2 Seas Motorsport’s #18 Mercedes-AMG GT3 EVO secured victory in Race 2 at Oulton Park this afternoon from pole after nailing the strategic decision to switch from wet to slick tyres in tricky, changeable conditions.
Mercedes-AMG factory driver Maximilian Götz retained control from the start, managing the lead through the ever-changing wet and dry track surface, before Tse brought the car home 47 seconds clear to seal the win after 35 laps.
“I did many back in the day at Nürburgring and Spa,” said Götz, “so I’ve definitely got some experience under my belt.
“I hadn’t done many laps in the rain here in Oulton before, but I understood the tyres pretty quickly, how they worked, and we adjusted the tyre pressures before the race. In the end, it all went well.”
Tse added: “We made the switch to slicks for my stint because the track was drying up more and more. I thought slicks would work better, and it paid off.”
“We didn’t panic,” Götz concluded, “we made the right calls, and since Kevin and I are sharing the same car, switching to slicks at the right time was crucial.”
Simon Orange took second position in the #67 Orange Racing by JMH McLaren GT3 Evo following an intense battle on wet tyres against Jonny Ip’s #86 Bridger Motorsport Honda NSX GT3 EVO2, which was on slicks.
Bridger’s NSX vaulted up the order, from P14 and the back of the GT3 grid, to third, scoring the first podium for the team, Honda and the #86 NSX GT3 EVO2 duo in the process.
Ip was rapid in his final stint in the #86, battling with Orange all the way to the chequered flag, when the pair were separated by less than two tenths.
Together with his teammate Garlick, they carried out a strong performance, showcasing the potential of the Honda package.
“Get me more of this – and more racing like that,” said Garlick.
“That was the most entertaining race I’ve ever been a part of.
“I can’t thank Johnny enough.”
Damp conditions welcomed drivers as they lined up on the grid, before the rain began to fall in the first sector, prompting varied tyre strategies as teams debated whether wets were worth a stop before conditions began to dry out again.
Blackthorn took fourth place with its #7 Aston Martin Vantage AMR GT3 Evo pairing of Giacomo Petrobelli and Jonny Adam.
The duo had finished third in Race 1 earlier in the day and were forced to stop for an additional five seconds as a result.
It made for an intense outing for Petrobelli, who caught Nick Jones’ #66 Team Parker Porsche 911 GT3.R for third (at the time), just as Ip closed in and passed him into Hislops.
Morgan Tillbrook brought home fifth in the #77 McLaren with his teammate Marvin Kirchhöfer.
Team Parker Racing claimed sixth following a strong opening stint by Sven Müller, who challenged #78 Barwell Lamborghini Huracan GT3 EVO2 driver Sandy Mitchell at the race start, with the pair fighting in second and third.
Jones made a mistake towards the end of the race when he went wide and onto the grass into Island Bend. It didn’t damage the car, but it essentially cost the team a podium.
Paddock Motorsport’s #9 McLaren driver Mark Smith took seventh, emerging on top of a race-long fierce battle against Beechdean Motorsport’s #97 Aston Martin and Spirit of Race’s #55 Ferrari 296 GT3.
Martin Plowman carried out a strong first stint from P11 as Smith carried the baton and thus the fight against the #97 of Andy Howard and #55 of Duncan Cameron.
Beechdean Motorsport ended up eighth and second in GT3 Silver-Am, unable to match the strategy and pace of the Bridger Motorsport Honda, its only full-season competitor in the class. Duncan Cameron and Matt Griffin (Spirit of Race) took ninth ahead of the Race 1 winning #1 Barwell Motorsport Lamborghini that completed the top 10.
Hugo Cook was the first to pit for slick tyres after eight minutes, and had to work around needing to serve the full 10-second pit stop compensation time for reaching the top step earlier in the day.
2 Seas Motorsport’s #42 finished in 11th, having endured a tricky race, with earlier contact with Mike Price’s #3 Optimum McLaren at Hislops.
The #3 McLaren was the second retirement in the GT3 category after Abba Racing’s #8 Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo.
Warren leads Optimum Motorsport 1-2 in GT4
Optimum Motorsport’s #90 McLaren Artura GT4 duo Marc Warren and Jack Brown completed a weekend sweep in GT4, leading a 1-2 for the team ahead of its sister #17 Artura after 32 laps of racing.
It was a remarkable achievement from Optimum, after both cars were sent to the back of the grid for failing to set a minimum of two timed laps in Qualifying.
Come the end of the season, the #90’s double win may well be looked back on as the turning point in the championship battle. It came on a day when the #71 Century Motorsport BMW M4 GT4 Evo, which was in the hunt ahead of the weekend, was due to start from pole, but didn’t take part after Ravi Ramyead’s heavy shunt in Race 1 and scored zero points on race day.
Warren said: “I’ve gotta thank the team – and Jack – for putting me out on slicks. That was the right call.
“I had Luca [Hopkinson] behind me the whole race, and some GT3s mixed in as well.
“I think the leaders were still on wets, so it made things really intense.”
Mahiki Racing’s #69 Lotus Emira GT4 followed the #17 Optimum McLaren of Harry George and Luca Hopkinson home in third, marking the team’s second podium of the day.
The #69 drivers, Jack Mitchell and Steven Lake, ended up being the only Lotus to finish on the podium, as the pole-sitting #84 Emira of Aiden Neate and Josh Miller suffered bad luck yet again with mechanical problems. The car began smoking in its pit box, which cost them valuable time.
The #88 Mahiki Lotus, driven by Joe Wheeler and Ian Duggan, also encountered an issue, though all three made the finish this time.
Century Motorsport’s sole running BMW, the #14, took fifth place in the GT4 field and first in Silver-Am ahead of their class rivals, the #84 Mahiki Lotus duo of Neate and Miller.
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Images courtesy of SRO/JEP
