ASTON ON TOP AT CHAOTIC BRANDS BRIT GT OPENER

Jonny Adam's title defence kicked off brilliantly alongside Derek Johnston – Photo: Jakob Ebrey

GT3
Derek Johnston and Jonny Adam began their 2016 British GT campaign with victory in this afternoon’s Brands Hatch season opener. The TF Sport Aston Martin pair were joined in the top-three by the pole-sitting Team Parker Racing Bentley of Rick Parfitt Jnr and Seb Morris, as well as Liam Griffin and Fabio Babini’s Barwell Motorsport Lamborghini, which was promoted to third post-race.

The result sees Johnston win his second consecutive British GT round after also triumphing at last year’s season finale, a victory for reigning champion Adam on his TF Sport debut, and Lamborghini’s Huracan GT3 secure its maiden series podium first time out. Four different manufacturers also filled the top four positions.

Those results might have been different were it not for a red flag that brought the race, which was scheduled to run for two hours, to a close with 23 minutes remaining after a lengthy Full Course Yellow period had earlier nullified the field for almost 40 minutes.

The opening laps saw Parfitt Jnr escape from fellow front row starter Jon Minshaw and his Barwell Motorsport Lamborghini. The Bentley was some way up the road when the Huracan came together with Wilson Thompson’s RCIB Insurance Racing Ginetta GT4 and was forced to retire with suspension damage.

That gave Parfitt Jnr a huge advantage over a pursuing pack led by Liam Griffin, who’d moved his Barwell Huracan up from fifth on the grid to second overall ahead of Johnston and Lee Mowle’s BMW Z4 GT3.

But with just under 40 minutes gone a Full Course Yellow was triggered by a serious incident at Pilgrim’s Drop involving Phil Dryburgh’s Motorbase Performance Aston Martin, the Simpson Motorsport Ginetta G55 GT4 driven by Nick Jones and Matty Graham’s Generation AMR Macmillan Racing Aston GT4. All three drivers escaped unhurt, although the significant barrier damage caused by Dryburgh’s rolling Vantage GT3 required time-consuming repairs.

Indeed, the race was still under FCY when the pit window opened after 50 minutes. And it was TF Sport’s decision to delay Johnston’s stop that helped Adam leapfrog from third to first. The Scot was seven seconds clear of his nearest challenger having set a new British GT lap record for Brands – a 1m24.695s – when the race ended early.

Joe Osborne, who rejoined third before dispatching Fabio Babini at the restart, initially closed to within two seconds of Adam before falling back into the clutches of Morris once the Welshman had also passed the Lamborghini driver. The pair circulated together for several laps as Morris looked to make his move, but Osborne was having none of it and held on to finish runner-up on the road for the second season running at Brands.

However, a post-race penalty for overtaking Babini while the race was still under yellow flag conditions saw the AmDTuning.com BMW Z4 GT3 he shares with Mowle demoted to fourth in the final classification.

Babini held off Ross Gunn’s charging Beechdean AMR Aston, which had started last in GT3 but made significant ground with Andrew Howard aboard, to secure what would ultimately become third for the Barwell Lamborghini he shares with Griffin on its British GT debut.

Gunn was chased all the way by Jon Barnes’ TF Sport Aston, while Rob Bell set three consecutive fastest laps early in his stint aboard the Black Bull Ecurie Ecosse McLaren 650S GT3 that had lost significant time during its pit-stop after being backed up behind its GT4 stablemate.

Pete Littler and Jody Fannin brought their PFL Motorsport V12 Vantage GT3 home in eighth to secure points first time out, while Rollcentre Racing’s Richard Neary and Martin Short were the last of the GT3 entries running at the finish in ninth.

The race-ending red flag was required to extinguish a fire that had brought the #56 Tolman Motorsport Ginetta’s involvement to an early end.

Griffin’s drive from fifth to second helped him win the Blancpain Gentleman Driver of the Weekend Award, while the new-for-2016 PMW Expo Team of the Weekend Award went to Optimum Motorsport for their efforts to repair the Audi, which included a dash to Leeds and back on Saturday afternoon for a new R8 LMS GT3 floor.

GT4

Graham Johnson and Mike Robinson recorded their second career British GT4 victories earlier today after a relatively trouble-free drive at Brands Hatch aboard their PMW Expo Racing/Optimum Motorsport Ginetta. Anna Walewska and Nathan Freke finished second for Century Motorsport while Jordan Stilp and William Phillips made it three G55 GT4s on the podium during RCIB Insurance Racing’s series debut.

In a race characterised by its lengthy Full Course Yellow period and premature ending with 23 of the 120 minutes remaining it was last year’s Brands Hatch runners-up who kept their heads to record a 12-second victory.

Johnson started alongside pole-sitter Walewska but was able to make his decisive move for the lead in the opening laps before holding off a gaggle of GT4 cars over the next half an hour. It was at that point a sizeable accident involving, amongst others, Matty Graham’s fourth placed Generation AMR Macmillan Aston Martin, necessitated the FCY period.

Barrier repairs were continuing when the pit window opened after 50 minutes. And with British GT’s new FCY regulations catching some teams out Robinson was able to rejoin with a 15-second lead that would prove more than enough once racing resumed.

Further back, Freke had taken over the Century Ginetta from Walewska who’d been in the thick of the podium fight before the race was neutralised. And after passing both Stilp and Jordan Albert’s Beechdean AMR Aston Martin in quick succession after the restart, he was able to make small inroads into Robinson’s lead before the red flag.

RCIB Insurance Racing will be delighted with a podium on their British GT debut thanks to the efforts of Phillips, who lined up fourth and remained a fixture before handing over to Stilp. Hustling Freke all the way to the finish helped him record a new British GT4 lap record at Brands – a 1m33.165s – while he and Phillips were also first of the all-Silver pairings home.

Fine stints, first from reigning GT4 champion Jamie Chadwick and then debutant Matthew George, helped the Generation AMR SuperRacing Aston Martin make up nine places from its grid slot to finish fourth ahead of Albert and Beechdean co-driver Jack Bartholomew who gallantly chased Johnson throughout the opening 40 minutes.

Ciaran Haggerty and Sandy Mitchell, who at 16 years and 41 days became the youngest driver ever to compete in a British GT race, brought the all-new McLaren 570S GT4 home in sixth on its competition debut, while Lanan Racing finished seventh courtesy of Alex Reed and Joey Foster.

Ebor GT’s Maserati GranTurismo MC was eighth after a particularly eye-catching early stint from Marcus Hoggarth who, along with co-driver Abbie Eaton, finished ahead of the JWBird Aston Martin and Stratton Motorsport Lotus Evora GT4.

The race-ending red flag was required to extinguish a fire that had brought the #56 Tolman Motorsport Ginetta’s involvement to an early end.

Tom Hornsby c/o British GT