The finale for the British GT Season took to Donington Park circuit on 13-14th September. The championship winner was still undecided with the possibility of Marco Attard winning in the No 79 Ecurie Ecosse BMW Z4 GT3 or Micheal Caine and Ahmad Al Harthy in the No 4 Oman Racing Aston Martin.
Pole position was taken by No 4 Aston Martin, followed by No 79 BMW. The front row qualifying times were split by 0.003 seconds. GT4 Pole was taken by by No 77 ISSY racing Lotus Evora GT4.
Within five laps the No 1 Aston Martin had exited into the gravel trap and dropped down the field and once it eventually rejoined the race was four laps down. However with 21 laps completed the No 1 Bechdean Aston Martin pitted and retired.
The Ecurie Ecosse BMW started the race with smoke bellowing from the back of the car and within ten laps the BMW had to pit with all hopes of Attard winning the championship in the mechanics hands as they tried to frantically resolve the issue. Before pitting the car they were running in second place. The BMW faced a gearbox problem and Marco Attard’s championship win relied on the No 4 Aston Martin taking the race win. If Micheal Caine and Ahmad Al Harthy were to win the Championship they needed a win, second place would not secure the title.
The GT4 pole runners started to slow down crossing the line on lap fourteen and had to pull off the track facing troubles with the car. With one quarter race distance completed GT4 was being led by No 49 TF Sport Aston Martin driven by Jarman.
Once the mandatory pit stops had taken place the race was being led by No 4 Aston Martin, ahead of No 63 Trackspeed Porsche 997 GT3 R, third was No 18 FF Corse Ferrari 458 Italia. The No 4 Aston has pulled out a nice lead ahead of the field.
With just thirty minutes of the race remaining, the No 63 Porsche and the No 18 Ferrari were chasing down the leading No 4 Aston Martin reducing the three second lead to under a second.
No 63 Trackspeed Porsche driven by Phil Keen took the lead with twenty minutes remaining, making a championship altering move. Once Keen had taken the lead he started to pull away. Soon after the No 4 Aston Martin dropped into second they were also overtaken by the No 18 FF Corse Ferrari . The No 4 Aston Martin was also being chased down by No 23 Audi driven by Bell.
The GT4 Class was being led by No 43 Century Motorsport Ginetta G55 driven by Morten Dons. However, TF Sport Aston Martin was closely following. There was drama for the GT4 No 43 Ginetta when Morten Dons pitted and the bonnet was taken off. Unfortunately they were unable to fix the car and ended their result with only twelve minutes remaining. This was a shame for the team and drivers as both Morten Dons and Aleksander Schjerpen had driven a fantastic race.
The No 407 Beechdean had to pit with under ten minutes remaining having to re-fuel and the pressure of making sure they secured enough points to win the GT4 Championship.
The race was won by No 63 Trackspeed Porsche ahead of No 19 Ferrari. Third went to No 23 Audi R8. The GT4 race was won by No 42 Century Motorsport Ginetta, followed by No 49 TF Sport Aston Martin and third was taken by No 46 Twisted Team Parker Ginetta.
This year has seen Sir Chris Hoy have his first racing season in a Nissan GT-R GT3 he has had several drivers compete in the No 80 Car line up and this has not affected his season. He has driven extremely well and we look forward to seeing him race next season.
The GT4 Class has seen some excellent racing by Ade Barwick/Bradley Ellis in the Twisted Team Parker Ginetta this year.
This years GT3 Championship was won by Marco Attard who raced the No 79 Ecurie Ecosse BMW. GT4 was won by Beechdean’s Aston Martin No 407 driven Jake Gidding and Ross Wylie
The personal highlights for our Photographer Steven Roe have included the Bentley’s both No 2 David Appleby Generation Racing and M-Sport No 17. This years British GT season has seen a huge amount of Aston Martins compete in both the GT3 and GT4 Classes, so to photograph, watch and hear the Bentley’s roar out on track adds some extra excitement to the season.
