Fresh off the back of a big points haul two weeks ago in Norfolk, Triple Eight Race Engineering head to the historic Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps next weekend (11/12 July) for the final pair of 60-minute sprint races in the 2014 Avon Tyres British GT Championship season at the home of the Belgian Grand Prix If the second half of the Avon Tyres British GT Championship is even half as exhilarating as the first, the series is in for yet another thrilling finale. With the final four races taking place on three of the most iconic circuits in the world (Spa, Brands Hatch and Donington Park), it is understandable that the awesome foursome of Triple Eight drivers, Joe Osborne, Lee Mowle, Luke Hines and Derek Johnston are not lacking enthusiasm for the short hop across the channel to tackle the 4.352 mile Ardennes track in the mighty BMW Z4 GT3.Last time out Joe and Lee banished the bad luck that had blighted their season to date, courtesy of some steely driving and a number change (from #8 to #88), taking a third place finish in race one and a fifth place finish in race two. Despite being arguably one of the quickest and most consistent combinations in British GT, the pair has been somewhat of a target for wayward rivals, and the Snetterton results gave Joe and Lee their best-ever finish together in the British series.Joe, 25, from Olney had his first taste of Spa-Francorchamps in a GT3 car earlier this week and remarked: “It’s mega fast, it’s like Donington Park on steroids. It’s a proper circuit that you have to respect. I think it’ll bite some drivers pretty hard. I can see a lot of red flags across the Friday sessions.”Having not driven a GT3 car at Spa previously, Lee, 48 from Wimbledon, is aware of the challenge that lies in wait: “It’s a stunning circuit, Eau Rouge is immense. I did Spa last year in a (Ginetta) G40 with Optimum. It gave me an appreciation of where you need to be quick and if you can’t keep the momentum up on a 140 bhp G40, you’ve got no hope of making a GT3 quick. “The recent Blancpain Gentleman Driver of the Weekend award winner continued: “It’s a massive step up to go there in a GT3 car and I’m going to use a simulator next week to help me acclimatise. I think simulators are great to get a feel for a track and learn whether it’s a lift or a dab of the brakes for example; it’s very useful.”That first race podium for #88 at Snetterton came at the expense of Luke and Derek in #888 who were excluded from the race following contact for Derek with AF Corse’s Pasin Lathouras, on a spirited march up the order by the Geordie ace.After overcoming the upset of the penalty applied by the organisers, Luke was then unscrupulously ‘gored’ by the PGF Kinfaun-AMR Aston Martin on lap two of the second race. The duo now sits ninth in the standings, 66.5 points adrift of the series leaders Andrew Howard and Jonny Adam (Beechdean-AMR).Derek, 52, Newcastle, has visited Spa three times before in Radicals and is keen to prove his podium challenging ability is no flash in the pan: “At Snetterton we paid a double price really. I wasn’t happy. There’s so much effort you have to put into this championship, physically, mentally and financially, to win; it hurts to get a penalty that harsh. It’s been a difficult few weeks, but I’m determined to get on the podium at Spa and show what we can do.“Can we win the championship? Mathematically we can, and it depends what happens to the other guys. If we’re top five in every race til the end of the year, we could do it. As far as I’m concerned I want podiums at every round, and if we do that, the championship will look after itself.”Luke, 32, now a resident of Silverstone, added: “We’ve put Snetterton behind us; our season starts now. We have to go at the next four races like they’re ours for the taking. We’ve got everything we need to make it happen.”Since debuting in GT racing eighteen months ago, the Greatworth-based squad has taken five podiums and two pole-positions and the hunger for a maiden GT victory grows with every weekend as Lee explains: “When I became aware of Derek, he was in GT Cup winning and I was in my second year of racing. He’s always been someone that I wanted to beat, and when he signed up for us, it was great. It gave me a fantastic peer to race against and a good barometer for my own improvement. There’s a healthy rivalry between us and we’d both like to get that first win for Triple Eight. I think a win will come; it’s just a case of when. British GT is more competitive than ever before, Trackspeed won their first race of the year last time out, so perhaps it’s our time at Spa. As long as it’s Joe and I that win, that’s fine!”In the Team’s Championship, Triple Eight are now up to fourth, and despite this being the first-time the squad has raced at Spa with the BMW Z4 GT3, the team is confident of closing the 29.5 point gap to Beechdean-AMR, as Joe affirms: “We’re not alone in not having done any miles at Spa. We’re really lucky that the BMW is a hugely versatile car and is suited to Spa. The team has a good base-line setup, so we won’t be chasing our tails; we just might not be as prominent as we were at say Snetterton or Silverstone. It’ll be an interesting pair of races.”