Weather and traffic - as well as some quite superb racing - produced a scintillating fourth round of the 2011 Avon Tyres British GT Championship at Brands Hatch, with Tim Bridgman withstanding concerted late-race pressure from charging MTech Ferrari man Matt Griffin to take the win in the Trackspeed Porsche that he shared with Gregor Fisken. Glynn and Jim Geddie took third in the CRS Ferrari 458 after an epic struggle with the Rosso Verde Ferrari Scuderia of Allan Simonsen/Hector Lester, while Michael Lyons/Charlie Bateman took fifth in the Scuderia Vittoria 458.GT4 was equally dramatic, with David McDonald suffering the agony of a last corner exit in the Scuderia Vittoria G55 while trying to defend from the ABG KTM X-Bow of Marcus Clutton/Peter Belshaw, which had overcome a 45-second pit stop penalty to close right up on the final lap. The Ginetta driver at least had the consolation of being classified third in class, while Leyton Clarke/Freddie Nordstrom took second in the Lotus Evora.Aaron Scott and John Dhillon took the win in GT3B while Jordan Witt and Anthony Reid claimed GT Cup honours.Thirty of the 31 cars assembled on the grid for the start of the two-hour race (only the #14 MTECH Ferrari was absent, although it was eventually to join in after 65 minutes) with the schedule having allowed the teams plenty of time to attend to any issues after the morning warm-up. Magic Racing's Ginetta G50 M had successfully completed its engine change and passed the warm-up test, while Vantage Racing had found an issue with its Aston's sub-frame after qualifying, resulting in an all-nighter for the team.The Team RPM Ford GT of Peter Bamford and Thomas Mutsch also had its problems on Saturday - losing most of the first session after an early off from Bamford - but things were looking positive as the race approached. "We've made good progress with the settings," said Mutsch, "and the car felt good in warm-up. I'm looking forward to the race."The German driver had earlier given his impression of Brands Hatch: "I think it's a great circuit. I've done about 20 laps in practice and qualifying and am very impressed; particularly the first corner and the back of the GP loop. It's like a little Nürburgring."Two huge downpours soon after lunchtime thoroughly drenched the circuit and by the time the grid formed up the circuit was still damp, but it was clear that slicks were the only real choice at this point for all runners. The dramas started before the race began, with the Vantage Racing Aston Martin finding the gravel at Clearways even as the lights turned green, ending Tom Black's and Allan Bonner's day there and then. Duncan Cameron held on to the lead in the pole-sitting MTECH Ferrari 458 around Paddock Hill Bend and up Hailwood Hill, but Gregor Fisken went by in the Trackspeed Porsche at Graham Hill Bend. The positions soon changed back and it was the #21 car that led across the line to start the second lap.The slippery conditions had already caused problems for the GT3B MTECH Ferrari 430 of John Dhillon, which spun at the bottom of Paddock Hill, and for the Beechdean Aston of Andrew Howard, which did the same at Graham Hill Bend. Both cars continued, although greatly delayed.Two minutes later the race had lost two more cars, Iain Dockerill dropping the Chad Ferrari Scuderia into the Paddock Hill gravel, never to return, and Mike Guasch making a much more dramatic exit at Druids when he hit the barrier at speed in the United Autosports Audi. The impact was enough to severely damage the car's front end and for the American driver to be taken to the medical centre for precautionary checks.The race then settled down for a while, with Cameron leading Fisken and the second Porsche of David Ashburn - this trio quickly breaking away - while Jim Geddie was fourth in the CRS Ferrari, several seconds back. Before long, however, Charles Bateman had established himself as the fastest man on the track in the Scuderia Vittoria 458 and he was soon closing on the lead battle. He caught Ashburn on the 12th lap and was up to second two laps later at Druids. Fisken slipped to fourth in the same exchange. Cameron's lead had grown to more than six seconds, but Bateman began to eat into this over the following laps.The GT4 battle was a close one, with Phil Glew taking the lead in the Evora and pulling out a seven-second lead over the KTM X-Bow of Peter Belshaw. In GT3B Adrian Willmott was flying in the 22GT Racing Aston and was well up the field, but a drive-through for not respecting yellows, and a stop/go for taking the drive-through too quickly, dropped him back several places. He retained the class lead, however, and was soon back into the top 10 overall.At the half-hour point, spots of rain were detected and soon afterwards this became a full downpour. With blue skies following the rain clouds, the majority of the field opted to gamble on staying out on slicks - only the Magic Racing Ginetta took on wets. Cameron's lead evaporated and Bateman went by on lap 25 at Surtees.As the rain subsided the safety car came out; not because of the weather, but as a result of the Team RPM Ford GT of Peter Bamford going off at Westfield. A spin for Andrew Howard into the Clearways gravel caused the caution period to be extended by a further five minutes while the Aston was extracted, and the race went green again less than half a minute before the pit window opened.The stops began on lap 31, when the Chevron and the surviving Audi pitted, and it was not until lap 40 that the overall race picture became clear again. Michael Lyons led by almost 13 seconds in the Ferrari from Tim Bridgman in the Porsche. Matt Griffin was a further 12 seconds back in third in the MTech Ferrari; Godfrey Jones was fourth in the Preci Spark AMG SLS, a further eight seconds behind; while Glynn Geddie led Allan Simonsen for fifth. The #1 Porsche had retired from second soon after Stephen Jelley had taken over the car from David Ashburn, following a fire in the rear left wheel area.A further brief shower coincided with Lyons joining the race after a long stint from Bateman, and his lead soon disappeared as he seemed to struggle to adapt to the slippery conditions; Bridgman took the Porsche into the lead at Paddock Hill Bend on lap 42.Griffin began to close on Lyons, but traffic for the MTECH Ferrari enabled Bridgman to extend his lead to 28 seconds by the time the Irish driver eventually got by into second on lap 50.Further back, Allan Simonsen and Glynn Geddie were engaged in an epic duel. Simonsen was again mighty in the tricky conditions and quickly made ground - at times being four seconds faster than any other cars ahead. He caught and passed Geddie for fifth on lap 48 and fourth from Jones on lap 51. Geddie closed back up on the Dane and over the course of the next 13 laps the two Ferraris were rarely more than a few car-lengths apart. Eventually, on lap 64 and with the track completely dry, the young Scot made full use of the 458's advantage over the older Ferrari to take fourth at Druids after the Dane left the door open after attempting to pass Lyons a corner earlier. Both cars went by the #5 458 on the same lap.By this point Griffin was midway through a tremendous charge and the gap to the leader was coming down. The MTECH driver repeatedly set new fastest laps (and a new lap record) in his attempt to close the gap, but Bridgman was also doing what he could to maintain his lead. It was clear that traffic was a major factor in the rate of Griffin's progress and as the minutes ticked away he and the leader seemed to be encountering more and more. With 10 minutes remaining the gap was just eight seconds and a close finish seemed inevitable; but crucially the Ferrari came upon the Jones SLS - which itself was attempting to lap the #44 X-Bow - with three laps to go and the delay this caused was enough to close the lid on Griffin's hopes. After 75 laps, the Porsche crossed the line to the cheers of Gregor Fisken and the Trackspeed team to take the win by a little less than six seconds."We had a terrible Snetterton and since then everyone at Trackspeed has worked their socks off to put our car back together, and all credit to them," said Fisken. "Everyone has been behind us. All credit to Tim. My heart was in my mouth watching him. He drove a fantastic stint. It's been a hell of a race and it's fantastic to be up here""It was a tough race," admitted Griffin. "Duncan drove a fantastic first stint. I got stuck behind John Bintcliffe while I was lapping him and I think that's what really cost us the race. But second place is a good result. The team have worked very hard, and they deserve it."Glynn Geddie finally got the better of Allan Simonsen and was able to pull several seconds clear by the end to take third for CRS. "Delighted with third," said Jim Geddie. "I handed the car over in fifth or sixth and enjoyed watching Glynn take it up to third. Really pleased."The second CRS Ferrari 458 finished seventh after a stint by Alex Mortimer - taking over from Andrew Tate - that was every bit as good as Griffin's, but a lot less visible. Bintcliffe and Palmer took eighth in the Audi and Burton/Wilcox ninth in their Ferrari. A Ginetta G55 claimed its first championship points with 10th for Ian Stinton/Michael Simpson.The Ginetta G50 of Dan Denis and David McDonald appeared to be heading to a certain GT4 victory after a strong run by both drivers. But Marcus Clutton once again managed to get a spurt on in the ABG X-Bow in the closing stages and a 15 second deficit became just two by the start of the final lap. It still seemed unlikely that there would be enough time to attempt a lead change, but McDonald succumbed to the intense pressure and slid off at Clearways within sight of the flag to hand victory to the KTM. "No one was more surprised than me to see we'd won GT4," said Peter Belshaw. "They should have won it really. It's a hard game this, and it's their loss. In some ways I wish they'd won."Aaron Scott enjoyed his stint in the #13 MTECH Ferrari 430; chasing down and passing the GT3B-leading 22GT Racing Aston before it hit problems. "The start of the race wasn't good for me," admitted John Dhillon. "Someone spun me right round but I got back on and fought my way back up, then Aaron took over and we got a good result."The British GT Championship is sponsored by UK tyre manufacturer Avon Tyres and is further supported by Sunoco Racing Fuels, Anglo American Oil Company and OAMPS.Avon Tyres British GT Championship - Provisional results, Round 4 - Brands Hatch GP 19/6/201175 laps/182.50 milesGT31 Trackspeed Porsche Gregor Fisken/Tim Bridgman 2h 01m 14.055s / 90.31mph2 MTECH Ferrari Duncan Cameron/Matt Griffin (IRL) +5.399s3 CRS Racing Ferrari Jim Geddie/Glynn Geddie +55.040s4 Rosso Verde Ferrari Hector Lester/Allan Simonsen (DEN) +1m 04.207s5 Scuderia Vittoria Ferrari Michael Lyons/Charles Bateman +1m 18.485s6 Preci-Spark Mercedes David Jones/Godfrey Jones 74 laps7 CRS Racing Ferrari Andrew Tate/Alex Mortimer 74 laps8 United Autosports Audi John Bintcliffe/Jay Palmer 74 laps9 Predator CCTV Ferrari Phil Burton/Adam Wilcox 73 laps10 Stark Racing Ginetta Ian Stinton/Michael Simpson 71 laps etcFastest lap Griffin 1m 27.515s / 100.09mph RecGT Cup1 Chevron Racing Chevron Jordan Witt/Anthony Reid 71 laps2 Magic Racing Ginetta Bjorn Gustavson (SWE)/Anders Gustavson (SWE) 56 lapsGT3B1 MTECH Ferrari John Dhillon/Aaron Scott 71 laps2 22GT Racing Aston Martin Tom Alexander/Adrian Willmott 69 lapsGT41 ABG Motorsport KTM Peter Belshaw/Marcus Clutton 71 laps2 Lotus Sport UK Lotus Leyton Clarke/Freddy Nordstrom 71 laps3 Scuderia Vittoria Ginetta Dan Denis/David McDonald 70 laps4 Century Motorsport Ginetta Josh Wakefield/Jake Rattenbury 70 laps5 Barwell Aston Martin Peter Erceg/Chris Holmes 69 laps6 Lotus Sport UK Lotus Ollie Jackson/Phil Glew 63 lapsFull TSL timesheets http://bit.ly/m2SV8QProvisional championship standingsGT3 & overall1= Mike Guasch/Matt Bell 70.5 points; =3 Geddie/Geddie 63.5; =5 Lester/Simonsen 58.5; =7 Jones/Jones 58; =9 Lyons/Bateman 48 etcGT3B1= Dhillon & Scott 81.25; =3 Alexander/Willmott 27.GT41= Belshaw/Clutton 100; =3 Nordstrom/Clarke 82; =5 Rattenbury/Wakefield 55 etcGT Cup1= Witt & Reid 62.5; =3 Gustavson/Gustavson 13.5.TV schedule 2 July, 0700 Channel 4 & 1335 Motors TV + repeatsNext rounds 8/9 July Spa-Francorchamps, Belgium