British GT – SNETTERTON – 2024
Shaun Balfe and Adam Smalley early BritishGT Silver-Am GT3 Champions 2024
The weather forecast for the weekend wasn’t looking too promising but luckily, as the week went on, it gradually improved and while it might not have been as warm as Misano last week, at least it didn’t rain.
Practice went without any major issues and it was soon time for qualifying. The Barwell Lamborghini’s showed great pace in practice, they kept this pace in qualifying and they shared pole positions for Sunday’s two races, Rob Collard in the No63 getting pole for race one and Sandy Mitchell getting pole for race two in the No78 (also starting second in race one). Behind the Lamborghinis, the 2 Seas AMGs were showing good pace and were starting both races near the front. In GT4, the DTO Ginetta would be starting race one on pole and Zac Meakin took the Optimum McLaren to pole for race two.
Snetterton – Race One
Alex Martin and Sandy Mitchell led a Barwell one-two finish, extending their lead in the British GT Championship by securing their third victory of the season in the first of Snetterton’s two one-hour races. In a dramatic comeback, Ravi Ramyead and Charlie Robertson’s Century BMW, freshly rebuilt after a significant crash at Spa, clinched victory on the final lap. DTO Motorsport’s Freddie Tomlinson and Aston Millar appeared poised to celebrate until Robertson, having just overtaken Seb Morris for third place two laps earlier, passed the Ginetta on the start/finish straight and completed the maneuver at Riches. Team Parker’s Mercedes-AMG, featuring Charles Dawson, completed the GT4 podium. Up front, the Collards’ strategy allowed the sister Lamborghini to take the victory after Rob led the opening stint from pole position. However, Rob and Ricky still secured valuable championship points by finishing second, while another father/son duo, Richard and Sam Neary, completed the overall top three and celebrated their Silver-Am class victory.
Snetterton – Race Two
A post-race penalty for Barwell Racing handed victory to 2 Seas Motorsport’s Kevin Tse and Maximilian Götz in the second British GT Championship race of the day at Snetterton. Optimum Motorsport’s Jack Brown and Zac Meakin secured a crucial GT4 victory, reclaiming the overall class lead. Alex Martin and Sandy Mitchell appeared poised to dominate the GT3 title battle with their second victory of the day, but a drive-through penalty, converted to a 30-second post-race penalty for Martin’s overtaking under yellow flags, relegated their Lamborghini to 10th place in the final standings.
RAM Racing’s John Ferguson overtook Mark Radcliffe at the restart to secure what seemed to be the final podium position alongside stand-in co-driver Max Hesse. This would have been upgraded to second place following the #78 car’s penalty, but a post-race incident involving team representatives and Race Control officials led to the exclusion of both RAM Racing’s GT3 and GT4 cars from the event. Consequently, Race 1’s results and points were also adjusted.
This adjustment meant Barwell’s other title-contending Lamborghini, driven by Rob and Ricky Collard, finished second overall, and Optimum’s McLaren, driven by Mark Radcliffe and Tom Gamble, secured third. In GT4, Meakin and Brown capitalized on a late Safety Car period to outperform title rivals Jamie Day and Mikey Porter. Their Forsetti teammates, Marc Warren and Will Orton, also remained strong championship contenders by completing the podium and winning the Pro-Am class.
The first drivers‘ titles of 2024 were awarded to Shaun Balfe and Adam Smalley (Garage 59), who clinched the GT3 Silver-Am championship with two races to spare. They crossed the finish line in sixth place but ultimately finished fourth after the adjustments.
Result Race I GT3
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P1 Barwell Motorsport – Mitchell/Martin – Huracan GT3 Evo2
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P2 Barwell Motorsport – Collard/Collard – Huracan GT3 Evo2
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P3 Team ABBA Racing – Neary/Neary – AMG GT3 Evo
Result Race II GT3
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P1 2 Seas Motorsport – Tse/Goetz – AMG GT3 Evo
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P2 Barwell Motorsport – Collard/Collard – Huracan GT3 Evo2
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P3 Optimum Motorsport – Radcliffe/Gamble – McLaren 720s GT3 Evo
The British GT Championship went back to Donington Park. 8th – 9th September 2024
Photo © lazenbyvisuals