Category: British GT

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British GT Calendar for 2022

The SRO organisation  have announced the calendar for the Intelligent Money British GT championship for 2022, there is only one major change to next years series that being the introduction of a longer 3-hour race at the first visit to Donington Park, Oulton Park moves back to its regular slot over the Easter weekend, with the Silverstone 500 also moving to the beginning of May, Brands Hatch, Snetterton and Spa-Francorchamps all return.

Calendar for 2022

Oulton Park ……………. 2 x 1-hour races – 16th to 18th April

Silverstone 500 ………. 1 x 3-hour race – 07th to 08th May

Donington Park ………. 1 x 3-hour race – 28th to 29th May

Snetterton ………………. 2 x 1-hour races – 25th to 26th June

Spa-Francorchamps … 1 x 2-hour race – 23rd to 24th July

Brands Hatch …………… 1 x 2-hours races – 10th to 11th September

Donington Park ………… 1 x 2-hour race – 15th to 16th October

All dates are provisional at this time.

Testing and Media days are yet to be announced.

All nine races will be available to watch free of charge on the British GT Facebook page and also on SRO’s GT You Tube channel.

Also new for next year the addition of the new MSV GB4 single seater championship will be on the support bill along-side the GB3 series.

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British GT Oulton Park for Rounds 7 & 8

 

Images courtesy of BritishGT

Race 1

SRO The championship organisers moved the normal easter dates due to the pandemic to mid-September so it was a warmer drier mid-day start to race 1 (Round 7) of the championship with Kelvin Fletcher on pole in the Bentley GT, he gets a great start into old hall and opens up a gap of just over a second from Tse with Tilbrook just behind, Fletcher extends his lead with the fastest lap of the race, in GT4 0.8 of a second covers the top 2, 15 minutes gone and Tse in the Ram racing Mercedes takes the lead from Fletcher in the Bentley, 36 minutes on the clock remain the pit window is open and all the GT3 cars are in the pits for driver changes and fresh tyres, the first to re-join is the Ram racing Mercedes of Tom Onslow-Cole straight away he pulls away with a gap of around a two seconds from Neary in the Abba racing team Mercedes, but fastest on track and on a mission is Dennis Lind posting fastest lap times and catching the leaders. 15 minutes to go and Onslow-Cole still leads with just over a 3 second gap from Neary in #Car08 with Lind in the Lamborghini #Car63 in 3rd, the chequered flag falls it’s a win for Onslow-Cole & Tse and Ram racing with Sam Neary in 2ndand Lind in the Lamborghini in 3rd.

Race 2

Image courtesy of BritishGT

Race 2 was a complete contrast to race 1, as 10 minutes before the start the rain started to fall, most teams went for the full Pirelli wet tyre, the race starts under the safety car with 2 laps completed the race goes green but conditions weren’t great as the rain fell heavier making for poor visibility with the spray, the drivers earned there money keeping the cars on track, Scott Malvern leads in the Porsche ahead of Lind in the Lamborghini , as the drivers settle into there rhythm, Onslow-Cole winner from race 1beaches his Mercedes at Island and the marshals wave the double wave yellows but this is immediately changed to a full safety car as the car can’t be moved under green racing, this sparks activity in the pits as the pit window is open, the Ram racing and sister car to Onslow-Cole now takes the lead with Loggie onboard, with 24 minutes remaining the safety car is in and its back to green racing, but more drama as the leader Loggie #Car06 as a drive through penalty for a pit lane infringement, so now the Lamborghini of Phil Keen Michael Igoe lead after Loggie takes his penalty he re-joins in 6th position, Igoe still leads with Balon in 2nd in another Lamborghini with Jones in the Porsche 3rd, in GT4 Century motorsport BMW of Burns and Burton only need a point to secure the championship but they take the lead after the top 2 McLarens and teammates come together, the chequered flag is out and its Phil Keens 267thBritish GT win along with Michael Igoe, 2nd is another Lamborghini #Car01 of Balon with Ian Loggie in the Mercedes a great recovering drive after the penalty in 3rd. In GT4 Burns & Burton seal the championship with the win their 3rd of the season.

Next up Donington Park for the final round and the championship decider in GT3, its all to play for on the 16th to 17th October.

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British GT – Igoe and Keen steal a march in GT3, while Century Motorsport have a day to remember in GT4

Michael Igoe and Phil Keen started their season with the victory as fans were welcomed back to the British GT Championship for the first time in over a year.

The series returned with another revised calendar following the impacts of the COVID 19 pandemic, with the traditional Easter opener at Oulton Park not scheduled until the penultimate weekend of the season.

The WPI Lamborghini duo of Igoe and Keen dominated at Brands Hatch to take the lead of the GT3 and overall lead of the series at this early stage.

Beachdean Aston Martin duo Andrew Howard and Jonny Adam were second having started on pole ahead of Barwell’s Lamborghini driven by Leo Machitski and Dennis Lind, who kept Adam more than honest for large parts of the race.

Defending champions Pro-Am Yelmer Buurman and Iain Loggie were fourth in RAM Racing’s Mercedes ahead of Richard and Sam Neary, who topped the Bronze-Am class.

Gus Burton and Will Burns picked up the GT4 spoils after Charlie Robertson hit strife late on to give perennial challengers Century Motorsport victory in the BMW M4, Century helping themselves to a 1-2 finish courtesy of Pro-Am class winners Chris Salked and Andrew Gordon-Colebrooke.

Burton and Burns had led the first stint, but being a Silver Crew instead of a Pro-Am pairing they had an extra 20s added to their pit stop time, which ended any chance of them leading after the stops when the second safety car period bunched the field up.

Burton picked his way through the field in the competitive BMW and was given a huge slice of luck when the leading Ginetta had to pit.

James Kell and Jordan Collard took third behind Ginetta ranks graduate Salkeld and Gordon Colebrooke, in Team Rocket RJN’s McLaren.

Salkeld was himself involved in one of the early Safety Car incidents, contact with a Toyota terminally ending Scott McKenna’s and John Ferguson’s race.

The result means that Century take an already significant lead in the GT4 teams championship, 42 points clear of any other team after the opening weekend of 2021.

Next up, the championship heads to Silverstone in 5 weeks time to take on the crown jewel of the British GT season, the 3-hour Silverstone 500 race.

*Image courtesy of Dan Buckel, via the British GT Gallery

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Frederick On Top in British F3

image courtesy of British F3

Kaylen Frederick wins both Sunday races in dominant fashion.

Race One:

The third of the weekend’s British F3 races was won in emphatic fashion as Kaylen drove an excellent race to finish 8.6 seconds ahead of second place Nazim Azman and third Ulysse De Pauw. De Pauw was later disqualified from the race.

Louis Foster started on pole position but a cautious start following yesterday’s jump saw Frederick lead into turn one and did not look back.

Behind him there were several scraps with one between Varrone and Peixoto ending up with Varrone being forced into the gravel. He retired there and then.

Race 2:

This time it was Kaylan Frederick who started on pole and after a good get away lead from lights to flag, just a few seconds in front of Miami and Prior.

There was little to shout about in this race, with the two retirements of Horston and Varrone. Horston will be disappointed in his mechanical failure as he was running in the final podium place.

After that there was little action as Frederick continued his impressive driving to take his second win of the day. Already emerging as a title challenger.

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Big Crash in GT’s as Race 2 Ends Under Safety Car

image courtesy of THEWFGAMER Instagram page.

The British GT season kicked off with a bang at Oulton Park this weekend.

Race 1:

Race one saw Lewis Proctor start from pole position and lead into the first turn for the GT3’s. Connor O’Brien looked to do a similar thing in the GT4 category.

There was close action before the pit stops as the World’s Fastest Gamer, James Baldwin, looked to pile the pressure on Angus Fender in third.

Following the stops, Mitchell had found his way into third with Oliver Wilkinson taking over from Lewis Proctor. Michael O’Brien replaced James Baldwin. In the GT4’s, Kibble, Connor O’Brien’s teammate, also lead.

However, after a charge from Michael O’Brien and a penalty for speeding in the pit lane for the leader, O’Brien and Baldwin took the lead, with the number 2 car seeing it out to the flag.

The Jensen team won the first race with James Baldwin winning his first ever British GT event. Behind Jensen, Wilkinson finished second and Macdonald rounded out the GT3 podium. It was a simple affair for Kibble in the GT4 as he took the chequered flag with Collard and Caroline behind.

Race 2:

Phil Keen was raring to go from pole in Race 2 and lead into the first corner. Contact on the opening lap for Race 1 winner Michael O’Brien saw him drop to the back of the field.

Neary and Griffin both suffered problems and the two retired a few laps into the race.

Little was happening  for much of the remainder of the race but an unfortunate incident between Jones and Connor O’Brien saw the race finish under a lengthy safety car. It appeared as if Jones was trying to lap O’Brien but contact was made and the two spun off the track, hitting Fender in the process.

So Balon took the flag in the GT3 category with Collard and De Haan just behind. Flewitt won in his category, followed by Vaughan and Maththiesen.

Not the best way for Keen (Balon’s teammate) to draw level with Jonny Adam on wins, but I‘m sure he won’t mind too much.

Overall a cracking way for the GT season to kick off.

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Jump Starts Galore in the Opening Two Rounds of British F3

Images courtesy of BRDC British Formula 3 Championship.

By John Whittaker

Today the British F3 season kicked off in a strange fashion after the first race was decided by penalties. Saturday saw the opening two rounds of the series, with two more scheduled for tomorrow.

Race One:

Kaylen Frederick looked set to take an emphatic win in the first British F3 race at Oulton Park this weekend before a post-race penalty saw him demoted.

Louis Foster looked in a good position starting from pole after qualifying but a jump start and a subsequent ten second time penalty saw him cross the line second, before the penalty dropping him down to 14th.

Part way through the race Josh Mason found the barrier causing a rather lengthy safety car whilst they recovered the car and set about repairs. Whilst the ambulance was called out, Josh Mason walked away unhurt.

The safety car came in and Frederick completed his dominant display leading to the flag, setting multiple fastest laps in the process. An impressive drive from the young American. Or it would have been had he not also received a ten second time penalty (along with Manaf Hijawi) for a false start.

The post-race penalties saw Kiern Jewiss win the first British F3 of the year, with Ulysse De Pauw and Nazim Azman also on the podium.

Race 2:

In the second and final race of the day Piers Prior took a well managed victory leading from lights to flag.

It appears all the action was used up in the first race as the second was a rather dull affair with minimal overtaking around the technical track.

The main talking points from this race were the two retirements: first race pole man Foster and Manaf Hijawi, both mechanical DNFs on Lap 1 and Lap 7 respectively.

Other than that, the race left a lot to be desired with Prior taking his maiden British F3 victory, followed by Kush Maini, and Bart Horsten rounding out the podium.

Overall a decent first day of racing for the BRDC British F3 drivers.

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British GT – GT4: Priaulx and Maxwell take GT4 spoils

Multimatic Racing’s Seb Priaulx and Scott Maxwell took top honours in GT4 at an eventful Oulton Park.

After suffering in Race One, the Ford Mustang had no such problems in Race Two to lead well throughout the second 60 minutes, with an array of cars vying for second during the early part of the race.

Graham Johnson and Michael O’Brien in the Balfe McLaren were second overall to win a tightly contested GT4 Pro/Am category ahead of Steve McCulley and Matt George in the Invictus Jaguar Racing entry and Scott Malvern and Nick Jones’ Team Parker Racing Mercedes.

Kelvin Fletcher and Martin Plowman in the Beechdean Aston Martin Pro/Am GT4 entry were in contention for a podium until they spun during a frenetic end to the race caused in no small part by a lapped Ben Hurst electing to race the leaders.

Hurst would hold Maxwell, Jones, McCulley, Johnson and Fletcher up for two laps as the former British F3 man who would go on to finish 14th almost had a deciding role in the destiny of the winner’s trophies late on.

Michael Broadhurst and Will Moore would both go on to have shunts at Cascades, both playing a part in bringing about Safety Cars, with TF Sport’s Tom Canning receiving a 30s stop/go penalty for causing Broadhurst’s off and Moore’s off completing a bad afternoon for Matt Nicoll-Jones’ Academy Motorsport team.

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British GT: GT3 De Haan’s first victory as Cocker and Barwell Celebrate

Sam De Haan took his first British GT victory in his second season with Barwell Motorsport in a dramatic Race Two at Oulton Park.

De Haan passed Abba Racing’s Richard Neary late on after applying enormous pressure on the Mercedes, who gamely hung on for long periods.

Neary, partnered with Adam Christodoulou held off Andrew Howard and Marco Sorensen’s improving Beechdean Aston Martin for second, with early pacesetters Adam Balon and Phil Keen eventually settling for fourth.

Dominic Paul was a solid fifth alongside Jack Mitchell in the Century run BMW with Bradley Ellis and Ollie Wilkinson’s Optimum Aston Martin V8 Vantage sixth.

The quick Iain Loggie and Callum Macleod RAM Racing Mercedes entry was seventh after an eventful race, the former having adventures and running wide at Cascades when running third. Race One winners Seb Morris and Rick Parfitt Junior in the #31 JRM Bentley were tenth in GT3 after late contact dropped the 2017 Champions down the order, while a frustrated Nicki Thiim and Mark Farmer retired to bring about the Safety Car just after GT3 pit stops.

Keen made much of the early running for Barwell Motorsport in a first stint punctuated by an early Safety Car as a result of a GT4 Mercedes beaching itself in the gravel at Cascades.

The Reading-based driver again made hay by pulling out a four-second lead before being held up in the now customary British GT pitlane chaos, with Neary the winner of the pitlane battles.

Thiim had climbed to fifth for Aston Martin before Farmer, who spun in Race One, repeated the trick while battling with Iain Loggie at Island Bend.

De Haan then set about Neary in relentless fashion, hustling and harrying the Mercedes before finally prising the door open at Hislop’s, the bottleneck ensuring that Howard passed Balon for fourth before Loggie’s off.

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British GT – GT4: HHC and Dean MacDonald/Callum Pointon take GT4 Opening Race Honours

HHC Motorsport made a dream start to life with McLaren by winning their first race as a partnership courtesy of Dean MacDonald and Callum Pointon.

The duo were a feature at the front for the entire race having managed to split the leading Multimatic Racing Ford Mustangs of Jade Buford and Scott Maxwell, the Mustangs having been dominant on Saturday during qualifying.

Maxwell and teammate Seb Priaulx would go on to have dramas that would drop the fast Ford back through the order during the second stint as Maxwell went through the gravel after contact and Priaulx spun into the wall while on a comeback trail.

Buford and Chad McCumbee also dropped back as Mustang dominance on Saturday gave way to all-conquering McLarens in Race One on Monday morning.

The Tolman McLaren of James Dorlin and Lewis Smith took second place after an eventful run that included contact with the sister car of Jordan Collard. Collard and Lewis Proctor would retire from second on the penultimate lap after catching fire while challenging for the lead.

The second HHC McLaren of Luke Williams and Tom Jackson was third ahead of McCumbee and Butford, while Josh Price and Patrick Kibble of TF Sport were the highest placed Aston Martin in fifth position.

Matt George and Steve McCulley were the Pro/Am category winners in the Invictus Racing Jaguar ahead of Martin Plowman and Kelvin Fletcher, the former passing Plowman’s Beechdean Aston Martin late on to steal victory in class.

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British GT – Rick Parfitt Jr and Seb Morris Win GT3 Opening Race

Rick Parfitt Junior and Seb Morris took a popular victory in the opening round of the season after an eventful start to the race on JRM’s British GT debut.

Phil Keen and Adam Balon were second as the lead two cars were in a class of their own, before Bradley Ellis and Ollie Wilkinson held off Jonny Cocker and Sam De Haan.

The two Century Motorsport BMWs driven Ben Green/Dominic Paul and Jack Mitchell/Adrian Willmott were next ahead of Jonny Adam/Graham Davidson and Adam Christodoulou/Richard Neary.

Rounding out the GT3 finishers were Marco Sorensen/Andrew Howard and Nicki Thiim/Mark Farmer, the latter spinning early on and unable to make inroads thereafter.

Drama found the British GT series as early as the second lap when Ryan Ratcliffe’s optimistic move on polesitter Iain Loggie had predictable consequences, the Scotsman spun around and both drivers left out of the race after just two minutes.

A lengthy clean up operation saw the Safety Car out for over ten minutes, and Parfitt was able to capitalise on his inherited lead having passed Sam De Haan at the start.

Parfitt was able to pull out a lead of over four seconds over De Haan, who had the attentions of both Century Motorsport BMWs of Paul and Willmott to contend with for much of the opening stint.

While almost all of the GT3 competitors pitted as soon as possible, Parfitt allowed an extra lap to avoid traffic in a tight Oulton Park pit lane. De Haan found out to his cost how tight the pit lane can be, as he lost several positions when handing over to teammate Cocker.

Cocker would pressurise the Aston Martin of Bradley Ellis for the duration of their second stint for third place to little avail at a narrow and twisty Oulton Park, with third place through to ninth covered by five seconds.

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