It was a straightforward lights-to-flag GT4 class victory for ISSY Racing Lotus duo Oz Yusuf and Gavan Kershaw in the first of Sunday’s two British GT Snetterton one-hour races.
Following an impressive qualifying performance for the local team, which saw Yusuf and Kershaw claim pole position for races one and two respectively, it fell to Yusuf to take the start of the first 60-minuter. There were no incidents through the first few corners and he was able to pull out a decent gap by the time the field came around to complete lap one.
There were two important moves off the start line, though: the first being eventual second-place finisher Will Moore getting the #61 Academy Motorsport Aston Martin (above) past front-row qualifier Fulvio Mussi’s #48 Fox Motorsport Ginetta. Elsewhere, Graham Johnson in the #50 PMW/Optimum Ginetta (below) demoted Jamie Chadwick in the #407 Beechdean Aston Martin from fourth to fifth, adding to his and co-driver Mike Robinson’s chances of keeping the title fight alive into race two and beyond.
Beyond that, the opening half of the race was largely incident-free, save for Tim Eakin in the #54 Ultratek Lotus coming to halt briefly, then getting going again, at the exit of Riches on lap seven (technical issues meant neither of Ultratek cars would be classified at the flag). On the same lap, Mussi’s Ginetta twitched under braking into the same corner and he ran wide onto the grass, losing third place to Johnson and dropping behind Chadwick, too.
Aleksander Schjerpen (#43 Century Motorsport Ginetta, above), Graham Coomes (#46 AMD Porsche) and Anna Walewska (#41 University of Bolton Ginetta) were running sixth, seventh and eighth at this point, although a spin for Coomes at Montreal saw him lose that spot. The car would later receive a five-second penalty for exceeding track limits.
The one upside of Yusuf and Kershaw’s Brands Hatch retirement was that they carried no extra pit stop time into this race, so once the window for stopping opened on lap 12, their driver change was a quick and straightforward affair, seeing Kershaw emerge with a 10-second lead once everyone else had stopped.
Mussi’s woes continued at the stops when the car had to be pulled into the garage rather than sent out in the hands of Jamie Stanley – the Fox Motorsport crew having some work to do ahead of race two.
Once the stops were over, Kershaw looked comfortable out front and attention turned to a great battle between Moore’s co-driver Dennis Strandberg in the #61 Aston and Schjerpen’s co-driver (and British GT debutant) Fredrik Blomstedt in the #43 Ginetta.
Blomstedt moved into second early in the second half of the race, but Strandberg didn’t give up, staying within 1.5 or two seconds of his rival throughout. On the penultimate lap, he struck, and second place was confirmed. “It was a tight battle, but I managed to control the gap,” the delighted Swede told us afterwards. “I worked out where I was strongest compared to him, then waited for the right moment.”
“I’m so pleased for Dennis,” added Strandberg’s co-driver Moore, who had initially got the car into second at the start. “I saw a gap going into the first corner and just went for it. After that it was a case of elbows out, as the car behind me was definitely quicker. I just had to keep him behind, I wasn’t playing the long game as this is a sprint race after all! We’re still chasing that elusive win, but I’m sure it’ll come.”
Up front, Kershaw eventually crossed the line 17.5 seconds to the good over Strandberg, who took the flag almost nose-to-tail with third-place man Blomstedt and fourth-place finisher Robinson.
“That was what we needed after Brands, we just have to do it all again in the next race,” beamed Yusuf after the race. Kershaw added: “It was a clean race, we caught traffic in the right places and both did consistent stints. The next one will definitely be tricker having to take a longer stop, though!”
Driver’s championship leader Ross Gunn drove a circumspect stint to bring the Beechdean Aston home fifth, while Luke Davenport got the Brands Hatch-winning Tolman Motorsport Ginetta from eighth to sixth in class after taking over from David Pattinson.
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