British GT: Barwell 1-2 in GT3, as TPR Lose GT4 Victory after Final Lap Puncture

It was a second win in as many Snetterton races for Adam Balon and Phil Keen in the #72 Barwell Motorsports Lamborghini Hurican. The British GT Championship leaders seemed unstoppable during the second half of the one hour race, leading a Barwell 1-2, with the #69 behind.

The result makes Keen the most successful British GT driver in history, overtaking Jonny Adam’s record for number of victories. They were joined on the GT3 podium by Balfe Motorsport.

GT4 saw a much more unexpected result as Tolman Motorsport took an unlikely win as a puncture scuppered Team Parker Racing’s perfect race. The Mercedes-AMG had led the whole race, holding a 25 second lead at the time of their downfall.

GT3

Nicki Thiim would lead away the field for the second race of the weekend, as the Pro driver begun proceedings. The professionalism of the grid largely contributed to the clean first lap, with race one winner Phil Keen slotting into second, instead focusing on managing the gap.

Keen had a large amount of ballast due to winning race one though you’d hardly be able to tell as he harassed the TF Sport Aston Martin. The pitstops finally split them up as the extra 10 seconds for the Lamborghini dropped them eight seconds behind the #11 Aston Martin.

Adam Balon, now in #72 instead had to watch his mirrors as his Barwell teammate Sam De Haan closed in on second place. The team appeared to stay quiet over team orders, as although both would have prefered free air, they were now catching Mark Farmer, losing 1.5 seconds a lap.

This ultimately came back to haunt him as Balon eased passed to take the lead. De Haan would take a bit longer, dropping six seconds to the #72. He eventually caught Balon, but could do nothing on track. As for Farmer, he continued to drop as the race concluded.

Rounding out the podium was Shaun Balfe in his #22 Balfe Motorsport GT3. The McLaren 570S had been catching the Lamborghini’s in the closing laps and will be delighted to pick up silverware after a being forced to withdraw from Oulton Park.

JRM Racing could have been on for a podium but for an off and engine failure for Rick Parfitt Jnr. Instead, Farmer took fourth, disappointed after leading for much of the first half.

GT4

Heartbreak in the opening race, had robbed Scott Malvern’s Mercedes-AMG of a podium. He was determined to rectify this in the second, starting on pole and soon breaking away from Dean MacDonald in the #57 HHC Motorsport McLaren.

After the pitstops, Nick Jones, now in the #66 Team Parker Racing continued his teammates legacy, establishing a 20 second lead over Callum Pointon’s HHC Motorsport McLaren. Sadly for the #57 crew, their strong run would come to an end as a stop/go penalty pushed them down to fifth. Second place appeared to be a curse as the #20 Balfe Motorsport’s manager was called to the stewards room to discuss an accident earlier in the race, eventually resulting a Stop/Go Penalty for them as well.

The #5 Tolman Motorsport McLaren had already caught the Balfe Motorsport car by the time the penalty was implemented and looked to have settled for second, before late drama saw Nick Jones crawl back to the pits after a rear left puncture. The disaster dropped them out of the points.

Tolman thus took the flag, continuing McLaren’s GT4 domination. The only non-McLaren on the podium would be the TF Sport Aston Martin Vantage. Ashley Hand kept the yellow Aston out of trouble and like Shaun Balfe in GT3 will be delighted to hit back with silverware after a pointless Oulton.

For the second race in a row, Pointon was third in the HHC Motorsport McLaren. The result moves them into the lead of GT4’s championship, while keeping the Tolman vs HHC battle alive in the teams competition. The top five was rounded out by the #58 HHC McLaren and race one winner Stellar Performance Audi R8.

The next race is at Silverstone on the 8-9 June.