Michael Lyons enjoyed a successful start to his campaign in the Avon Tyres British GT Championship with victory on his first outing for the new Scuderia Vittoria team at Oulton Park.The 20-year-old, who has spent the past two seasons competing in the Formula Renault UK Championship, was handed the honour of giving the GT3 variant of the new Ferrari 458 Italia its debut on British soil having signed up to spearhead Scuderia Vittoria’s assault on the championship alongside fellow newcomer Charles Bateman.Despite only spending a single day at the wheel of the car prior to heading to the Cheshire circuit, Michael was on the pace immediately and posted the second quickest time in the second free practice session of the weekend – beaten only by Porsche factory driver Richard Westbrook.Michael was then given the task of qualifying the Ferrari for the opening race of the weekend and produced a stunning performance in his maiden British GT qualifying session as he topped the times ahead of the Porsche of defending champion David Ashburn.Taking the start for the opening stint of race one, Michael held the lead into Old Hall for the first time and then set about pulling out a lead at the head of the field, extending his advantage over the chasing pack to 9.9 seconds before pitting to hand the Ferrari over to Bateman for the run to the finish. Unfortunately, a stall from Bateman while leaving the pits cost the pair valuable time and meant that Bateman brought the car to the chequered flag in sixth place.Expectations for the second race had been hit by a post-qualifying penalty, with a faulty damper leading to the ride-height being too low. That meant the Ferrari started the second race of the weekend from the back of the field, with Bateman on driving duties for the opening stint. Making the most of two Safety Car periods, he worked his way up towards the top ten before pitting under the Safety Car to put Michael back behind the wheel.Following quick work from the Scuderia Vittoria team, Michael rejoined near the head of the field and made light work of getting ahead of the Ferrari of Hector Lester into the lead before simply driving away from the chasing pack to secure victory by more than 20 seconds.The victory marked the first success for the GT3 Ferrari 458 anywhere in the world, and means Michael sits second in the championship standings following the opening weekend of the season; just four points away from the championship lead going into the next round of the year at Snetterton next month.“Charles made a really good start in the race although we were lucky to an extent that the Safety Car played into our hands,” he said. “The team really hit the mark with the pit stop although there was another Ferrari out of position in the pits and I thought we were going to be blocked in.“Luckily I was able to squeeze through and when I came out of the pits and saw where we were, I knew we had a real chance. I managed to get ahead of Hector quite quickly and once I was in front, I was able to drive away into the distance.“We only had one day of running in the car at Spa before heading to Oulton Park so it was great to get a victory in our first weekend. I think now we have to be amongst the favourites for the title after our performance.”Michael’s performance throughout his debut weekend drew praise from Scuderia Vittoria team manager Piers Masarati, who was delighted with the performance of his new driver.“In some ways Michael exceeded out expectations over the weekend, but on the other hand, we knew he was quick from the racing he has done in other cars in the past,” he said. “I think what he has done is surprise those people who didn’t know much about him prior to him getting in the car at Oulton Park.“In the first race, he did a good job from the rolling start and then built up a good lead and in the second race, he was consistent to pull out the gap when he needed to and he controlled the race well.“As a team, we still need to find more as it was our first weekend in British GT with the car and the first race for both Michael and Charles, but it couldn’t have got off to better start.”

Click here for the Charles Bateman web site - designed and built by Racecar