Defending GT3 teams champions Barwell Motorsport are celebrating the successful defence of their crown after an enthralling second race on the International circuit at Cheshire’s Oulton Park. Likewise, the Balfe Motorsport run #5 McLaren 720S GT3 of Stuart Proctor and son Lewis Proctor claimed enough points to assure themselves of the inaugural GT3 Silver/Am title
The same 60 minutes saw three of the four championships in the GT4 category decided in favour of Century Motorsport. The #57 duo of Gus Burton and Will Burns move out of reach of their rivals in both the GT4 Drivers Championship and the GT4 Silver Cup fight. The Warwickshire outfit also claimed their third GT4 teams title as the new Champions claimed the GT4 race victory, battling through wet conditions to celebrate in style.
At the head of the field a second win of the season for Michael Igoe‘s WPI Motorsport team has set up a potential six way battle for the crown of overall 2021 Intelligent Money British GT Championship champions.
GT3: Igoe and Keen Triumph as Barwell Defend Title.
Celebrations were split in the top class at the end of a sodden one hour of action at Oulton Park. WPI Motorsport‘s Michael Igoe and Phil Keen claimed their second victory of the season but shared the headlines with rival Lamborghini Squadra Corse outfit Barwell who wrapped up the GT3 teams title with second and fourth place for their pair of Huracan GT3 EVOs.
The inter-family battle between father and son pairings Stuart and Lewis Proctor and Richard and Sam Neary was also finally decided in favour of the Proctors. The Balfe Motorsport McLaren 720S took second in class behind their rivals at Oulton Park but now sit 48 points clear at the top of the Silver/Am standings with 37.5 points left to fight for.
The Barwell pairing of Leo Machitski and Dennis Lind head the title fight in both the overall and Pro/Am battles, but by a reduced margin over rivals RAM Racing and the round 8 victors from WPI.
Starting behind the safety car robbed pole sitters Team Parker Racing of valuable time for pro driver Scott Malvern to build a defendable lead for team mate Nick Jones to defend. In fact despite the Porsche 911 GT3 R’s fabled wet weather performance it was all that the former Formula 3 hotshoe could do to keep clear of a chasing gaggle of Lamborghini and Mercedes-AMG. He managed to do just that though with a margin that fluctuated throughout the opening half and hour until the return of the Safety Car and the Pit Window arrived in rapid succession.
The safety car came out thanks to a rare error from Tom Onslow-Cole, guesting as pro co-driver in the second RAM Racing Mercedes-AMG with Kevin Tse. The #88 went from winning on debut heroes to laps down zeros in the tricky conditions and if Onslow-Cole could get it wrong, ending up in the gravel trap on the approach to Shell Oils Hairpin, anyone could make a race ending mistake in the spray.
As the safety car came out only 5 seconds covered the top six cars, with Scott Malvern and Marcus Clutton the only pro drivers in the group not fighting for the overall British GT Championship title.
A scrap on pit lane to be fastest out saw Barwell Motorsport’s Machitski and Lind held longer on success penalties, as were pole sitters Team Parker Racing. Instead it was the RAM Racing Mercedes of Ian Loggie which led the field off pit road and back out into the difficult conditions.
Unfortunately for the Scotsman and his Dutch team mate Yelmer Buurman the stewards judged they had broken the rules exiting the pits. The resulting penalty dropped the race leaders to sixth place. Loggie was fired up and put on an impressive display but it wouldn’t suffice to claim the championship lead headed into the final round. The overall lead was out of their grasp unless Lind and Machitski struggled but only three points separate the #6 and the #63 in the Pro/Am battle after Oulton Park.
The real victor in the race off pit lane was the #18 WPI Motorsport Lamborghini. Michael Igoe inherited the lead when Loggie was forced back to the lane for his penalty and quickly opened a gap on Nick Jones’ Porsche. The SD Sealants boss did his best but in his first year in a new car and only his second in the top class, he wasn’t a match for the seasoned campaigners looking to pass him.
Adam Balon in the #1 Barwell machine made quick work of the #66 machine and went off in pursuit of the Civil Engineering expert ahead of him. Behind the Porsche Loggie was fighting his way through fifth and fourth places, demoting the championship leaders in the #63 to fifth en route to the back of the pole sitter. Another great overtake put the Mercedes-AMG back on the podium but Balon was out of reach.
Late on, the 2006 champion put the Lamborghini he shares with Dennis Lind into fourth place, demoting Jones to fifth place and further limiting the damage from Oulton Park. Crucially, with three of the four rivals to Machitski’s attempt at a second title finished on the podium, meaning that the #63 not only leads the championship but goes to the final round without success penalty at the final pit stop.
With Jones relegated to fifth it was Morgan Tillbrook who finished sixth in the Enduro Motorsport McLaren 720S GT3. His team mate Marcus Clutton set the fastest lap of the race in the opening stint, but the wet conditions assured Dennis Lind the Sunoco Fastest Lap award for GT3 for the weekend after his efforts in the opening race.
Seventh went to Team ABBA Racing, despite Richard Neary repeating his miraculous feat of spinning into the barriers and driving away without damage from Brands Hatch. That was at Shell Oils and didn’t stop the older spec Mercedes from finishing ahead of Silver/Am rivals Stuart and Lewis Proctor.
The low uptake of the Silver/Am category means that despite finishing behind, the Balfe Motorsport McLaren is mathematically un-catchable and sealed the Silver/Am title at Oulton Park.
Ninth place went to Beechdean AMR and multiple British GT Champion Andrew Howard. Statistically the Aston Martin retains a chance at the title at Donington Park, though co-driver Jonny Adam is out of contention due to COVID-19 self isolation at Spa-Francorchamps. Its a long shot, but a great reward for the team who were awake until gone 03:00 replacing the chassis on the #7 machine which crashed heavily in GT3 Am Qualifying on Saturday.
Kevin Tse brought the #88 RAM Racing Mercedes home in tenth place in GT3 but multiple laps down after the off which prompted the Safety Car intervention with Paddock Motorsport’s Bentley even further behind after missing pit out ahead of the race and having to start from pit lane.
GT4: Century Secure Three Titles in One Victory.
‘I want to win it right’ were the words of Will Burns to the British GT Fans Show after round 7 at Oulton Park in the early afternoon. And win it right they did. Both Burns and his co-driver Gustav Burton drove the drive of a champion to claim the title in thrilling form in a tense closing fifteen minutes of the hour long race.
Burton took the start of the race, fourth in GT4 behind the outgoing champion Jamie Caroline in the Toyota Gazoo Racing GR Supra GT4. Caroline initially had the measure of the #57 machine and attacked the Newbridge Motorsport Aston Martin V8 Vantage GT4 of AMR factory ace Darren Turner.
There are not many who can go round the outside of the man who has been on Gaydon’s payroll since 2010 but Caroline showed no fear and incredible control to do just that at Old Hall corner. From there he put on a virtuoso performance to pull away at the head of the GT4 pack. The only man capable of equaling the pace of the Toyota was Sennan Fielding in the Audi R8 LMS GT4 of Steller Motorsport.
Late in the pro stint the Audi found second place and hared off to chase down the Toyota but whist the gap closed very quickly indeed, it was as the field packed up behind the safety car so no overtake was possible. Then came the pit window.
The Toyota and the Aston Martin opted to stay out, a mistake as it proved when the rest of the GT4 field streamed down pit lane. Success seconds and silver cup penalties scrambled the order like breakfast eggs, with the #56 Ginetta G56 of Mark Sansom claiming the lead of the class after the stops. John Ferguson held second in the Supra, both Ams with a job of work to do with a swarm of hungry Silver graded drivers hot on their heels.
Team Rocket RJN were at the head of the parade of Silvers with James Kell, an expert on the performance of the Toyota GR Supra after campaigning the debut season in the car, leading team mate Michael Benyahia. The McLaren driving duo made short work of the Ams ahead and proceeded to duke it out amongst themselves for class supremacy.
Will Burns was right behind and soon got past the Toyota and Aston Martin to take a podium. The champion elect had met his minimum target for the race but wasn’t going to sit idly by and ride out the balance of the race. Instead he went on the attack and harassed the two McLarens.
Benyahia scented victory and dived on Kell at Knickerbrook corner. An ambitious move, it required the acquiescence of his team mate who wasn’t in an acquiescing mood, the resulting contact slowed the #3 McLaren Driver Development Programme machine enough for Burns to strike and claim the second step of the podium.
Thereafter it was a case of drafting the #2 machine through Deer Leap and down the pit straight, setting up the move for the win at Old Hall corner 26 laps into the contest.
James Kell and co-driver Jordan Collard held on to second place ahead of the Academy Motorsport Ford Mustang of Matt Cowley and Will Moore. Michael Benyahia lost out to the big Ford at Lodge Corner then to the Balfe run McLaren of Jack Brown which placed fourth. Team Rocket RJN’s third car, the entry of Harry Hayek and Katie Milner, with Milner at the wheel took sixth place ahead of the Audi which had at one point, scented the lead of the race.
Mark Sansom had a scary moment in the Cascades but recovered the circuit despite sodden grass to come home in 8th place, the leading Pro/Am entry. Chris Salkeld and Andrew Gordon-Colebrooke settled for ninth place overall, vital to secure the teams title for Century but not enough to keep their own title hopes alive.
The Intelligent Money British GT Championship returns to action on 16th and 17th October with the final endurance round of the season, the now regular #DoningtonDecider where GT3 Pro/Am, GT3 Overall and GT4 Pro/Am titles will be decided.
