An eventful weekend at Oulton Park saw GT3 drivers Andrew Howard, 2013 British GT champion, and Jonny Adam bounce back from a forced retirement in Race 1 to claim dominant victory in the second hour-long Avon Tyres British GT Championship.
Howard and Adam return to the prestigious British GT Championship for the 4th year in the Beechdean Aston Martin Vantage GT3. After qualifying third in race one, Howard, running in third place, was unceremoniously forced to retire after an incident involving a lapped GT3 car. There was extensive damage to the car but the team did an amazing job to have the car ready for Race 2 with a few minutes to spare.
Starting on pole for Race 2, after an amazing qualifying lap by Jonny Adam, the car ran at the front of the pack for the first stint. Adam had major tyre issues so it was decided that all four tyres would be changed. Having done a great job to rebuild the car the team then did a remarkable pit stop.
Running in first, Howard had one more scare when a 0.1 second time infringement meant a stop and go penalty, but the lead was enough to take the penalty and still come out in time for the Beechdean GT3 to take the chequered flag. A great team effort.
Andrew Howard “Today sums up motor racing in a way. You have good and bad luck. There was some fantastic teamwork from the guys today; goodness only knows how they got the car back on track. Jonny had a nightmare with tyres pre pit stop so we changed all four tyres. We still got a penalty for being too fast, so an impressive performance all round, I think!”
Jonny Adam “It was good to win after the disaster from race one. The car wasn’t 100% but a really impressive effort from the team meant it was ready in an hour-and-a-half. I struggled with the rear of the car and had a little moment, but it was good enough and a great result.”
Jamie Chadwick and Ross Gunn, Beechdean AMR GT4 drivers both part of the Aston Martin Racing Evolution Academy programme, claimed two podiums in their debut races in British GT. Unfortunately a race two exclusion was called due to an unintentional incident, but both Chadwick and Gunn impressed on the track and claimed a well-deserved second place in race one.
Beechdean AMR come out fighting for the top with Chadwick and Gunn fourth in the British GT championship for GT4 and Howard and Adam third in the championship for GT3.
Jamie Chadwick “What a weekend, two podiums on our debut is more than we could have ever expected! Unfortunately it wasn’t all smooth sailing with our exclusion from race 2, but I hope Ross and I showed our potential and I am confident we will be on the top step very soon – so onwards and upwards! Also I’d like to say thank you to all at Beechdean Aston Martin Racing, a fantastic team effort.”
Ross Gunn “What a great start to the championship. Both Jamie and I work well together along with the rest of the Beechdean AMR team and this has shown with two great results. It’s a shame about the race two disqualification but we will move on with our heads held high. I’m happy with how I felt in the car; I know the improvements I need to make, and the focus is now on Rockingham’.
The next round of British GT 2015 will take place in Rockingham on the 2nd/3rd May, in a 2 hour race.