Dan Kirby made his return to the Miller Oils Ginetta GT4 Supercup‘s Am Class at Brands Hatch, having last appeared in the season finale in 2017.
Running for Rob Boston Racing, Kirby made a solid start to his weekend in free practice, immediately on the pace and eventually posting the second quickest Am class time, making him the tenth fastest overall. He carried his pace into Saturdays qualifying, and put himself in twelfth place on the grid and fifth in class.
Kirby like everyone else struggled with his tyre choice, in the changing conditions. Eventually deciding on slicks, it proved to be the wrong choice, in the worsening weather. He managed to keep it together though, and settled for seventh in class and eleventh overall.
Race 2 saw no improvement in the weather, but from sixteenth on the grid, Kirby moved up to ninth, before the safety car deployment, and continued to the hold the place until the checkered flag. Equalling his best ever result both overall and in class, a second place.
Race 3 didn’t exactly go as planned, as whilst fighting for position on lap four, Kirby put a wheel on the grass, heading into Clearways, then unable to make the turn, ploughed straight on into the tyre wall, ending his race and weekend.
Kirby commented, “Having only taken part in one race meeting last year, I wasn’t sure what to expect from Brands Hatch but I’m pleased with how I performed on track,” he said. “I knew I was in a good place after testing and practice and to be honest, I was a little disappointed with where I qualified – although I knew we had the pace to move forwards.
“It was a tricky call on tyres in race one and unfortunately we just went the wrong way, but that made me determined to get a good result in race two. To come away from that having matched my best finish was fantastic, especially with the limited pre-season running I’ve had.”
“The DNF in race three was unfortunate but these things happen in racing and it won’t take away from what was a very good start to the season, with Jake also scoring his podium in the touring cars.”
