British GT Oulton Park round-up
Race wins for Jenson Team Rocket RJN and Barwell Motorsport in GT3 while TF-Sport Aston Martin and Balfe Motorsport claim GT4 honours.
Race 1
The amended 2020 season finally got underway at Oulton Park. Lewis Proctor in the Optimum Motorsport McLaren led a slightly depleted GT3 as the lights turned green. Proctor enjoyed the opening stint out in front, but just before the pitstop window opened he was under pressure from Jordan Witt in his 2 Seas Motorsport McLaren. When the window opened, Proctor dived into the pits to hand driving duties over to Ollie Wilkinson while Witt continued hoping to do the undercut. When Jack Mitchell emerged after taking over from Witt he now enjoyed the lead.
Behind the top two the second 2 Seas' McLaren with Angus Fender behind the wheel was battling hard to keep new-comer James Baldwin at bay in his Jenson Team Rocket RJN McLaren, along with former BTCC racer Rob Collard in the Barwell Lamborghini and Sam De Haan in the RAM Racing Mercedes, who had lost out to Collard at the start.
In the pitstops it was the Jenson Team Rocket RJN who managed to get their McLaren serviced and driver change to Michael O'Brien quickest to get out ahead of Dean Macdonald and Sandy Mitchell to lead the charge on the top two.
Race leader Jack Mitchell was soon though handed a 10s stop-go penalty for an infringement in the pitstops. This would have meant that Wilkinson was race leader but unfortunately for him he was passed by O'Brien as they approached Hislops.
With 10 minutes left on the clock the lead that O'Brien had built up and been enjoying diminished. When racing resumed there was enough time left on the clock for two more laps. O'Brien was able to keep all those behind him at bay and claim his first win on his first GT3 outing. Wilkinson finished second and claiming the final podium spot was Macdonald.
In the Pro/Am's it was victory for Ian Loggie and Yelmer Buurman in their RAM Racing Mercedes ahead of Adam Balon / Phil Keen's Barwell Lamborghini and completing the top three was father and son duo of Richard and Sam Neary in their Team ABBA Mercedes.
In GT4, pole sitter Connor O'Brien made good his escape from the field and by the time he pitted the TF-Sport driver had a 9s lead over the Speedworks Toyota. Patrick Kibble emerged out in front and was untroubled on the way to end despite the appearance of the safety car.
Sam Smelt in the Toyota was doing his best chasing down the TF Aston but a penalty for the team as a result of a short pitstop dropped them back. There was pace in the Speedworks Toyota as they did manage to finish fourth.
With the penalty to the Toyota, the HHC McLaren with Jordan Collard onboard was now running in second with Academy Motorsport Ford Mustang of Matt Cowley third and Jamie Caroline in fourth in the other TF-Sport Aston. This soon became third as Cowley spun causing the safety car to make a late appearance
Race 2
Starting from pole, the Barwell Motorsport Lamborghini of Phil Keen managed to keep team-mate Sandy Mitchell behind to complete a one-two before the pitstops. It was a Lamborghini one-two-three as Marcus Clutton in the JHM Auto version powered his way past both RAM Racing Mercedes at the start.When Yelmer Buurman managed to get back past Clutton, the distance to the lead duo was a massive 16s.
As the pitstop window opened, Mitchell pitted straight away to hand over to Rob Collard but Keen stayed out and only pitted with seconds to spare on his driving length. Such was the pace of Keen that when Adam Balon took over he emerged in the lead.
The lead though soon vanished as the safety car was sent out due to 3 cars littering various parts of the race track after one incident that involved #95 TF-Sport Aston Marting stuck in the gravel at Cascades, the Team Parker Bentley at Knickerbrook and the 2 Seas McLaren. Both the Bentley and Aston made contact as they exited Old Hall and the 2 Seas McLaren got caught up in the subsequent damage (hit a tyre that came off the Aston Martin).
As the cars couldn't be cleared by the end of the race, it was Balon who lead the field to the flag behind the safety car. He was followed by team mate Collard and Sam De Haan in the RAM Racing Mercedes. De Haan claimed that final podium spot after the sister RAM Racing Mercedes was penalised for a pitstop infringement.
GT4 pole sitter Euan Hankey was unable to keep Jamie Caroline in his TF-Sport Aston Martin behind him but did keep Caroline honest so he couldn't build up a lead that he needed due to the Success Penalty and Silver Cup time he would have to serve.
Behind Hankey was the other TF-Sport Aston of Patrick Kibble, and like his fellow team mate, would also have to serve Success Penalty. Connor O'Brien took the Aston over at the pitstops but a collision with the Team Parker Bentley and ending up in the gravel at Cascades meant the Safety Car was sent out.
With all the pitstops ironed out with various Success Penalties served it was Mia Flewitt who emerged in the lead. With the race finishing behind the Safety Car, Flewitt took the win with Daniel Vaughan, TF-Sport Aston Martin, second and Patrik Matthiesen, HHC Motorsport McLaren, third.
The next race weekend is at Donington Park 15/16 August.
