Allan Simonsen and Hector Lester closed their Avon Tyres British GT Championship season in superb style at Donington Park yesterday evening, clinching the first-ever ‘twilight’ round of the series by a 6.4-second margin after two hours of battle in the gathering gloom.

It was all the more remarkable a result given the spin and slight collision which befell the Rosso Verde Ferrari 430 Scuderia on the opening lap of the endurance marathon, which left starting driver Lester last but one.

But Hector made amends with a stirling drive through the field to hand the Ferrari over at half-distance to his remarkable team-mate only a lap-and-a-half in arrears. From there Simonsen’s progress through the field was mesmeric and a touch lucky as he took advantage of mechanical misfortunes for several potential victors.

One man trackside was not surprised that Simonsen pulled it off - Hector Lester: “We are quite used to pulling rabbits out of the hat,” said the Ulsterman. “The greater the challenge, the better Allan rises to it. We had a bit of luck with other cars having misfortunes, but the more Allan has to do the harder he goes at it. Maybe I did him a bit of a favour by making a mess at the start.”

Simonsen was not so sure: “I did not think we had a chance of a win when I took over. A lap and a half down made it look impossible, but other people had lots of problems, which played into our hands. We’ll take a win any way it comes.”

Light rain just after the start caught out a number of competitors, Lester included, and sent others scurrying for the pits and, as it was to prove, an unnecessary switch to wet-weather tyres. New champion David Ashburn led the way in the Trackspeed Porsche for three laps before slipping to third behind the MTECH Ferrari of Duncan Cameron and impressive GT3 debutant Benji Hetherington in one of Chad’s Ferraris.

Hetherington took over in front after 14 laps and held on to top spot all the way to his 47th-lap pit stop. Then, after the stops, Glynn Geddie took the lead for Trackspeed for a spell before championship first-timer Stephen Jelley, who had taken over from Hetherington, passed and pulled away as Geddie’s Porsche started to suffer gearbox gremlins.

The dramatic turning point of the race came on the 74th lap when both Jelley and Geddie crawled to the pits, the Chad Ferrari with terminal gearbox woes and Geddie with a puncture after being struck a glancing blow by another car. Geddie quickly regained the lead after passing the hobbling MTECH Ferrari of Matt Griffin, which was also suffering gearbox problems, but neither man could live with the searing pace of the Rosso Verde Ferrari of Simonsen, which hunted them down and swept past for the lead and eventual victory 11 laps from the chequered flag.

Geddie, stuck in fourth gear, limped home just quickly enough to secure second place in the race and the championship, with the MTECH car of Cameron/Griffin third, ahead of the Martin Short/Gregor Fisken Mosler; Phil Burton and Adam Wilcox, who were among the tyre-changers in their Ferrari; and the Vantage Racing Aston Martin of Stuart Hall and Tom Black, which led briefly in Hall’s hands before power steering problems sapped its pace.

A superb seventh overall and the Invitation class winner on its championship debut was the Chevron GR8 of Chris Hart and Anthony Reid; Reid’s excellent second stint earned him the coveted Sunoco Driver of the Day award.

G4 class champions Christian Dick and Jamie Stanley cemented their season with a five-lap class victory in the Speedworks Motorsport Ginetta, despite Dick suffering an early-race off. “It’s been a dream first season in British GT for us,” said Stanley, “and this is a great way to end the year. We hope very much to be back in 2011.”

British GT is sponsored by UK tyre manufacturer Avon Tyres and is further supported by Sunoco Racing Fuels, Anglo American Oil Company and The Independent.

Avon Tyres British GT ChampionshipProvisional results, Donington Park 16/10/2010Round 13, 96 laps / 189.99 miles

Overall & GT31  Rosso Verde Ferrari Hector Lester/Allan Simonsen (DEN) 2h0m10.325s/94.85mph2  Trackspeed Porsche  David Ashburn / Glynn Geddie  +6.401s3  MTECH Ferrari  Duncan Cameron / Matt Griffin (IRL)  +11.612s4  Rollcentre Mosler  Martin Short / Gregor Fisken  +45.130s5  Predator CCTV Ferrari  Phil Burton / Adam Wilcox  93 laps6  Vantage Racing Aston Martin  Stuart Hall / Tom Black  92 laps7  RPM Ford GT  Philip Walker / Alex Mortimer  91 laps8  Chad Racing Ferrari  Benji Hetherington / Stephen Jelley  74 lapsNot classifiedChad Racing Ferrari  Chris Hyman / Dan Brown  2 laps

Invitation class1  Chevron Racing Chevron  Chris Hart / Anthony Reid  92 laps2  ABG KTM  Colin Mowle / Sam Mowle  91 laps3  Speedworks Ginetta  Piers Johnson / Ron Johnson  88 laps

G4 Class1  Speedworks Ginetta  Jamie Stanley / Christian Dick  85 laps2  Century Ginetta  Vibe Smed (DEN) / Nathan Freke  80 lapsNot classifiedTeam Osborne Racing Ginetta  Joe Osborne / Osman Yusuf  2 laps

Fastest lap: Simonsen 1m 07.074s / 106.22mph Est Rec

Full results http://bit.ly/9cMpgZ

Provisional final championship standingsGT3 & Overall1 Ashburn 107 points; 2 Geddie 81; 3= Griffin & Cameron 75; 5 Lester 65; 6 Simonsen 63 etcG4 Class=1 Dick & Stanley 70.5; =3 Rory Butcher & Benjamin Harvey 38; =5 Smed & Freke 37 etc