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 Boston racer Charles Bateman taking fifth in the Pilgrim Foodservice & Henderson Insurance sponsored Ferrari 458.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 race settled down with four cars quickly breaking away with Charles having clawed his way through to fifth. Before long, however, 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. Charles produced fastest lap on the 11th lap and was up to second place two laps later at Druids. The lead had grown to more than six seconds, but Bateman began to eat into this over the following laps.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 – Bateman was on a charge and took the lead on lap 25 at Surtees.As the rain subsided the safety car came out; the race went green again less than half a minute before the pit window opened.The stops began on lap 31, and it was not until lap 39 that Charles came in for the pit change over handing a hefty 13 second lead to his team mate. Unfortunately, a further brief shower coincided with the Pilgrim & Henderson backed number 5 car re-joining the race, and the lead soon disappeared as Charles' team mate seemed to struggle to adapt to the slippery conditions.By the 64th lap podium hopes had evaporated and the team settled for 5th place after 75 laps over 2 hours.The Pilgrim Foodservice & Henderson Insurance car is now 5th in the British GT Championship. This race from Brands Hatch can be seen on Channel 4 at 7am on Saturday July 2nd. The next round takes place at Spa-Francorchamps in Belgium on July 9th.
Click here for the Official Charles Bateman web site - designed and built by Racecar
Click here for the Official Pilgrim Foods web site - designed and built by Racecar
