British GT Donington Park (2) 2023

British GT round 9 - Donington Park (2) - 2023

And just like that, British GT for 2023 is done and dusted. Just how we like it, it came down to the Donington Decider. With some upsets in qualifying and some penalties on top, the grid was quite mixed up. As lots of cars were starting out of position, we were all expecting an exciting start to the race… we weren’t disappointed.

With the Century BMW having a 20sec pit-stop penalty, they needed a really good start and that’s what they got. Darren starting second and getting a huge lead before the end of the first lap and it grew from there. Unfortunately for them though, there was an early safety car, reducing their lead to nothing. Darren built the lead again, just for another safety car, meaning they didn’t have the huge lead they wanted before the pit-stops, Dan Harper came out of the pits near the end of the GT3 field with lots of work to do. Dan did Dan things and it was like a scene from Wacky Races the way he went through the field. James Cottingham started the race leading the championship and was in a good place to win it, until… they got a penalty for undertaking under yellow flags. After serving the penalty, they were right at the back of the GT3 field while Century’s Harper was almost at the front. With Cottingham’s penalty, Harper was in a championship winning position but that wasn’t enough, he wanted the race win as well but he had to settle for second at the flag. The win was taken by the Barwell duo of Mitchell and Balfe, who got very lucky with one of the safety cars. What a stint. In GT4, it was a similar story, The Academy Motorsport Mustang of Evans and Cowley came into the race as outsiders but technically still in the hunt for the championship. With great stints from both drivers, Cowley was leading the pack come the chequered flag, giving them the race and the championship.

Results -

GT3 -

1 - Barwell Motorsport - Sandy Mitchell/Shaun Balfe - Lamborghini Huracan

2 - Century Motorsport - Dan Harper/Darren Leung - BMW M4

3 - Enduro Motorsport - Morgan Tillbrook/Marcus Clutton - Mercedes AMG

GT4 -

1 - Academy Motorsport - Erik Evans/Matt Cowley - Ford Mustang

2 - RaceLab - Ian Gough/Tom Wrigley - McLaren Artura

3 - DVO Motorsport - Aston Millar/Josh Rowledge - McLaren Artura

Championship -

GT3 - Century Motorsport - Dan Harper/Darren Leung - BMW M4

GT4 - Academy Motorsport - Erik Evans/Matt Cowley - Ford Mustang