British GT Snetterton round up

Race one start (Photo by Marc Waller)TF Sport’s Mark Farmer and Nicki Thiim turned pole position into Race 1 victory at Snetterton on Sunday morning, while David Pattison and Joe Osborne led home a Tolman Motorsport one-two in GT4.

Optimum Motorsport’s Flick Haigh and Jonny Adam came through from ninth on the grid to finish an impressive fourth but were penalised thirty seconds post-race instead of a drive-through due to contact with Beechdean AMR’s Aston Martin, which retired during the opening stint. This left them back down in ninth.

The GT4 class race was affected by a safety car that was Scrambled for a stranded Balfe Motorsport Mclaren. Last year’s race had also been affected by a safety car and back then the David Pattison and Joe Osbourne car had lost out so it seemed fitting that this year they benefited to take their first win of the year and their first win since joining together with Tolman Motorsport. It wasn’t a good race for Anna Walewska and Callum Hawkins Row as they finished down the order.

Later in the day Derek Johnston and Marco Sorensen rounded off a dominant weekend for TF Sport by adding to their team-mates’ two poles and first race victory after prevailing in a close battle with Andrew Howard and Darren Turner. Mark Farmer and Nicki Thiim completed the podium after the full ten seconds pitstop success penalty dropped them behind the top two at half-distance.

Derek Johnston explained that it wasn’t easy;

“Andrew [Howard] made me work really hard for that! I’d gap him by a couple of car lengths and then we’d hit traffic. I thought ‘there’s no way he’ll be able to follow me through,’ and there he was, still right behind! He didn’t give an inch and kept me honest the whole race. The back of the car was unstable under braking – I don’t know if Marco [Sorensen] wrecked the tyres in his stint or what! – but I definitely had an issue over the second half of the stint. It was a great race and I loved the battle.”

Flick Haigh had a strong race once again fighting her way up the field along with team mate Jonny Adam, the duo took an impressive fourth and were closing on a podium spot as the race came to a close. This time there was no penalty as they had received in race one.

The GT3 championship is still led by Mowle and Buurman by 4.5 points from Minshaw and Keen. Neither duo had an ideal weekend at Snetterton although the Minshaw and Keen visited the podium in race one with a third. But consistency is often key in the championship and both duos have been consistently racking up the points in each race so far this year. Andrew Howard and Darren Turner are 8.5 further back in third.

In GT4 Ben Green, Ben Tuck and BMW claimed their maiden class wins despite spinning in the opening stint. Tolman Motorsport’s McLaren duo of Lewis Proctor and Jordan Albert scored their first podium together in second while Academy Motorsport’s Matt Nicoll-Jones and Will Moore completed theirs and Aston Martin’s excellent weekend with a second third place finish.

Race two start (Photo by Marc Waller) ERC still lead the championship (Photo by Marc Waller) Anna Walewska (Photo by Marc Waller) Flick Haighs car (Photo by Marc Waller)

 

 

 

Ben Tuck spoke afterwards;

“I could see that I was slowly catching Lewis [Proctor] but every time a GT3 car came past the gap between us grew again. I was on the radio asking how many GT3s were left behind us because I was desperate to get him, which we managed to do on the penultimate lap. The team were really on it and gave me all the information I needed about cars coming up behind. I couldn’t have asked for more.”

Anna Walewska and Callum Hawkins Row had a better race two taking seventh in class this time.

In the GT4 championship battle just half a point separates leaders Pointon and Matthiesen from O’Brien and Fagg at the top of the table. Nicoll-Jones and Moore are third while today’s winners Tuck and Green, and Osborne and Pattison move up to fourth and fifth respectively.

The next round is in just a couple of weeks at Silverstone where the championship has it’s Blue ribband 500 event on the full grand prix circuit.

You can see the full results from this weekend’s event on TSL timing

http://tsl-timing.com/event/182105  By Marc Waller 

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