Jon Minshaw and Phil Keen drove the Demon Tweeks Lamborghini Huracan to the win in the first of Sunday’s two one-hour British GT races at Snetterton, taking the series points lead ahead of the afternoon’s second race.
Minshaw held the car’s front-row grid position during his stint, while Keen had to fend off the threat of Joe Osborne in the AmD BMW in the second half. Osborne passed on track, but contact and a spin for Keen saw him penalised, despite taking the chequered flag in the lead.
At the start, polesitter Mark Farmer held the lead from Minshaw’s Lamborghini going down the front straight, but the main action on lap 1 was contact between Alasdair McCaig’s McLaren and third-place qualifier Derek Johnston’s Aston Martin on the way out of Agostini.
That elevated Mowle to third at the end of the first tour, ahead of Rick Parfitt Jr in the Team Parker Bentley and Ian Stinton in the #32 Tolman Ginetta.
Johnston was quick to recover from his lap-one drama, however, getting up to sixth by lap 6, with the also-recovering McCaig right behind in seventh. Phil Dryburgh in the Motorbase Aston, David Pattison in the other Tolman car and Pete Littler in the PFL Aston completed the early top 10.
Liam Griffin in the #6 Barwell Lamborghini was an early pit visitor after an off on lap 6 that caused a puncture, while Johnston got past Stinton going into Riches to take fifth a short time later.
After 12 laps, Farmer had 2.6-second gap to Minshaw in second, with Mowle (above) a further 3.8 seconds behind. The pit window opened shortly afterwards, with the men to watch being the leader Farmer and fourth-place Parfitt Jr, carrying 10 and seven-second success penalties respectively after their results last time out in Spa.
As expected, pretty much the entire GT3 field came in as soon as possible to allow the pro drivers take over the cars for the larger portion of the race, although Dryburgh and Parfitt Jr stayed out a lap longer than the rest.
Once the order had shaken out after the stops, Keen led in the #33 Lamborghini having taken over from Minshaw, with Osborne second in the AmD BMW started by Mowle. The Farmer/Barnes Aston’s success penalty saw it running third ahead of the other penalised car, the Team Parker Racing Bentley with Seb Morris now at the wheel.
Fifth after the stops was Jonny Adam, having taken over the #17 Aston from Johnston, with Mike Simpson sixth in the #32 Ginetta and Ross Wylie seventh in the Motorbase Aston started by Dryburgh.
Although Rob Bell had been waiting to get aboard McCaig’s Ecurie Ecosse McLaren (above) at the stops, the car was pushed back into the garage when it arrived and was confirmed as a retirement shortly afterwards, due to radiator damage from the lap-one contact with Johnston.
Osborne closed down Keen at the front of the field rapidly and they were nose-to-tail before very long. The BMW was ahead by lap 30 by seven seconds, after Osborne squeezed by into Bombhole and Keen spun, but recovered.
That looked to be that, until the ominous ‘team manager to race control’ message appeared on the timing screens for the #7 BMW. The decision was a drive-through for Osborne, but he didn’t come in during the remaining laps and took the chequered flag in the lead. The timing was soon adjusted to put him fifth in the final order, with a 30-second penalty awarded in lieu of the drive-through, bumping Adam’s Aston up to fourth.
“Joe was behind me rather than alongside me,” said Keen afterwards, “but we were boxed in by some GT4 cars and I think maybe he misjudged how slow I was having to take the corner to deal with them. So he hit the back of my car, but it wasn’t enough to retire it. I’m sure it wasn’t deliberate and I don’t hold any grudge.”
Osborne admitted he was at fault for the incident, but expressed frustration at what he says is inconsistency in penalties from the British GT stewards for similar incidents.
The amended result elevated the Farmer/Barnes Aston Martin to second and the Morris/Parfitt Bentley to third at the flag. Position changes elsewhere in the final minutes saw Wylie take sixth from Simpson, who subsequently lost another spot to Jody Fannin in the PFL Aston. Alexander Sims brought the delayed #6 Barwell Lamborghini home ninth, ahead of Mike Brown in the Ultimate Speed Aston.
