British GT, Donington – Quick Report
A Great Race

There’s no easy way to sum up the action-packed three-hour ‘GT500’ race at Donington Park, and the full report is sure to be quite lengthy; but once again the British GT Championship put on a show that contained enough drama, strategy, controversy and just pure racing to keep the hardy spectators entertained.

The race started in wet conditions and ended in near-dark, but the track dried out throughout the first hour and slicks were the only way to go after that. Jonny Adam dominated the opening third of the race in the Beechdean Aston, but thereafter it was incredibly close between the two Porsches and several Ferraris.

Three safety car periods added to the intrigue, but it was Scuderia Vittoria who played the strategy hand just right and capitalised on the opportunities thrown up. In the end, Michael Lyons had enough of a lead in the #5 Ferrari 458 to complete a carefully managed fuel-run and take the win, even with a very later caution period that produced a dramatic run to the line. Matt Griffin finished second on the road, with Tim Bridgman third, but a time penalty arising from an earlier incident saw the #21 MTECH Ferrari and the #2 Trackspeed Porsche swap places before the podium ceremonies.

The #18 Rollcentre Ginetta of Tom Sharp, Matt Nicoll-Jones and Martin Short was another star of the show; the orange G55 regularly running in the top six and finishing in the top ten after an excellent performance.

GT4 was a much more straight-forward affair, with the #48 Lotus Evora of Phil Glew and James Nash taking the win after a flawless performance. The Century Motorsport Ginetta G50 of Josh Wakefield and Jake Rattenbury took second ahead of the #44 KTM X-Bow of Peter Belshaw and Marcus Clutton, but a potential challenge from the #50 Scuderia Vittoria G50 was scuppered by a misfire.

The result means that both the GT3 and GT4 title races will be resolved at the season-ending two-hour race at Silverstone on October 8th.

Full report to follow.