My 2015 British GT Championship campaign has officially begun with rounds 1 and 2 taking place at Oulton Park on Monday 6th April.
It’s fair to say our first event came with its usual ups and downs of an opening race weekend, however I’m delighted to say that Liam Griffin and I now head the British GT championship table after a victory in race 1 and a solid fourth place in the race 2!
It was great to be back in the British GT paddock where we could finally see our competitors show their hands.
Our pace was strong in Saturday’s Free Practice sessions, however it was hard to tell how qualifying would go, but Liam pulled off a sensational performance in the Amateur qualifying session to secure the first ever pole position of our partnership – what a way to start the year!!
I could only score an 8th place grid slot for race 2 from the Professional qualifying session, a little underwhelming, however I knew from my race pace that I could make up positions in the race!
The excitement was high within the Motorbase squad on Easter Monday and it was great to see Liam full of confidence ahead of race 1 – he would start the 1 hour race, with the Pro drivers taking the reins for the second half (and vice versa in race 2!!!).
Liam lined up at the front of the grid for race 1 against the Ferrari 458 of Gary Eastwood, the Aston Martin V12 Vantage of Andrew Howard and the Mercedes SLS of Alistair Mackinnon, followed by the rest of the 34 super car grid and shot off from the start building a 7.5sec gap over Eastwood in 2nd place before pitting at the half way point for our driver change.
I got strapped in and buckled up ready to take advantage of our lead, however during the pitstop the chasing Ferrari leapfrogged us out of nowhere which demoted us to 2nd place before I had even started my stint!!! Battling with Adam Carrol (now in the Ferrari) and Joe Osbourne in the BMW Z4 throughout the race, Joe made a move up the inside at the Knickerbrook Chicane and I then repaid the favour by sliding past to reclaim 2nd in to Lodge Corner in the late stages.
I pushed hard on the final lap and crossed the line just 1 sec behind Carrols winning Ferrari, but this result wasn’t final by any means, as the Ferrari 458 of Eastwood and Carrol was later hit with a 2 second penalty after they were deemed to have been released from there pit box in a manner that is outside of the British GT regulations, gaining the Ferrari an unfair advantage.
Not the way we planned to win our first British GT race but we’ll take it!!
Race 2 was next and I lined up in 8th position with some work to do and got a good run at the start and snuck up the inside of works BMW driver Alexander Sims at Old Hall Corner, crossing the line after lap 1 in 5th position and pushed to stay in the lead group.
This stint was really tricky, with the track temperature being at its hottest all day; the Aston was feeling very nervous and took a bit of hanging on to – each lap the car felt harder to drive but I managed to hand it over iin 4th place just behind the works Ginetta GT3.
Liam quickly built up momentum and took 3rd place off the Ginetta, which was immediately followed by a Stop/Go penalty for a pit lane infringement of our own!! Re-entering the track in 5th behind the Ferrari of Eastwood he claimed back 4th after a last lap move.
Our second podium in as many races was so close, but I’m absolutely delighted to walk away with two point scoring finishes, a race win and the championship lead – it’s a long season ahead and our goal is to keep racking up the points and finishing races.
Podiums = Points = Prizes.
Thank you to all my sponsors for continuing their support in 2015 and well done to Motorbase Performance for preparing such a competitive British GT programme.