British GT: TF Sport and Multimatic Dominate Donington

Victory at Donington Park was taken by #47 TF Sport Aston Martin Vantage in GT3 and the #15 Multimatic Motorsport Ford Mustang in GT4, in the British GT Championship.

The win for Adam and Davidson is only their second podium of the season, but will be seen as retribution after a dismal result at Silverstone despite starting on pole. The Aston Martin had an almost faultless lights to flag run, though was forced to defend from the #22 Balfe Motorsport McLaren 720S.

As for GT4, a dream debut win at Donington for Mark Kimber came loose after a brake failure, meaning Seb Priaulx and Scott Maxwell secured their second win of the year. The Mustang had remained in contention throughout and now extends their championship lead into Spa.

GT3

A clean start for most meant that Graham Davidson was quick to break away, Michael Igoe holding the pack up in his #18 WPI Motorsport. While the leaders remained stable, early incidents saw Ian Loggie hit JM Littmann, spinning the latter and earning RAM Racing a drive through, Littmann would spin again later, while contact between Dominic Paul BMW M6 and Glynn Geddie’s Bentley Continental came off worse for the #7 TPR sending the Bentley to the bottom of the class. Crucially for the championship, a dire first lap for Mark Farmer and contact with a Academy Motorsport GT4 for Adam Balon, punted both outside the top ten.

Igoe could not ignore the pressure forever and at the halfway portion of the race, falling to fourth. This allowed Shaun Balfe into second as Oliver Winkinson led the GT3-Silver class in the #96 Optimum Motorsport Aston Martin in third overall. Sadly for the Optimum crew, a dream podium went up in flames during the pitstop phase as a fuel fire saw him come to a stop at the end of the pitlane.

The TF Sport Aston Martin kept the lead after the pitstop, now closely chased by the #22 Balfe Motorsport McLaren. The TF was on the back foot in the second stint, though Jonny Adam would soon find himself with help as Nicki Thiim caught the pair, attempting to unlap himself. Thiim in the #2 TF Sport placed himself between Rob Bell and the leader, giving Adam a buffer until the closing minutes when he ran wide at the Esses, allowing Thiim back through and Bell onto the tail of the #47.

This proved a wake up call for Adam though, quickly extending the gap to the McLaren, winning by 3.4 seconds with Jonny Cocker picking up the final podium place in the #69 Barwell Motorsport Lamborghini after an anonymous weekend for the team.

While Barwell had taken third, it was a Lamborghini train behind, with WPI Motorsport eventually finishing fourth as Dennis Lind failed to capitalise on Igoe’s previous work. Fifth meanwhile would go to the second #72 Barwell picking up a strong result after contact with the #31 JRM Racing Bentley in the closing stages. JRM would finish seventh behind the #99 Beechdean AMR as the #3 Century was the highest place BMW in eighth.

GT4

Having qualified in second, Josh Smith was quick to take and establish a lead in GT4, though spins for Jack Butel and the #43 Century Motorsport BMW took them out of winning contention before the first pit stop. The polesitting Multimatic Motorsport not prepared to let the win drop off either, as he remained within a second of the leader. Fortune would not favour the Tolman though, as they broke their left front suspension after contact with a Lamborghini just 5 minutes before the pit stop strategy.

Maxwell though was far from unchallenged, dicing with the #42 Century Motorsport BMW as the teams entered the pitstop phase. Only two seconds would separate the pair and Sennan Fielding’s Audi R8 LMS, but as the second drivers got in, it was Mark Kimber in the BMW who led the #15 Mustang, now driven by Seb Priaulx.

Kimber and Priaulx’s battle continued throughout the second half, as the rookie held off the Ford for almost half and hour. Priaulx controversially overtook at the Esses, straight lining the chicane and not giving the place back. Before the issue could be raised with the stewards though, Kimber’s brake disk failed, careering into the barrier with only three minutes to go in what could have been their first podium of the year.

Dean MacDonald crossed the line eight seconds behind winner Priaulx in the HHC Motorsport McLaren, extending their championship lead. Kimber was not the only GT4 retirement in the closing stages, as the Stellar Motorsport #29 had been running third until the Audi R8 LMS came to a stop with a few minutes to go. This meant that Jordan Collard in the #5 Tolman Motorsport McLaren took the flag to complete the podium.

Fourth place would be the top GT4 Pro/Am pairing as Sir Chris Hoy and Billy Johnson finished behind the leaders in the second Multimatic Motorsport Mustang. The Ford and McLaren domination was only broken in fifth as TF Sport brought home their #97 only three seconds behind the #19 Multimatic.