Heroics Into Saint Devote

So last weekend, I spent my days at Donington Park for the first round of this year’s British GT championship. A truly riveting time seeing these GT3 AND 4 machines, alongside the GB4 Championship round 1/2/3 and TCR UK. So lets recap, shall we?

I seem to have been spotted, sporting my Union Jack whilst attempting to get an autograph from the Honda NSX drivers.

Saturday saw practice and qualifying for the GT3 and 4 field. Sheer dominance from the number 42 2Seas Motorsport Mercedes AMG of Charles Dawson and Kiern Jewiss take pole position by 0.697 from the sister car of Kevin Tse and Maximillian GÖTZ. Next up was the number 7 Blackthorn Aston Martin Vantage of Giacomo Petrobelli I and Jonny Adam, who set an average lap speed of 104mph to go 0.164 behind the Mercedes. Fourth place went to the first of the Barwell Motorsport Lamborghini Huracan GT3 cars. The number 78 stormed to fourth when driver Alex Martin set a time 0.019 seconds slower than the Aston ahead. Fifth was home to the 67 Mclaren 720s of Orange Racing by JMH with Simon Orange at the wheel, going 0.111 behind the Lamborghini. The Optimum Motorsport Mclaren number 77 was sixth, driven by Morgan Tillbrook, who set a 1:26.275, 0.050 slower than the other Mclaren ahead. The number 9 of Paddock Motorsport made it 3 Mclarens in a row on the starting grid as Mark Smith went less than a tenth of a second slower than the Optimum Motorsport Mclaren. In a somewhat-disappointing 8th place, the other Barwell Motorsport Lamborghini finds itself somewhere circa to half a second behind the team’s sister car. Ninth place went to the number 9 Abba Commercials Mercedes, with father-son pairing Richard and Sam Neary. Richard set a 1:26.608, going 1.3 seconds slower than the same car on pole position. Rounding out the top 10 of the 14-car grid was the fan-favourite, new entry for the season, Bridger Motorsport Honda NSX. A great performance on their debut in the series, with a stunning car and a spectacular sounding motor beneath them. 11th was taken by the sole 911 GT3 R on the grid. the Team Parker Motorsport outfit set a 1:26.906 after 6 laps of the Donington Park GP layout, setting themselves into the grid nicely. Next up came my personal favourite, the Beechean Motorsport Aston Martin, which is unfortunately, no longer driven by Andrew Howard and Jessica Hawkins. This year Andrew is partnered by Tom Wood, and they found themselves 12th for the 2 hour race tomorrow. Bringing up the rear in 13th and 14th respectively, are two more Mclaren 720 GT3s of Optimum Motorsport and Greystone GT

So there we have it. The GT3 grid is set for the race tomorrow, but here come the GT4 cars. 12 cars make up the GT4 field here at Donington Park. It was a front-row lockout for Optimum Motorsport and their GT4 efforts and their Mclaren Artura GT4s. Harry George and Luca Hopkinson’s car starts on pole after setting a 1:33.077, swiftly followed by Marc Warren and Jack Brown’s sister car who ran 0.090 seconds slower. A superb effort from Rob Boston Racing and their Porsche Cayman 718 GT4, who find themselves at the sharp end of the grid. They went 3rd with Jamie Orton and Will Burns, 0.246 off the pole. Fourth came the first of the BMW entries from Century Motorsport. Ravi Ramyead and Charlie Robertson will go from the second row with a time of 1:33.370. Up next, splitting the Century Motorsport Beemers, was the Mercedes AMG GT4 of Team Parker Racing, going a huge 6 tenths slower than the BMW ahead. 6th came the other Century Motorsport BMW of Brandon Templeton and Chris Salkeld, a further nearly 5 tenths behind the AMG. Marking it something akin to Noah’s Ark, comes the second Team Parker Racing AMG, going merely 0.057 slower. In 8th, we find the sole Aston Martin GT4 from MKH Racing, with Peter Montague and Stuart Hall at the wheel for tomorrow, a huge 4.2 seconds off the pole time of the Mclaren Artura. Something must’ve gone wrong for them. 9th place belongs to Jolt Racing’s GT4 Artura, just over 6 seconds behind the Optimum Motorsport Artura. 10th comes the first of 3 Mahiki Racing Lotus Emira GT4s, who did not set a representative lap time during the session. 11th and 12th come the sisters cars, who did not even leave the garage during the session I don’t believe.

There we have it then folks. The grid is set for the race, I’ve just been charged £14.80 for a double cheeseburger and some fries. I might flip this here picnic bench I’m sitting on.