British GT Silverstone 500 round-up
Victories for 2 Seas Motorsport and Newbridge Motorsport claims maiden GT4 victory in the 10th anniversary of the Silverstone 500.
GT3
Starting from pole Hunter Abbott made good his escape as lead the field at the start of three hours of racing. With each team having to make 3 pitstops and 100 minutes maximum driving time it was going to be an interesting race.
As it was by the time Abbott handed over driving duties to Martin Kodric at just over the hour mark they were 30s clear of the field. They were helped in part due to the McLaren of Brendan Iribe who retired after contact with the Ciceley GT4 Mercedes AMG.
Bit further back Richard Neary was making great progress from P10 to pit while in P3. A great drive and a stunning overtake on Giacomo Petrobelli saw the team pit from P3. Unfortunately just after Sam Neary took over gearbox issues put paid to what looked likely to be a strong result for the team.
The #63 Barwell Lamborghini suffered a spin on lap 1 but Leo Machitski got his head down and hauled the Lamborghini into the mix. With Dennis Lind now at the wheel after and early pitstop to put the faster man in the car it meant they emerged in the lead once the first round of stops had shaken out.
At the next round of stops it was advantage to the 2 Seas AMG and at the final stops the #69 Lamborghini had to serve their 18s success penalty going into the last hour.
Lind managed to bring some of the gap down to Machitski but also had his attention taken by the sister #1 Lamborghini. Adam Balon completed the first stint in P2 but running slightly different strategy meant Sandy Mitchell was running a shorter last stint.
As both Lamborghini's were threading their way through the GT4 field Mitchell made his move at Stowe despite a little bit of elbows out and clash of wheels.
Thats how it ran for the remainder of the race with the 2 Seas AMG claiming the win with 85 laps on the board too and the #1 Barwell second, yet scoring maximum points due to the 2 Seas only competing on a race by race entry, and the sister #63 Lamborghini completing the podium.
GT4
Steller Motorsport's Richard Williams led the GT4 field and by the time he pitted early the Audi was 2.5s ahead of the field. Pitting this early meant that the plan was that they would be fast during the final part of the race.
With the Steller strategy of pitting 30 minutes into the race meant that Will Burns and Gus Burton in their #57 Century Motorsport BMW were enjoying the GT4 lead. Due to their success in the opening round at Brands Hatch meant the duo had to serve and extra 20s at their final stop plus there was the issue of extra time they had to serve as being a Silver Cup entry.
With these factors to consider, the BMW pairing decided to do two long opening stints in the hope that they could build a lead.
The Toyota Gazoo Racing UK Supra of John Ferguson slipped back from starting alongside the Audi and a great drive from Scott McKenna hauled the Supra back into the running for a fascinating final hour.
The final part of the fascinating GT4 jigsaw was the Newbridge Motorsport Aston Martin of Matt Topham and Darren Turner. A good steady first stint for Topham meant that Turner was able chase and pass Burton during the race.
Century Motorsport still decided to stick to the plan of the long stints in the hope of a late safety car and yet having a lap advantage the pair emerged behind Turner.
Behind Turner the Audi of Williams and Fielding, slowly and quickly running their own race, were second and only a couple of seconds behind the Aston as they began the final few laps of the three hour race. Turner was able to keep his cool and crossed the line ahead of the Audi.
Completing the podium was the Toyota who also managed to get past the BMW, but the #57 BMW still claimed more points to increase their championship lead.
The next race is at Donington Park on July 10th / 11th July for a two hour race.
