Guy Harrington and Ben de Zille Butler (#3 Barwell Motorsport Aston Martin DBRS9) took a well deserved win in only their third race in the Avon Tyres British GT Championship ahead of the Team RPM Viper of Alex Mortimer and Bradley Ellis.
At the flag Harrington held a 6.2 second lead over Ellis, who was defending hard against a very determined Jonny Cocker in the bio fuelled Aston Martin, but held on for a nail biting finish with a gap of just 0.236 seconds separating the two cars after the 60-minute race.
Ian Flux was flying in the second half of the race after taking over the Rollcentre Mosler from Kevin Riley. ‘Fluxie’ set the fastest lap of the race but a brake problem blunted his charge and he missed a podium finish by one place 9.3 second behind Cocker.
"After the pitstops I got on the radio and the team said I was in the lead," said Guy Harrington. "I don't know what happened to Bradley Ellis but I kept seeing the Viper's lights in my mirrors and I thought he was getting closer but the team assured me he wasn't. This is the best win we've had, it's a fantastic feeling."
In GTC the RSS Performance Porsche of Graeme Mundy and Jamie Smyth were leading but the car pulled off in a cloud of smoke promoting the Team Aero Morgan with Steve Hyde at the wheel into the class lead. However Aaron Scott in the Beechdean Ferrari swept past into the class lead and the first win for the team in British GT.
Guy Harrington and Ben de Zille Butler now lead the Avon Tyres British GT Championship by two points from Matt Harris and Oliver Bryant who could only manage to finish 7th after an early spin in the race for Harris dropped them back down the field. A great recovery drive by the Tech 9 drivers netted them two championship points.
Despite finishing 2nd in class Keith Ahlers and Steve Hyde are now at the head of the GTC class.
Avon Tyres British GT Championship – Round 3
Provisional Result
1 - 3 - GT3 - HARRINGTON-de ZILLE BUTLER - Barwell Motorsport - 01:00:04.493 - 49laps
2 - 6 - GT3 - ELLIS-MORTIMER - Team RPM - +6.221s
3 - 1 - GT3 - COCKER-DRAYSON - Barwell Motorsport - +6.457s
4 - 27 - GT3 - FLUX-RILEY - Rollcentre Racing - +9.361s
5 - 22 - GT3 - JONES-JONES - Team Eurotech - Preci Spark - +18.345s
6 - 2 - GT3 - BENTWOOD-ALEXANDER - Barwell Motorsport - +27.918s
7 - 9 - GT3 - BRYANT-HARRIS - Tech 9 - +34.637s
8 - 40 - GT3 - GREENSALL-TOMLINSON - Brookspeed - +55.738s
9 - 7 - GT3 - REDWOOD-FOSTER - Team RPM - +61.600s
10 - 11 - GT3 - ERDOS-KEATING - Damax - + 1 lap
11 - 4 - GT3 - COLE-CAMPBELL - Team 4Car with confused.com - + 1 lap
12 - 99 - GTC - SCOTT-HOWARD - Beechdean Motorsport - + 2 laps
13 - 50 - GTC - HYDE-AHLERS - Team Aero Racing - + 2 laps
14 - 12 - GT3 - WILCOX-BURTON - VRS Motor Finance - + 2 laps
15 - 15 - GT3 - DOCKERILL-JAMES - Trackspeed - + 2 laps
16 - 44 - GT3 - COLE-COLE - Eclipse - + 2 laps
NC - 54 - GTC - MUNDY-SMYTH - RSS Performance - 35laps
NC - 5 - GT3 - SAGGERS-FLETCHER - Team RPM - 34laps
NC - 14 - GT3 - SUGDEN-ASHBURN - Trackspeed - 15laps
Fastest Laps
27 - GT3 - Ian FLUX - Rollcentre Racing - 1:10.708 - 99.6mph
99 - GTC - Aaron SCOTT - Beechdean Motorsport - 1:12.681 - 96.9mph
