Ian Loggie is crowned 2022 Intelligent Money British GT3 champion after coming home second behind the Century Motorsport BMW M4 GT3 of Alexander Sims and Darren Leung. It was far from plain sailing for the #6 Ram Racing Mercedes however, and disaster looked to have struck early on as Loggie took to the gravel trap at Turn 1 on the opening lap and then spun the following lap. An early Safety Car closed the pack up and with accidents, bad luck for the others and Success Penalties, Jules Gounon took to the track in second place. Morgan Tillbrook and Marcus Clutton had a drive through penalty for causing the first lap incident at Redgate but still managed to take the third step of the podium.
Richard Williams and Sennan Fielding took the GT4 championship, finishing second behind the Toyota Gazoo Racing UK GR Supra of Tom Edgar and Jordan Collard. It was the GR Supra’s first win after debuting three years ago. GT4 contenders Jamie Day and Josh Miller took third, which meant they also slipped to third in the championship. Darren Turner and Matt Topham secured the Pro-Am championship but lost the overall championship by just 5.5 points.
GT3
With all four of the championship contenders starting outside the top seven as a result of the wet/dry qualifying, it was always going to be a bit hectic as the pack raced into Redgate on the opening lap. Morgan Tillbrook spun his McLaren 720s in front of Ian Loggie, forcing Loggie to take to the gravel along with Adam Balon, the pair dropping down the order. Loggie was worst off, dropping to the back of the pack, the 2 Seas Motorsport Mercedes of James Cottingham completed the first lap in fifth, needing to finish first to take the championship.
The championship looked to be slipping away from Loggie as he spun the Mercedes on the exit of Goddards on lap two. At this stage, the championship was looking to swing Cottingham’s way, provided the #4 2 Seas car could secure enough points. 2 Sea’s stumbled though when the first Safety Car withdrew, Cottingham ran wide at the Old Hairpin, running through the Styrofoam Pirelli branding which blocked the air intake on the front grille, forcing the car to pit and have it cleared, taking them out of championship contention.
Richard Neary, who’d started on pole had his six-second lead cut by the first Safety car which was called out as a result of excessive debris follow an incident between the Paddock Motorsport and Greystone GT McLaren’s at the chicane. Richard Neary was forced to retire the car due to a mechanical failure on the 50-minute mark, this promoted the Orange Racing powered by JMH’s Simon Orange in to first place with GT3 debutant Darren Leung now running second ahead of Graham Davidson in the other 2 Seas Motorsport entry.
Slow pit stops for Orange Racing powered by JMH and 2 Seas saw Alexander Sims take to the track in first place after the driver changes, despite serving a 10 second Success Penalty. Both Barwell and Enduro Motorsport had capitalised on the Safety Car period and were now back in the mix, however, the Ram Racing Mercedes had no Success Penalty to serve and as a result, Jules Gounon took to the track in second place.
A second Safety Car period for debris on track, bunched the pack together with Sims leading the way from Gounon, Mitchell and Clutton. Marcus Clutton managed to pass Sandy Mitchel but was unable to find a way past Gounon who kept a cool head and brought the Mercedes home in second, taking the championship for Ian Loggie along with the Pro-Am championship and the Teams championship.
Century Motorsport took their first GT3 win of the season, the M4 GT3’s first in British GT, adding to the 16 GT4 race wins. It was a class win for Darren Leung on his GT3 debut and first GT win for Alexander Sim’s since 2015. Orange Racing powered by JMH took fourth place, just 5.8 seconds behind Sim’s at the flag with Barwell rounding out the top five.
GT4
Richard Williams and Sennan Fielding took the GT4 driver’s championship and the team’s title for Steller Motorsport with the Toyota Gazoo Racing UK GR Supra of Tom Edgar and Jordan Collard taking their debut win.
The Toyota put on a dominant display throughout the race, the drama and incidents breaking out behind with both Sennan Fielding and Darren Turner battling over the championship. Just 12.5 points separated Topham/Turner and Williams/Fielding heading into the race, but qualifying troubles for Topham and Turner meant it was going to be a challenging race.
Edgar and Collard had a relatively simple race, starting on the front row, Edgar set an early lead until the first Safety Car closed the gap, Edgar managed to re-establish the 6 second lead before the pit window opened on 58 minutes.
Jordan Collard took over in the lead but was under immediate pressure from Jamie Day in the R Racing Aston Martin, the two trading places at the Melbourne Hairpin and on the exit of Redgate. Collard managed to hold him off until the end of the race, pulling clear of the pack.
Williams brought the Steller Motorsport Audi into the pits in second place but with a Success Penalty, Fielding joined the race in fifth with a lot of work to do. Turner joined the race in ninth after serving the Success Penalty and a drive-through for overtaking under the safety car. Fielding quickly began climbing the order, taking fourth from Jack Brown which mean the title was heading towards R Racing by half a point, New Bridge 3 points behind at this stage. Fielding took third from Moh Ritson before taking second from Jamie Day, knocking R Racing out of contention and putting Fielding in the lead of the championship.
Unfortunately for Darren Turner, he got caught up in traffic and could only come home seventh, 5.5 points off the lead of the championship, but with enough points to take the Pro-Am championship.
Paddock Motorsport took the Pro-Am win and fourth overall in the hands of Kavi Jundu and Moh Ritson. Tom Rawlings and Chris Salkeld rounded out the top five in the #9 BMW M4 GT4.
