has pulled off the track at the foot of Clay Hill. He was second in GT4. So we now have an Aston martin 1-2 in both classes
11:30
Back on track Al Harthy leads by 6.2 seconds, Johnston – elevated to 3rd – just 1.4 seconds behind 2nd place Howard
11:29
Steve Tandy the next man to pit with problems, the Bentley crawling into the lane
11:28
Jody Firth also in the pits, the #12 Porsche with front end damage, reportedly after contact with Paul White’s Nissan
11:28
Attard brings the Ecurie Ecosse BMW into the pits trailing smoke, fluid and with a puncture
11:27
Starting to work through the tail end of the GT4 class Al Harthy’s lead has grown out to 3.4 secs
11:26
Chris Hoy – in the Team RJN Nissan – is running in 11th place
11:23
Jody Firth in the resurrected #12 Trackspeed Porsche has climbed up to 16th with just a quarter of the race gone
11:22
Having lost 4th Pasin Lathouras is slipping back into the clutches of Gary Eastwood in the FF Corse Ferrari 458
11:21
An all BMW battle is evolving for third between Attard and Johnston, the former now three seconds behind Howard and protecting his position.
11:19
Al Harthy said on Saturday the plan was to build on the advantage of pole and that’s what he’s doing. Now 1.5 seconds clear into the lead over Howard
11:18
Lap five and Johnston takes fourth from Thai driver Lathouras
11:17
Whyle still leads HT4, but defending class champion Rick Parfitt Jr is only half a second behind in his Century Ginetta
11:17
Pasin Lathouras is 4th in AF Corse he will hand over to Richard Lyons. Derek Johnston in the #888 BMW completes the top five
11:16
Al Harthy is edging away in the early stages – nearly a second clear of Andrew Howard in 2nd with Attard’s BMW a second further back
11:14
Ross Wylie has held onto the lead in GT4 after taking pole position in the Beechdean AMR Vantage GT4
11:13
Rembert Berg pits the M-Sport Bentley, but is off into the race again after the briefest of stops
11:12
Pole man Al Harthy leads laps from Andrew Howard in the #1 Aston and Marco Attard in Ecurie Ecosse BMW
11:12
Jon Minshaw is an early spinner in the #33 Trackspeed Porsche
11:11
They’re all through the first corner safely, Ahmad Al Harthy keeping the lead of the race from pole position.
11:07
The drivers are off on their formation lap. It’s the less experienced man of each driver pairing starting this first 60 minute race of the day.
11:00
It’s bright and sunny at Oulton Park as the moment as we get ready for a near capacity grid to get the season underway.
