HOWARD & ADAM CRUISE TO SPA BRITISH GT VICTORY

Jonny Adam leads the celebrations on the GT3 podium at Spa. Photo: Jakob Ebrey

Andrew Howard and Jonny Adam became the first multiple Avon Tyres British GT Championship overall race winners of the season at Spa-Francorchamps on Saturday thanks to a flawless performance aboard their Beechdean AMR Aston Martin V12 Vantage GT3.

Barwell Motorsport’s Jon Minshaw and Phil Keen scored a long awaited first podium of the season behind the wheel of their BMW Z4 GT3, while a one-off appearance for the Leonard AMR squad resulted in a third place finish for Stuart Leonard and Michael Meadows.

The two-hour, points-and-a-half race provided much entertainment and unpredictability from the off. Indeed, Liam Griffin’s jump-start initially gifted the #6 Oman Racing Team entry the lead before his serving of the subsequent drive-through penalty promoted poleman Howard back into first.

He’d be overtaken before the end of his stint, however, by the fast-charging Leonard who’d carved his way through from eighth on the grid before the second of two Safety Car periods in quick succession hastened the teams’ mandatory driver changes with just over an hour remaining.

The first was to remove Lee Mowle’s stricken Triple Eight BMW, which had come to a halt on-track with a suspected fuel pump issue. It was a desperate blow to the title contenders’ hopes following Mowle’s rapid opening stint in which he’d climbed from seventh to second.

But no sooner had racing resumed than two separate incidents on the same lap involving the TrackGroup Lotus Evora and Twisted Team Parker Ginetta GT4 entries necessitated a lengthy Safety Car period that offered teams a chance to pit.

While Meadows – who’d taken over from Leonard – initially retained the lead once racing resumed, he was soon under enormous pressure from Adam who duly pinched top-spot at La Source soon after the restart. From there the Scot proved untouchable en route to his and Howard’s second victory of the season following their race two success at Oulton Park.

Keen crossed the line 18 seconds later following a welcome quiet afternoon for the BMW he shares with Minshaw. It had been a frontrunner throughout after starting third but didn’t quite have the pace over the final stint to trouble Adam’s Aston once Keen had also passed Meadows.

With the Leonard Aston safe in third, all eyes were on the chasing pack to see who would come through in fourth. Several candidates emerged throughout the race, most notably the #27 TF Sport entry of Andrew Jarman and Jody Fannin. But the pair were ultimately denied their best finish of the season late in the encounter after coming together with Lewis Plato’s rapidly advancing RAM Racing Mercedes SLS AMG GT3. Both would retire in the pits.

With the Ross Wylie/Andrew Watson Von Ryan Racing McLaren also falling out of contention, the way was left clear for Rory Butcher and the recovering #6 Oman Racing Team Aston to take fourth. However, overtaking Alexander Sims before the Safety Car line at the second restart would lead to a post-race 20-second penalty that ultimately handed the Ecurie Ecosse crew an unlikely fourth place.

Butcher and Griffin were therefore classified fifth ahead of Steve Tandy and Mike Simpson’s Ginetta GT3, Johnston/Bell’s sole surviving TF Sport Aston Martin, the Wylie/Watson McLaren, 22GT Racing Vantage of Farmer/Barnes, and Eastwood/Hancock’s FF Corse Ferrari.

There was disappointment for a number of drivers, not least Team LNT’s Rick Parfitt Jnr whose strong opening stint saw him climb from 11th to seventh before contact with reigning champion Marco Attard necessitated a lengthy pit-stop for repairs.

All of that means Attard and Sims have extended their Drivers’ Championship lead to 14.5 points over Griffin and Butcher, who are now tied for second with Howard and Adam. In the Teams’ standings Barwell Motorsport’s second and fourth places have helped them close the gap to Oman Racing Team to just 10.5 points.

Elsewhere there was at least some consolation for Butcher who picked up the Sunoco Fastest Lap of the Weekend Award, while the Silver Cup spoils went Leonard and Meadows’ way. And Minshaw’s efforts were recognised with the Blancpain Driver of the Weekend prize.

GT4 honours went the way of ISSY Racing pair Oz Yusuf and Gavan Kershaw who recorded their second win of the season. Their Lotus Evora GT4 was never troubled en route to a 10.5-second victory.

Beechdean AMR’s winning streak came to an end but there was still plenty of points for Jamie Chadwick and Ross Gunn to take back across the Channel after guiding their Aston Martin Challenge GT4 to an equally untroubled second place. And AmDTuning.com’s Graham Coomes and Jake Hill completed a remarkable turnaround to finish third aboard their Porsche 911 after starting last.

This season’s British GT Championship continues at Brands Hatch on August 1/2.

Click here for the Spa race result.

Tom Hornsby