The British GT Championship moved to Snetterton in Norfolk for rounds four and five, a pair of one hour races.

GT3

Qualifying for round four saw an all Aston Martin front row as the TF Sport car of Mark Farmer & Nicki Thiim took pole by just 0.048 seconds from the Jetstream car of Graham Davidson & Maxime Martin. The Championship leading ERC Sport Mercedes AMG of Lee Mowle & Yelmer Buurman would start 11th.

From the start it was Farmer who lead in the TF Sport Aston Martin with the Jetstream Aston Martin of Davidson in close pursuit. Joining the Aston Martin duo at the head of the pack was the Team Parker Bentley of reigning Champion Rick Parfitt Jnr putting in a strong early showing. As the race reached the twenty-minute mark Davidson made his move and took the lead, followed through by Parfitt Jnr. As the trio thought for the lead the safety car was bought out while the GT4 McLaren of Balfe Motorsport was recovered. The safety car was still out as the pit window opened seeing all the GT3 field make their stops at the same time. Confusion in the Jetstream pit saw the TF Sport Aston re-take the lead now in the hands of Thiim while Martin, now in the Jetstream Aston, re-joining in second. With the Team Parker Bentley also having a slow stop it was Phil Keen in the Demon Tweeks Barwell Lamborghini who was now in third. The run to the flag was an easy one as Thiim went on to win by 7.4 seconds from Martin with Keen holding third place.

Round five again saw the TF Sport Aston Martin of Farmer & Thiim start from pole this time with the Barwell Lamborghini of Phil Keen & Jon Minshaw starting alongside.

From the start it was Thiim who took the lead with TF Sport team-mate Marco Sorensen moving ahead of the Lamborghini to take second place. The plan for Thiim to open up a big lead ahead of the pit-stops was hampered when the safety car was bought out to recover the GT4 Track-Club McLaren of Ben Barnicoat. With just a two second lead at the pit-stop with a success penalty to be served Thiim lost the lead as the second placed TF Sport Aston, now in the hands of Derek Johnston, re-joined in the lead. Also going places in the pit-stops was the Beechdean Aston Martin of Darren Turner that re-joined in third place now with Andrew Howard at the wheel. The battle for the lead was soon on as Howard closed the gap to Johnston and put the pressure on. The pair battled in the closing stages but Howard could not find his way past and at the flag it was second win of the day for TF Sport. The second TF Sport car of Farmer recovered to finish in third while Flick Haigh in the Optimum Aston Martin deposed Minshaw’s Lamborghini to make it an all-Aston Martin top four. Seventh place was enough for Mowle & Buurman to hold their narrow lead in the Championship with their ERC Sport Mercedes. There was further success for TF Sport as Marco Sorensen was awarded Sunoco fastest lap of the weekend while Mark Farmer was named Blancpain driver of the weekend.

GT4

Qualifying for round four saw the Century Motorsport BMW M4 of Ben Tuck & Ben Green take pole by half a second with the HHC Ginetta of Callum Pointon & Patrik Matthisen in second.

From the off it was Tuck in the BMW that took the lead building up a significant margin over the GT4 field before the safety car came out. As the pit-window opened, still under the safety car, the field entered the pits and it was clear Tuck would lose his lead. With silver cup pairings having to take a longer stop the Pro/Am teams soon gained an advantage. Despite having to service three cars the Tolman Motorsport team done a great job getting Joe Osborne out in second having taken the car over from David Pattison. It was the Invictus Games Racing Jaguar of Matthew George who now lead but they were to be given a penalty for a short pit-stop. Not waiting to take the lead when George took the penalty Osbourne took the lead on-track which he wasn’t to lose. Behind them it was Tolman team-mate Charlie Fagg in the #4 McLaren in second place and winning the silver cup class having built on a great first stint from Michael O’Brien. Despite a late challenge it was Academy Motorsports Aston Martin in third with Matt Nicoll-Jones at the wheel. It was a maiden win not only for Tolman with a McLaren but also Pattison & Osbourne as a pairing.

Round five qualifying proved just how close and competitive GT4 was getting as just 0.4 second covered the top seven, containing six different manufacturers. It was the Academy Motorsport Aston Martin of Matt Nicoll-Jones & Will Moore who took pole by just 0.066 second from the Century BMW of Aleksander Schjerpen & Jack Mitchell.

Pole-sitter Nicoll-Jones took the lead from the off holding a small lead initially before Mitchell in the Century BMW took the lead. A close six-car battle then developed for the lead ahead of the pit-stops during which the second Century BMW of Ben Green was spun out by the McLaren of Dan McKay. The BMW re-joined down the order and began to fight its way back up. With Century deciding to pit Green a lap earlier than the field handing the car to Ben Tuck who re-joined in fourth. As the field made their pit-stop the combination of Silver cup and success penalties soon had an effect on the order. Re-joining the race, it was now Pattison who lead from Tolman team-mate Lewis Proctor in the #5 McLaren. With more pace Proctor was soon past and into the lead as Moore now in the Academy Aston Martin and Tuck in the Century BMW also passed Pattison the race was now on between these three for the win. It was Tuck in the BMW who had the pace passing both Moore and Proctor to take a lead he wasn’t to lose. At the flag it was Tuck by 2.5 seconds giving the Century BMW M4 its maiden British GT win. Claiming Sunoco fastest lap of the weekend was Equipe Verschuur McLaren’s Daniel McKay while Ultratek Racing Team RJN were awarded PMW Expo team of the weekend having changed the engine of their #53 Nissan. In the Championship half a point separates HHC Ginetta’s Callum Pointon & Patrik Matthiesen from Tolman Motorsports McLaren pairing of Charlie Fagg & Michael O’Brien.

There was also a full support race program that included BRDC British F3, JCW Mini Challenge, Northern Saloon & Sports Car Championship, Volkswagens and Ginettas.

The next round will be the main event for British GT, the three-hour Silverstone 500 in June.

GT3 Photo album – https://www.facebook.com/pg/Snap-magcom-2061747147426100/photos/?tab=album&album_id=2179145015686312

GT4 Photo album – https://www.facebook.com/pg/Snap-magcom-2061747147426100/photos/?tab=album&album_id=2179155499018597 

BRDC BF3 & Mini Challenge album – https://www.facebook.com/pg/Snap-magcom-2061747147426100/photos/?tab=album&album_id=2179178629016284

Northern Saloon & Sports Car Championship album – https://www.facebook.com/pg/Snap-magcom-2061747147426100/photos/?tab=album&album_id=2179170029017144

Gary Malkin