Wins for Aston and BMW in season opener
The 2014 Avon Tyres British GT Championship got off to a superb start with a thrilling Bank Holiday Easter weekend of action at Oulton Park with overall race wins on Monday from the #4 Oman Racing Team Aston Martin of Ahmad Al Harthy and Michael Caine and the #79 Ecurie Ecosse BMW Z4 of Marco Attard and Alexander Sims.
Al Harthy started and Caine finished in the #4 car to win the first race of the day from the #29 AF Corse Ferrari 458 Italia of Pasin Lathouras and Richard Lyons, with the #1 Beechdean AMR Racing Aston Martin Vantage of Andrew Howard and Jonny Adam taking third spot.
Race two saw the #79 BMW bounce back from a race one gearbox failure to win an eventful race where Sims started and Attard took the chequered flag. The race result could have been very different had it not been for the then second placed #18 FF Corse Ferrari of Rob Barff and Gary Eastwood with the later at the wheel braking late and collecting the United Autosport Audi R8 LMS of Matt Bell and Mark Patterson with Patterson the victim. Both cars retired, promoting Attard to the spot his polesitting team-mate had enjoyed prior to the compulsory pit stops.
The race two podium was completed by a hard-charging Jon Minshaw and Phil Keen in the #33 Trackspeed Porsche 997 and the #1 Beechdean Aston of Howard and Adam.
The GT4 class saw a hotly contested brace of races too, with the #407 GT4 Beechdean Aston pairing of Jake Giddings and Ross Wylie winning race one from the ISSY Racing duo Oz Yusuf and Gavan Kershaw in the #77 Lotus. TF Sport took class third with Andrew Jarman and Devon Modell in the #49 Aston.
GT4 race two honours went to the #49 TF Sport combo from the #43 Century Motorsport Ginetta of Morten Dons and Aleksander Schjerpen, with the #77 making it two podiums from the weekend with third spot.
Six-time Olympic gold medal winner Sir Chris Hoy enjoyed a successful debut event in the #80 Nissan GT Academy Team RJN Nissan GT-R he shared with Alex Buncombe with a top ten finish with P9 in race one and P13 in race two.
The Mobil 1 Service Centre Master of the Weekend accolade went to Beechdean AMR driver Jonny Adam. The award is made to the driver who best reflects the Mobil 1 Service Centre brand by displaying a combination of outstanding effort and exceptional sportsmanship over the course of the race weekend. The ‘Driver of the Weekend’ Blancpain Gentleman Trophy was presented to #33 Trackspeed driver Jon Minshaw.
Leaving Oulton Park the GT3 Drivers’ Championship is led by Amhad Al Harthy and Michael Caine on 31 points apiece from the 30-point paired Andrew Howard and Jonny Adam. In GT4, Andrew Jarman and Devon Modell lead the way with 40 points from Jake Giddings and Ross Wylie on 37.
