2013 GT3 Champion Andrew Howard pulled together a hard earned victory for the Beechdean AMR Aston Martin team when things looked to be all but wiped out. The team pulled the car back from being more or less written off after heavy impact damage in Race 1 for Jonny Adam to lead from pole position and build a steady gap to Phil Keen’s Barwell BMW Z4 and Adam Carroll’s FF Corse Ferrari F458.
Joe Osborne’s 888 BMW, Rory Butcher’s Oman Racing Aston Martin and Mike Simpson’s Ginetta GT3 were closely matched for 4th, 5th and 6th early on, the Team LNT car notably improving its form from earlier in the weekend and always in touch with the leading group.
Adam Carroll’s charge brought the ‘458 to catch and pass the leading Aston Martin after a thankfully brief Safety Car session had bunched the field. Behind, Phil Keen’s efforts to catch the pair were curtailed through no fault of his own when the #22 Preci-Spark Mercedes cut across the front of the Demon Tweeks BMW, Keen ending up in the tyre wall.
After the pit stops Andrew Howard resumed back in the lead, however along with several of the leading group – notably Lee Mowle’s 888 BMW and Liam Griffin’s Oman Racing Aston Martin – was deemed to have had too short a pit stop and handed a Stop / Go penalty. Rapidly taken, the Beechdean car was still able to emerge in the lead having previously built up a sufficient advantage.
This allowed Steve Tandy’s #32 LNT Ginetta to assume second, though the car’s reach of the podium had never been in doubt.
Marco Attard’s Ecurie Ecosse BMW Z4 finally regained its form and fought off Race 1 winner Gary Eastwood’s Ferrari until the ‘458’s tyres cried enough in the closing stages, leaving last year’s driver’s champion to revisit the podium for third.
Having lost out to the Safety Car in the earlier race, Gavan Kershaw and Oz Yusuf made up for this disappointment with a flawless display in the #77 ISSY Racing Lotus Evora to take the GT4 win in Race 2 by a margin of almost 20 seconds.
Kershaw had spent his stint in hot pursuit of a very rapid and assured Luke Davenport in the pole-sitting #56 Tolman Ginetta G55, but had been unable to find a way past. He had done enough, however, to put Oz Yusuf in the perfect position to challenge immediately for the lead in the final half hour and the Lotus driver took the lead from David Pattison within three laps; thereafter pulling away at a rapid rate of knots.
But it was the fight for the remaining podium positions that was the story of the race, with the final positions not being determined until the last corner of the last lap, and another hugely impressive performance from the youngest duo (ever?) in British GT, Ross Gunn and Jamie Chadwick resulted in second place for the second time in two races. Third place went to Race 1 winners Optimum Motorsport after Graham Johnson chased down Paul McNeilly’s Fox Ginetta and made his move at Lodge as the flag was waved.
The early signs are that this will be a highly competitive season in GT4, but will the longer race at Rockingham in a month’s time throw up a completely different set of results?
ML/MH
Images ©Jakob Ebrey
