British GT - Donington (1) 2022
Round 4 of the British GT Championship saw the series’ first of two visits to the Derbyshire circuit of Donington Park during the 2022 season. Rather than the usual two 1hr races, this weekend sees a single 3hr race. A preferable way around for us, the three hour rave giving us chance to get stuck in and spending plenty of time out trackside.
For the latest visit to Donington, the final round of the 2021 British GT series, the GT3 win was taken by Enduro Motorsport with their McLaren 720s and the Ford Mustang from Academy Motorsport taking the GT4 win.
After qualifying, it was looking good again for Enduro Motorsport, taking overall Pole-Position, 0.383 seconds ahead of 2 Seas Motorsport in 2nd and Barwell Motorsport in 3rd. The Audi R8 from Steller Motorsport has been going well this season and took Pole-Position in GT4, 0.254 ahead of Newbridge Motorsport with their Aston Martin in 2nd, another Aston Martin, from R Racing, starting in 3rd.
A lot of action early on in the race, the 2 Seas AMG, came out of the first corner in the lead and ahead of the pole-sitting Enduro McLaren. The Old Hairpin causing issues for the Paddock, Assetto and Steller GT4 cars, all making trips through the gravel. The 2021 GT4 winner started well with Marco Signoretti making up places to 2nd in the opening laps with the Academy Mustang. In just a few minutes, the leading pair of 2 Seas and Enduro had a 5 second gap to the AMG of Ram Racing in 3rd. Team ABBA pitted early to try and get an advantage, giving Pro-Driver Sam some early time in the car but unfortunately were put out of contention due to a penalty and a later puncture.
A safety car only half an our in to the race saw a lot of teams heading in to the pits to take advantage of loosing less time on track. Enduro came out ahead of the 2 Seas AMG, taking the lead again once the pit cycle had finished. The 7TSix McLaren was the big winner after the safety car, moving from the lower end of the top ten, up to 2nd. Having previously led the race, the 2Seas AMG lost out in the pit-stops, ending up 4th. In GT4, Matt Cowley in the Mustang comes out of the pit-stops in 1st.
A big story of the race, the amount of cars receiving penalties for track limit violations through the chicane, not worth the small gain each time considering the time lost travelling through the pit-lane. Also receiving a penalty was WPI, a 10 second stop/go penalty for contact with the fellow Lamborghini team Barwell at the hairpin.
Moving towards the third round of pit-stops, what becomes important are the success penalties. If you’re new to British GT, if you finish a race in 1st, 2nd or 3rd, you carry a time penalty in to the following race, 20seconds, 15s and 10s respectively, at Donington, this time penalty was to be served during the final pit-stop. Academy went into the final pit-stops leading GT4 with no penalty to serve, followed by Newbridge Motorsport but they have a 20 second penalty carried over from Silverstone. On top of their penalty, Newbridge also suffered with a brake fire during the pit-stop, essentially putting them out of contention. In GT3, of all the teams in contention, none had a penalty, the first being the Barwell Lambo in 5th which has an extra 20 seconds to serve during their stop. Unfortunately for Barwell, as they came out of the pits, contact is made with the Parker Racing Porsche, both aiming for the apex of turn one, the Lamborghini finishing up in the gravel.
With a largely event free stint after the final pit-stops, Enduro Motorsport came home 1st, just short of a minute ahead of the 2 Seas AMG and Ram Racing in 3rd. GT4 was won by Academy Motorsport, making for a repeat set of winners after our last visit to Donington.
GT3 –
1 - Enduro Motorsport - McLaren 720s – 117 Laps
2 – 2 Seas Motorsport – Mercedes AMG – +59.973
3 – Ram Racing – Mercedes AMG – +1:21.738
GT4 –
1 – Academy Motorsport – Ford Mustang – 128 Laps
2 – Century Motorsport – BMW M3 - +17.956
3 – Toyota Gazoo – Toyota GR Supra - +18.928
To find out more information about the British GT series, please check their website - www.british.gt.com
