Beechdean Aston Martin driver Jonny Adam signed off his 2014 season on a high by securing second place in one GT racing’s most prestigious events.

Despite it being his first outing around the tight and twisty street circuit in the capital of Azerbaijan, the Scotsman combined with former F1 test driver Andy Soucek to form a pacy partnership that saw the duo clinch the second step on the podium in both the qualifying and main events at the Baku World Challenge and pick up a prize cheque of 50,000 euros.

Both drivers underlined their ability to compete with GT racing’s elite by running at the sharp end throughout the weekend, and as the sole Aston Martin entry in the field took the revered British manufacturer’s challenge to the might of the other marques competing in the GT3 category.

“To be fastest throughout free practice and pick up two podium positions amongst a grid is really satisfying as it’s a truly world class field, and a race everyone wants to win,” explained Adam.

“I was reserved about the way I went about learning the circuit in practice on Saturday as a lot of others were coming unstuck due the narrow nature of the track and the damp conditions. That meant I maybe didn’t show my hand quite as early, but our race pace was very strong on Sunday.

“Andy is a great driver and had been here before so he was fast straight out of the box and we qualified really well. That was a big help as it put us in contention from the start and kept us out of trouble in the pack.

“Our aim was to show how competitive the Aston Martin V12 Vantage GT3 could be at this level, and we’ve ticked that box against some extremely tough competition from other manufacturers who have been in this championship all season.”

Prior to his outings in the final two rounds of the Blancpain Sprint Series the Scot enjoyed mixed fortunes in the British GT Championship alongside Beechdean team principal Andrew Howard, with the pair ultimately unable to defend the title crown won the previous season. However, Adam feels the pace they showed and the results they delivered when in a position to challenge demonstrated they had continued to make significant progress year on year.

“The advances we made in terms of setup meant we qualified so much better this year, and if you look at the likes of Snetterton where we took a pole and a race win that really underlined what we were capable of when the conditions were going our way.

“If that was a real high then Spa 24hrs was the opposite. We had an ideal driver line up, a great car and perfect preparations for the event so genuinely felt we could challenge for the win at a race that was a big target for us. Unfortunately a really unlucky sequence of events meant our weekend was over early. That’s just the way it goes sometimes, but it was a hard one to take for everyone involved in the team as we’d all worked so hard.”

Adam believes the Beechdean squad’s upwards trajectory will continue into next season, with a list of areas to improve already identified and targeted for working through in the close season. He is also close to finalising his schedule for 2015 and hopes to combine multiple series to enable him to continue showing his worth to both factory and customer Aston Martin teams.

“It’s been a good season on the whole, but you can always get better. To do that you have to stretch yourself, so I’m always looking for environments that will make me raise my game.

“I’ve picked up some great experience this year racing with different people and taking on new tracks and championships.

“The goal for me in 2015 is to challenge for race wins and titles.”