British GT #DoningtonDecider round-up
Enduro Motorsport claim GT3 victory while Academy Motorsport take GT4 honours. The GT3 Drivers title go in the way of Barwell Motorsport's #63 Leo Machitski / Dennis Lind.
GT3
With the conditions wet for the start of the 2021 final race of the year, WPI Lamborghini Michael Igoe maintained his lead until at the Old Hairpin he spun and again at Coppice rendering the end of a long awaited title for Phil Keen.
Another lightning start by Richard Neary in his Team Abba Racing Mercedes AMG meant he quickly passed Marcus Tilbrook and into second which soon became first due to the WPI error. Ian Loggie then also passed Tilbrook just before the pit stop window opened for the GT3 field.
Machitski meanwhile was locked in battle with the other potential championship contenders, Adam Balon in the sister Barwell Lamborghini and Andrew Howard in the Beechdean AMR. Balon managed to get his way past, but Howard was unable to pass the wide Lamborghini. With the closeness of action between the pair, contact was made at Redgate and the Aston spun.
At the pitstops Richard handed over the lead Mercedes to son Sam and with no success penalty to serve maintained the lead over the field. With RAM Racing having to serve success penalties the lead had grown to 10s. Yelmer Buurman though was on a charge and hunted down Neary taking chunks out of his lead. Marcus Clutton was also charging and caught Buurman and passed him and off in pursuit of Neary.
A great battle ensured between Neary and Clutton but eventually Clutton managed to get passed Neary and off to their first win.
Lind was running fourth once the pitstops had all shaken out and 30s behind Buurman who in turn was now out of contention as the results currently stood. When Neary ran wide at Redgate, Buurman was now up into second and only one place from taking the title. With the gap between the top two see-sawing between 1.5s and 2.5s the Barwell squad were nervously watching the gap. Buurman was denied a last chance as the race ended 3 minutes early due to a stricken GT4 McLaren.
Finishing second meant that Loggie and Buurman claimed Pro-Am championship honours, some consolation for missing out on the overall title. That went the way of Barwell's Machitski and Lind in scenes of delight in the Barwell garage.
GT4
Pole sitter Richard Williams in his Stellar Motorsport Audi managed to hang onto his lead in wet conditions from the rain earlier in the day but only for a few laps as the Audi was struggling. Will Moore and his Academy Motorsport Ford Mustang though were soon all over the Audi and the inevitable move for the lead was made on lap 3 as the Ford powered around the outside of the struggling Moore at Schwantz Curve. Putting more pressure on Williams was the Team Rocket RJN McLaren of Michael Benyahia and made his move the following lap.
Will Burns was next to pass the Audi and the new champion set off with the top 2 to establish a good distance from the chasing pack.
The trio then shared the lead with Benyahia taking over from Moore then Burns enjoyed a spell as they continued to pull clear. Moore had a trip through gravel trip and initially lost contact but as the GT4 pitstop window got nearer, so did the top 2 to Moore.
Both Benyahia and Moore dived for the pits at the same time but due to the success penalty of 10s for the Academy driver, Alain Valente enjoyed a 9s advantage over Matt Cowley once the stops had all taken place. With the track drying and slicks now holding the advantage, Cowley was easily to chase the lead gap down. On lap 48 Cowley made his move and stayed there to the end, ensuring Moore and Cowley were GT4 runners up.
Valente couldn't chase the leader and finished P2 with Burns completing the podium in his special gold tinted liveried BMW.
And that's the 2021 season all finished and the it all starts back up again at Oulton Park 16 - 18 April 2022.
