Optimum Motorsport’s Morgan Tillbrook and Ben Barnicoat resisted intense pressure to win Race 2 of the British GT Championship at Snetterton this afternoon.
Beechdean Motorsport Ltd’s Ross Gunn led the pack into Richies on the opening lap as Barnicoat found his way up into second place and ahead of Orange Racing by JMH’s Marcus Clutton. Jarrod Waberski, denied the chance to participate in Saturday’s Qualifying 2 after a shunt for teammate Alex Martin, was also able to make up two places in his Barwell Motorsport Lamborghini Huracan GT3 Evo2.
The GT4 category saw no shortage of drama early on, with the Toro Verde GT Ginetta G56 GT4 Evo failing to make the grid at the start. Then, Paddock Motorsport’s Blake Angliss suffered a puncture, forcing his McLaren Artura GT4 to limp home for an early tyre change, rejoining nearly a lap down on the class leader.
As the grid settled, Race 1 GT4 winner and championship-leader Thomas Holland pulled over to the side of the track, retiring his Innovation Racing car after just 16 minutes.
Gunn’s lead over Optimum Motorsport’s Barnicoat at the front of the GT3 pack remained stagnant for the majority of the first stint, with the drivers content to remain as they were approaching the pit window. A flurry of GT4 cars would hold the GT3 leaders up momentarily at the 20-minute mark, with the gap between the top two reduced to just eight tenths.
The GT3 Pro drivers would make their mandatory stops right at the end of the pit window, with Gunn and Barnicoat separated by under five tenths when they pulled into the pit lane. Beechdean Motorsport Ltd were able to resume the race in the lead with Andrew Howard just ahead of Morgan Tillbrook.
However, disaster struck just seconds into Howard’s stint as he spun, resuming five seconds shy of the lead. During the pit stop chaos, 2 Seas Motorsport’s Kevin Tse entered the race in third, two seconds behind the Aston Martin Vantage AMR GT3 Evo that had just lost the lead.
The fight for the podium intensified over the following laps, with Simon Orange in the Orange Racing by JMH McLaren 720s GT3 Evo managing to close the gap to Tse. With 20 minutes to go, they found themselves separated by just four tenths of a second.
Optimum Motorsport were also top of the pile in the GT4 category with a handful of laps to go, as Josh Stanton took over from George Gamble in a commanding position, 10 seconds ahead of Toro Verde GT’s Ian Duggan in second.
The battle for the net race lead was far from over despite Howard’s mistake, as he closed to within one second of Tillbrook with 18 minutes on the clock. Third-placed Tse fell to tenth when he spun, following intense pressure from Orange for the final spot on the podium.
A few laps later, Paddock Motorsport’s Mark Smith slowed with a technical issue and returned to the pit lane, having ran in seventh-place. After being stuck behind the Century Motorsport BMW M4 GT3 Evo for the majority of the race, Barwell Motorsport’s Rob Collard forced his way past with 12 minutes to go to move up to sixth.
He then set his sights on Orange Racing by JMH’s Steven Lake, catching and passing him soon after, before managing to get past Rodin Motorsport’s Cameron Campbell too for fourth. At the front, Orange joined the battle for the lead, with the front three separated by just one second with seven minutes left.
While pushing for top spot, Howard ran wide at Coram with two minutes to go, allowing Tillbrook the breathing space he needed to secure victory from Orange in second and the Beechdean Motorsport Ltd entry in third.
Collard completed a fine drive to fourth for Barwell Motorsport, with Campbell ending up 10 seconds behind him in fifth for Rodin Motorsport. Several drivers moved up a place on the final lap as Steven Lake dropped five places to eleventh for Orange Racing by JMH, promoting Martin to sixth for the Barwell Motorsport car that started Race 2 from the very back of the grid.
Jonathon Beeson was seventh for Century Motorsport, followed by Tse in eighth for 2 Seas Motorsport, Marc Warren in ninth for Optimum Motorsport, and Ian Loggie tenth in the other 2 Seas Motorsport Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo machine.
Stanton and Gamble's McLaren Artura GT4 completed an incredible race for Optimum Motorsport, who claimed victories in both categories. Daniel Lavery and Darren Turner were second for Grange Racing with FSR, and Duggan and Tom Bradshaw third for Toro Verde GT in the GT4 class.
British GT Championship, Race 2, Snetterton
1. Barnicoat/Tillbrook, Optimum Motorsport, McLaren 720s GT3 Evo
2. Clutton/Orange, Orange Racing by JMH, McLaren 720s GT3 Evo, +0.756s
3. Gunn/Howard, Beechdean Motorsport Ltd, Aston Martin Vantage AMR GT3 Evo, +6.903s
4. Cook/Collard, Barwell Motorsport, Lamborghini Huracan GT3 Evo2, +20.111s
5. Buchan/Campbell, Rodin Motorsport, Ferrari 296 GT3 Evo, +32.481s
6. Waberski/Martin, Barwell Motorsport, Lamborghini Huracan GT3 Evo2, +34.535s
7. Clark/Beeson, Century Motorsport, BMW M4 GT3 Evo, +34.934s
8. Green/Tse, 2 Seas Motorsport, Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo, +43.894s
9. Brown/Warren, Optimum Motorsport, McLaren 720s GT3 Evo, +48.194s
10. Walker/Loggie, 2 Seas Motorsport, Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo, +1m21.131s
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