British GT: Barwell Motorsport claim race one victory over pole sitters Beechdean Motorsport while Century take GT4 win

Hugo Cook and Rob Collard claim victory for Barwell Motorsport in race one over Beechdean Motorsports Andrew Howard and Ross Gunn by slender margin while Century Motorsport claimed victory in GT4.

Beechdean vs Barwell for victory in an intense GT3 fight

The Lamborghini and Aston Martin started on the front row after Beechdean took a double pole position ahead of Barwell Motorsport. However, the clear air out front was short lived for the Aston as Collard made a move at Old Hall taking the lead of the race. He would then go on to extend his lead by nine seconds over the Beechdean Aston over the first stint over Howard. Behind them, contact between the Paddock McLaren and one of the Optimum Motorsport McLaren’s sent the latter into a spin forcing drivers to have to take avoiding action.

The drivers would swap at the pitstop which would see a switch in pace between the two front runners as Gunn in the Aston started to take down the gap between him and Cook in the leading Lambo. They were followed by the Marc Warren / Jack Brown McLaren in third and then the Paddock Motorsport McLaren who jumped up three places for other cars having to serve compensation time in the pit stops.

A Safety Car would be deployed for an incident in the GT4 category involving the sole Optimum Artura and the Orange McLaren at Druids. After closing the field back up, the race went green with just fourteen minutes to go and a chance for Beechdean to reclaim the lead. Gunn made it difficult for Cook out front, trying to find a way passed at any opportunity but a stoic defence from the Barwell driver meant the only opportunity would be in the last lap when they caught GT4 traffic.

However, it was not enough for the Aston, with Cook taking victory with Collard to win the first race at Oulton Park from Gunn and Howard. Warren and Brown would complete the podium in a relatively quiet race for the pair ahead of Paddock Motorsport in fourth. Alex Martin and Jarrod Waberski would complete the top five ahead of 2 Seas Motorsport’s Kevin Tse and Ben Green while Morgan Tillbrook and Ben Barnicoat would recover to seventh after the spin early on. Century Motorsport’s Jonathon Beeson and Charles Clark would finish eighth ahead of Duncan Cameron and Matt Griffin while Ian Loggie and Aaron Walker would complete the top ten.

Century Motorsport claim victory in GT4 with ‘Chomp’ BMW

Innovation Racing’s Hadley Simpson would start from pole ahead of Century Motorsport’s Jack Collins before the latter would have to take avoiding action from a GT3 which had been spun round dropping the BMW down to fifth in class. Collins would only take a few laps to recover into the podium places, but a Full Course Yellow would be called for Josh Stanton who went into the barriers after contact with Jack Mitchell. While the leading Ginetta of Simpson handed over to Thomas Holland and was partially covered by this Full Course Yellow, it was Collins and Branden Templeton who took advantage to take the lead.

MK Racing’s Will Orton would try to pressure Templeton over the remaining laps but the BMW was unphased taking victory over Orton and Jessica Hawkins. Simpson and Holland would settle for third place ahead of Blake Angliss and Revie Lake in the Mahiki Racing McLaren while Luke Shaw and Jack Mitchell completed the top five. Ian Duggan and Tom Bradshaw would finish sixth ahead of the Daniel Lavery and Darren Turner while Ernie Graham and Colin Turkington finish eighth. Ronan Pearson and John Hartshorne would finish ninth ahead of James Townsend and Joe Wheeler who complete the top ten.