As the lights went out for last weekend’s British GT race, Jon Minshaw led away from pole but was soon having to fight off James Littlejohn’s Macmillan AMR Aston Martin, which had pulled alongside.
The Aston Martin Vantage stuck closely to the Huracan before striking when Minshaw ran wide heading into Graham Hill Bend while negotiating the GT4 runners.
Further back in the pack, Rick Parfitt Jnr had spent the first 20 minutes working his way past Derek Johnston, Liam Griffin and Mark Farmer, and was then in a position to pass Minshaw at Graham Hill Bend just three laps after Littlejohn had done the same.
A brief Safety Car period then followed while Will Moore’s Gt4 Aston Martin was recovered after having broken down. When racing resumed with eighty five minutes of the race to go it wasn’t long before the Aston Martin and Bentley began pulling away from their rivals. The pair were never more than three seconds apart from each other though, before an ECU issue stopped Littlejohn’s Aston Martin just before the pit window opened.
Parfitt Jnr pitted as soon as he could to hand over to Seb Morris but several other runners waited a lap first. Despite this, the Bentley remained in the lead once everyone had stopped with an increased lead. He’d never lose this and crossed the line ahead by just over thirty three seconds.
Parfitt Jnr was pleased;
“We had a strategy to run low tyre pressures that would give us better pace as the race progressed, and it worked a treat. Initially I couldn’t make any moves but as the stint wore on and others started to struggle our tyres came into their own, which allowed me to apply pressure and force mistakes. We didn’t expect the points to change around like they have, and especially after qualifying yesterday. But everything came together today with a bit of luck and some good strategy. Of course, we’ll now have the success penalty at Donington whereas the Lamborghini won’t, so perhaps the 10.5 points aren’t quite the considerable advantage they appear on paper.”
Littlejohn’s demise had promoted the number eleven TF Sport Aston to second after Mark Farmer had already passed both Barwell Lamborghinis before handing over to Jon Barnes. Minshaw, in the Demon Tweeks car wasn’t having a happy time after starting from pole, he had dropped through the order leaving the car in fifth when Phil Keen took over. Keen followed Jonny Adam, Sam Tordoff and Jon Barnes. There was no way past though and it ended with Barnes in second from Tordoff and Griffin with Jonny Adam in fourth ahead of Keen’s Lamborghini.
The Rollcentre Mercedes of Neary and Christadolou was next up ahead of the Spirt of the Race Ferrari with Matt Griffin behind the wheel.
The second of the Team Parker Bentleys had a nightmare race with two pitlane penalties, one for a safety car infringement and the second for speeding in the pitlane
Minshaw and Keen had hoped to clinch their maiden GT3 Drivers’ title at Brands Hatch. Instead, Parfitt Jnr and Morris’ victory has helped them turn a 12-point deficit into a 10.5-point lead ahead of the final round at Donington Park where 37.5 points will once again be available. Of course, the Bentley’s win ensures it will also incur a 20s pitstop success penalty while the Lamborghini competes handicap free
Matt Griffin claimed the Sunoco Fastest Lap Award while Farmer’s performances during yesterday’s tricky wet qualifying session and opening race stint earned him the Blancpain Gentleman Driver of the Weekend prize.
In Gt4 it was the Macmillan Aston that took the win with Jan Jonck and Williams Philips putting in some of the drives of the race. David Pattison and Joe Osbourne took second the the Tolman Mclaren ahead of Will Tregurtha and Stuart Middleton in third in their HHC Ginetta. The HHC duo retain the GT4 championship lead.
Jonck was happy to win and was especially pleased with his own stint;
“I knew after free practice that we’d [William Phillips] both be quick, but we didn’t quite have the wet qualifying set-up to show it in the mixed conditions. I still thought a top-five was possible, especially as Will is great at overtaking: I was definitely expecting to be in a good position when I took over the car. Then, when I came out behind the leader, I thought ‘we’re in with a chance now.’ It’s tough to pass around here but then I saw the guys behind were catching and knew they’d be with us in two or three more laps. That was one of the best, and also most important, overtaking moves of my career!”
Today’s results help HHC’s Tregurtha and Middleton carry a considerable 25-point lead into Donington’s season finale on September 23rd and 24th. Lanan’s Reed and Pittard are the only other crew still in title contention but must finish no lower than second to have any chance of overhauling their Ginetta rivals.
The championship’s only female driver, Anna Walewska had no luck in the race with her team mate Mike Simpson. The duo faced several problems which left them down the order although sixth place in the pro-am category meant it wasn’t a total disaster.
The championship now sees a finale at Donington in September where both titles will be decided. By Marc Waller
