British GT: TF Sport do Double at Donington after Post-Race Appeal

A messy end to the 300th British GT Championship race saw the GT3 title battle go to the stewards, with the #47 TF Sport Aston Martin V8 Vantage of Graham Davidson / Jonny Adam, provisionally winning the title after finishing fourth. In GT4, it was a cleaner title win for the #97 TF Sport Aston Martin who secured the crown at Donington Park.

TF Sport had looked to clinch the double after a wheel failure took the #72 Barwell out of contention, though contact between the WPI Motorsport Lamborghini and the #47 TF Sport in the final five minutes allowed the #69 Barwell to jump two places and seize the title by 0.5 points, over the line.

In the overall race, it was a virtual lights-to-flag victory from Balfe Motorsport, as Shaun Balfe secured a 25 second gap for Rob Bell before the pitstop, their first win of the year. In GT4, Steller Performance won their second after holding off both the Aston Martin’s and the Ford Mustang.

A frantic start to the 300th race saw Ashley Davies in the #19 Multimatic Motorsport collide with the #66 Team Parker Racing Mercedes on the formation lap, copied by the #32 KTM and #23 RACE Performance behind, resulting in a safety car start. Elsewhere, Andrew Gordon-Colbrooke added the mayhem by stopping on this now half-paced first lap.

GT3

As the race actually got underway, Shaun Balfe was quick to check out, leaving Ian Loggie and championship contenders Adam Balon and Graham Davidson to duke it out on track. Balon’s promising result would not last though as he was blocked when lapping the KTM. Contact as he finally passed bent his steering, seeing the #72 Barwell drop down the order.

The #47 TF Sport settled into fourth behind the fastest starting Angus Fender (#9 Century). For Graham Davidson though this was an optimal position as the Barwell’s issues had dropped them over ten seconds behind, negating their success penalty. Fender meanwhile was up to second before the pitstops as Loggie made an unforced error at the Old Hairpin, running the TF Sport off the track at Starkeys Bridge. Though he did initially keep the place, Davidson was ahead heading into the pitstop phase. Elsewhere, Richard Neary ended his race early by retiring in the pits after being handed a drive through penalty.

It couldn’t get any worse for the #72 Barwell as a rear right tyre failure saw Keen end his run after a single lap. This left the title battle a straight fight between the #47 TF Sport, now running fourth, and the #69 Barwell, now running fifth.

Rob Bell was now in control of the Balfe Motorsport McLaren going into the second half as Jonny Cocker struggled to keep up with Adam, now in line for the title. The Balfe’s easy victory was threatened with 25 minutes to go due to a safety car after an accident with the GT4’s, that almost took out the #47 TF Sport.

It would be late drama that would decide the title though as the #18 WPI Motorsport and the #69 Barwell Lamborghini’s chased down the TF Sport. Adam was struggling with traffic and a controversial move from WPI’s Dennis Lind damaged the Aston Martin, dropping him from fourth to sixth as Cocker’s #69 Lamborghini overtook both, taking fourth on the line. The decision would go to the officials and after an hour, TF Sport emerged elated as WPI received a 5 second penalty. The Lamborghini’s appealed, but it was dismissed.

Balfe Motorsport would take a maiden 2019 victory as the #6 RAM Racing Mercedes finished second, with Jack Mitchell’s rounding out the podium in the #9 Century Motorsport BMW.

GT4

With the title to consider, Tom Canning hounded the #29 Steller Performance Audi in the early stages, as the two built up a gap to the rest of the field. Patrick Kibble was the next highest runner in third as Scott Maxwell held up a train in fourth. As the pitstops approached, Canning moved his #97 TF Sport into the lead, as a responce to his teammate closing him down.

Williams was one of the first into pits as the GT4 window opened. Most of the field followed his strategy, as the #97 TF Sport remained out another four laps.

It didn’t help the #97 over the pitstops as Sennan Fielding retook the lead in the #29 Audi when it all evened out. The safety car came at a dangerous time for Ash Hand’s TF Sport, closing the field up with Seb Priaulx’s #15 Multimatic Mustang just behind in third.

The #35 Optimum Motorsport Aston Martin had run over the grass prior to the Old Hairpin, losing control as Connor O’Brien re-entered the circuit and being collected by the innocent #23 RACE Performance. The race would go back to green with 24 mins to go.

Priaulx would muscle his way past as the GT3’s lapped them. To make it worse for Hand, he got stuck behind the #58 HHC Motorsport McLaren of Jordan Albert, who was running a lap down. Luckily for the TF Sport crew, this didn’t matter, sailing home to third, which was enough to secure them the title.

Steller Performance took a comfortable race victory in front of the Donington crowd, with Priaulx’s Ford Mustang closing him down to 1.5 seconds at the flag. The #97 TF Sport rounded out the podium after late pressure from Pro-Am winners Beechdean AMR as Martin Plowman was the meat within a TF Sport sandwich due to the #95 Aston in fifth. Rounding out the top six was the #77 Fox Motorsport Mercedes-AMG.