British GT: Dawson and Jewiss convert pole to win in GT3 while Warren and Brown take GT4 honours

The first British GT weekend of the season was an intense showdown for many teams to hit the ground running in the 2-hour enduro that was to kick off the season and while it was a weekend to remember for some, others it was a weekend to forget.

GT3 Qualifying

A fairly tame Qualifying session to kick start the British GT season on the Saturday with only the Bridger Motorsport run Honda NSX having an off in the first part of qualifying as Chun Cheong Ip went off on the exit of the old hairpin. 2 Seas Motorsport had the session in control from the very early stages at Kevin Tse led the AM part of the session at the halfway point before teammate Charles Dawson took away the top spot. Dawson put the benchmark even further away giving his co-driver Kiern Jewiss a seven tenth advantage heading into the second part of qualifying against teammate Maximilian Götz. The second 2 Season Motorsport car had a tenth and a half advantage over the Blackthorn Aston Martin heading into the second part of qualifying. Alex Martin and Barwell Motorsport were dropped to 4th at the end of Q1 after the Blackthorn driver of Giacomo Petrobelli took the third spot in the final phases of the session while Simon Orange rounded out the session as the lead McLaren ahead of Morgan Tillbrook and Mark Smith for Optimum Motorsport and Paddock Motorsport respectively.

The driver change saw the Pro drivers hundredths if not thousandths apart as neither of the 2 Seas Motorsport drivers managed to top the second part of the session as Marvin Kirchhöfer for Optimum Motorsport topped the Q2 times by only 8 hundredths of a second over Barwell Motorsports Sandy Mitchell, the two 2 Seas Motorsport cars of  Götz and Jewiss finished the session 3rd and 4th as the top 4 were all separated by less than two tenths of a second. Callum Macleod in the second of the Optimum run cars took 5th only 11 thousandths clear of Sam Neary’s Abba Racing Mercedes with last years championship winning Lamborghini only just behind them.

There was nothing anyone could do to stop the 2 Seas Motorsport squad taking a front row lockout as Dawson and Jewiss took pole ahead of Tse and Götz. Martin and Mitchell took third for Barwell Motorsport ahead of the Optimum Motorsport’s Tillbrook and Kirchhöfer. Rounding out the top 5 is Blackthorn Aston Martin of Giacomo Petrobelli and Jonny Adam as the GT3 grid was set for Sunday.

GT4 Qualifying

Qualifying for the GT4 class looked to be in the hands of Mahiki racing’s Aiden Neate as he topped the times in Q1 with a few tenth gap over the two Optimum Motorsport cars of Harry George and Marc Warren. The sole GT4 Porsche would be a just over a tenth behind them as Jamie Orton would pip Ravi Ramyead for 4th in Q1. The number 88 Mahiki squad were unable to set a lap time in the first part of qualifying leaving them at the back at the end of the session.

Qualifying 2 for GT4, much like the GT3’s second qualifying, was very close but with none of that top three in the opening qualifying taking fastest when handed to the Pro drivers as Team Parker Racing score a decisive one-two in that phase of Quali as Phil Keen and Seb Morris, who were only separated by just over four hundredths of a second topped the times by over 4 tenths of a second to the Optimum Motorsport drivers and Mahiki Racing Lotus’s.

At the end of both sessions, Mahiki Racing took pole position with Aiden Neate and Josh Miller as they finish qualifying with a two tenth advantage over both Optimum Motorsport McLaren’s as Brown and Warren claim second by 1 thousandth over Hopkinson and George. Team Parker Racing’s Morris and McDermott would take 4th ahead of the Century Motorsport BMW of Robertson and Ramyead. However, the action doesn’t just remain on track as after the session, the Mahiki Racing squad was disqualified from qualifying for breach of Parc Ferme regulations promoting Optimum Motorsport to a front row lockout.

Race Day- GT3

The GT3 pace setters remained strong in the early phases of the race as Dawson pulled out a substantial lead in his stint where he really shined as he proves that his pace was not limited to qualifying. But a Safety Car ended period that ended just before the GT3 driver changes could begin made everything much more difficult for the pole sitters as with all their work cut down to nothing, the GT3 class was now wide open.

Dawson kept the lead off the restart, managing to pull out a bit of a margin before handing over to Jewiss while all the other AM drivers swapped to the Pro drivers for the final hour of the race levelling the playing field. After the pit stop phase, Jewiss led Mitchell by over 5 second and 2 seconds further back was 2 Seas teammate Götz with the two McLaren’s of Kirchhöfer and Clutton hunting him down. The gap was dramatically closing between the top six drivers throughout the early phases of the second stint as the 11 second gap was shrinking.

A full course yellow put a hold on this after a barrier needed to be moved back into place at the chicane due to a collision between the Porsche of Nick Jones and the McLaren of Mike Price before the pit stop phase. After this brief full course yellow, Mitchell rapidly caught Jewiss for the lead all while Götz, Kirchhöfer, Clutton and Neary continued to close in with 40 minutes to go. Less than 8 seconds covered the top six at this point as any one of them could come out with the victory.

Jewiss managed to hold on despite all the pressure from the pack behind as him and Dawson took victory by just over a second to Barwell Motorsports Martin and Mitchell. The second 2 Seas Motorsport car of Tse and Götz rounded out the podium ahead of Tillbrook and Kirchhöfer in the Optimum McLaren. Richard and Sam Neary rounded out the top five after the Orange McLaren received a drive through penalty for speeding under the Full Course Yellow. It would get worse for the team as they would go on to be disqualified for a parc ferme infringement.

Race Day- GT4

After a successful pole position due to the disqualification of Mahiki Racing’s Aiden Neate and Josh Miller for a parc ferme infringement, Marc Warren used this to his advantage and built a large gap over the rest of the field all while Aiden Neate rocketed up the field across the first hour and would begin to hunt down the McLaren in the lead. The Safety Car put Neate right on Warren’s tail as Neate was immediately on him upon the restart taking the lead into Redgate. But the Silver class Lotus would have to serve an extra 24 seconds in the pit lane when the change over happens.

Both drivers would pit together as this would hand back the lead to the Optimum Motorsport team. This would be the opportunity for Brown to now ease clear over their rivals taking the fastest lap and taking home the win at Donighton Park. Robertson and Ramyead would bring it home in second place despite the 5 second time penalty for contact under full course yellow ahead of the Team Parker Racing Mercedes of Ed McDermott and Seb Morris as they make their way onto the final step of the podium while also winning the first round of the Endurance Cup Class in the process. Neate and Miller would finish the weekend in 5th overall winning the Silver Class but behind the second Team Parker car of Jon Currie and Phil Keen.

The Silverstone 500 is up next for the second round of the season as the three hour race and second round of the season will be even more exciting and intense in both categories.