Weather and great racing produced an exciting fifth round of the 2011 Avon Tyres British GT Championship at Rockingham, with Boston racer Charles Bateman taking 7th and 4th in the Pilgrim Foodservice & Henderson Insurance sponsored Ferrari 458.After a wet start to the day the track looked to be drying, the decision to start race 1 on slicks was made! Starting 2nd on the grid, and after a trying first few laps Charles’ team mate took an early pit stop to change to wet tyres just as the downpour began. The scheduled pit change was made and Bateman was in the driving seat, battles where had but the car seem to struggle with the track conditions. A strong 7th position was placed.

Bateman started race 2, 11th on the grid, with a few exciting battles in front of him. He had a strong start, and over took before the first corner, unfortunately it didn’t stick. He soon conquered that one and before long was on the attack again, some great overtaken maneuvers were made by Bateman before handing over to his team mate in 7th position, he fought his way through the field and brought it home in 4th.The 50 points collected by the Scuderia Vittoria duo certainly did their title hopes no harm at all after an excellent weekend. Bateman is currently 8th in the championship, and is looking forward to collecting more points at Donington Park on the 25th September in the 3hour race.