Seb Morris was pleased the #31 Team Parker Racing Bentley held onto second in the GT3 title fight after a dramatic British GT double-header at Spa-Francorchamps.
Fifth and seventh-place finishes respectively sees Morris and partner Rick Parfitt Jnr only 15 points behind championship rivals Jon Minshaw and Phil Keen‘s #33 Barwell Motorsport Lamborghini heading into August’s penultimate round at Brands Hatch.
However, with a number of factors causing problems for Morris and Parfitt Jnr in both races, the former was content the pairing kept themselves in the title fight, limiting the Lamborghini duo’s gain to only nine points.
With Parfitt Jnr starting race 1 from pole, the #31 Bentley began to build up an advantage at the front before a pair of Century Motorsport-induced safety cars saw Parfitt Jnr’s gap diminished.
As a result, the field peeled into the pitlane for the mandatory driver change at the halfway point together, with Morris feeling the full effect, dropping from the lead to sixth as a result of the 10-second success penalty administered for victory at Silverstone.
“The first race was full of safety cars, so Rick couldn’t work his magic there in the opening stint,” Morris said.
Morris and Parfitt Jnr were hampered in race 1 by an ill-timed pair of safety cars. (Credit: Jakob Ebrey Photography)
“We had the success penalty in the pit stop which cost us another 10 seconds so fifth wasn’t a bad result in the end.”
Further problems plagued the #31 Bentley in race two, with Morris muscled down to sixth from second on the opening lap, before a recovery drive to third from Parfitt Jnr was curtailed by an ill-timed drive-through penalty for breaching track limits.
Soon after, the two title rivals collided, with an innocent Parfitt Jnr making contact with the stricken #33 Lamborghini of Minshaw after the latter had spun following a collision with a GT4 runner.
Parfitt emerged relatively unharmed and powered the #31 Bentley to seventh after serving the aforementioned penalty, crucially ahead of the damaged #33 Lamborghini – who were set to extend their title lead further before the incident.
Following such an incident-strewn pair of races, Morris was happy to escape the annual international excursion with a solid points haul, crucially maintaining the #31 Bentley’s chances of claiming the title as the championship heads back to England for two final rounds.
“With all of the problems in race two, coming away with some decent points and staying second in the championship was the best we could hope for.”
