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> Century and BMW also end the GT4 Teams championship; Barwell seal of GT3 teams
> Proctors crowned GT3 Silver-Am champions
> WPI wins second GT3 victory of the season
> The battle for the GT3 five-a-side title continues on #DoningtonDecider
> Result: Race 2 | GT3 drivers ranking | GT4 driver ranking
Will Burns and Gus Burton are the 2021 British GT4 Drivers’ Champions Intelligent Money after securing their third victory of the campaign in a rainy second race at Oulton Park this afternoon, a performance that also ensured Century Motorsport and BMW the teams title. .
But the destination of this year’s GT3 drivers’ crown won’t be known until October’s #DoningtonDecider after Michael Igoe and Phil Keen denied Leo Machitsky and Dennis Lind the chance to become champions with one race to lose. Barwell’s other Lamborghini shared by Adam Balon and Sandy Mitchell along with other title contenders Ian Loggie and Yelmer Buurman (RAM Racing, Mercedes-AMG) joined WPI Motorsport’s Huracan on the podium.
Behind, Century’s conquering M4 mowed through the GT4 field to beat James Kell and Jordan Collard’s Team Rocket RJN McLaren, and Academy Ford Mustang driven by Matt Cowley and Will Moore.
Elsewhere, Barwell retained the crown of their GT3 teams while Balfe’s Stewart and Lewis Proctor won the GT3 Silver-Am title.
GT3: WPI RAIN SUPREME AT WET OULTON
Leo Machitsky and Dennis Lind had to win and hope that other results would follow their path to claim the title with one race to go, a scenario further complicated by their seven-second penalty. Instead, the five crews that arrived at Oulton with a realistic title shot now make it to Donington with their mathematical shot still intact.
Barwell’s No.63 crew remain in the box both in terms of points already accumulated and success penalties elsewhere after three of their challengers – Michael Igoe and Phil Keen, Adam Balon and Sandy Mitchell, and Ian Loggie and Yelmer Buurman – blocked the podium in Race 2 this afternoon.
Scott Malvern initially converted Porsche’s first British GT3 pole since 2013 into a lead he will maintain throughout the opening stint after knocking out Mitchell and Lind. Barwell’s Lamborghinis had switched places just before Tom Onslow-Cole’s stranded Mercedes-AMG accelerated a Safety Car period, which coincided with the opening of the pit window.
Just five seconds covered a top six with Marcus Clutton, Buurman and Keen also ahead of yellow, but that gap was even smaller when all of the first came to a stop together in Safety Car conditions. Team Parker and Barwell’s success penalties should have given Mitchell co-driver Balon the advantage, but a slow jaunt helped RAM’s Mercedes-AMG emerge ahead of Igoe and Nick Jones.
With Machitsky only fifth, things were now improving for RAM. But a driving penalty for a pit exit violation left Loggie behind his championship rival while giving Igoe a lead he never really looked like he was losing.
By then, Balon had reached second place after passing Jones in the restart, which came with the added bonus of crucial extra points in the title race. A late spin ultimately mattered little given its advantage over the pursuit pack.
This was now led by a Loggie in charge who came out of his penalty in fifth place. But the Mercedes-AMG seemed superior to its rivals in wet conditions given the Scotsman’s successful pursuit of first Machitsky and then Jones.
The Lamborghini also won the Parker team’s Porsche late to leave Machitsky and Lind 13.5 points ahead of Loggie and Buurman with a round to go. In addition, and unlike his three closest rivals, Barwell’s # 63 entry will run without penalty at Donington.
Morgan Tillbrook brought the McLaren from Enduro home sixth after co-driver Clutton completed the fastest lap of the race. However, dry conditions earlier in the day allowed Lind to win her fifth Sunoco Fastest Lap Award over six events.
Abba’s Mercedes-AMG could have been on the podium without Richard Neary’s spin at Shell, but recovered to finish seventh ahead of new Silver-Am champions Stewart and Lewis Proctor.
However, Beechdean AMR faces an uphill battle at Donington where Andrew Howard retains a GT3 away title shot. The team didn’t finish rebuilding their crashed Aston Martin until 3:00 am, but with little time to refine it, Howard and Jonny Adam were only able to take ninth place.
GT4: BURNS AND BURTON CLINCH TITLE WITH STYLE
Will Burns and Gus Burton produced the champions’ training under challenging conditions to secure both the victory and the title for this year’s GT4 drivers in Race 2 at Oulton.
In doing so, they became the first crew to win a British GT title with a full round to spare since 2015, and perfectly scored a dominant campaign with a third win of the season in wet conditions. Incredibly, it was also the duo’s eighth result in as many races and a sixth podium overall.
Burton started fourth but was unable to do anything against the return of GT4 champion Jamie Caroline who put in a superb show in the rain in the Toyota Gazoo Racing UK Supra.
He looked peerless after passing Darren Turner’s Aston Martin Newbridge Motorsport outside at Old Hall and quickly took a comfortable margin out of the field. About the only man to keep the runaway leader honest was Sennan Fielding whose Steller Audi thrived in conditions to climb to second place, just before the race was cut short by a safety car to knock out the Mercedes-AMG. blocked RAM.
This turned the race upside down as the warning period coincided with the opening of the GT4 pit window. Everyone except Caroline and Turner took the plunge at the earliest opportunity, but it was the various hit penalties and additional minimum downtime of the Silver class that really messed things up.
The net result saw Mark Sansom’s Assetto Motorsport Ginetta take the lead just ahead of John Ferguson, who had taken over from the Supra to Caroline. But the pair had a queue of Silver rated drivers behind them.
In difficult conditions and with their pitstop advantage neutralized, neither Am driver had much luck against Team Rocket RJN McLarens driven by James Kell and Michael Benyahia who quickly took first and second respectively. . Burns, who had succeeded Burton, then followed suit.
Benyahia was not happy with second place and crawled all over Kell to take the lead before launching an attack at Knickerbrook. The two McLarens made contact and Benyahia released the throttle to avoid tipping his teammate, which allowed Burns to slip into second.
From there, Burns wouldn’t be denied, first drafted off Kell’s tail, then passed into Old Hall on lap 26.
“I couldn’t see anything for much of my stint because the heated windshield stopped working, but I saw the contact between the two cars ahead and just looked for the gap that appeared “said Burns, delighted. “To be a GT4 champion is just amazing. What a weekend! “
Burton added, “Century did a great job with the car. It was great, even in conditions like these. And the strategy has been perfect all season. I’m just thrilled.
Kell and co-driver Jordan Collard retained second place ahead of Will Moore and Matt Cowley’s Ford Mustang Academy Motorsport, who snatched last place on the podium with a big movement around Benyahia’s outside at Lodge.
Harry Hayek / Katie Milner’s Team Rocket RJN McLaren finished sixth, ahead of Richard Williams / Sennan Fielding’s Audi. Sansom survived a big time at Cascades to bring the Assetto Ginetta he shares with Charlie Robertson home eighth overall and first in Pro-Am, while Century’s other BMW of Chris Salkeld and Andrew Gordon -Colebrooke – who played a huge role in the teams title success – came home ninth.
And so on until #DoningtonDecider where the 2021 British GT3 Drivers’ Champions will be crowned on October 16-17.
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