Barwell and Optimum share spoils at Oulton Park
(Words and images by Samm Lynch)
As ever the Oulton Park round of British GT delivered on all of our favourites; close racing between classes, safety car drama leading to changing pit strategies and last lap fights for the win.
It was Rob Collard & Hugo Cook that took the victory in race 1, with Collard making an excellent start and jumping the pole sitting Andrew Howard into the first corner. Cook took control of the Barwell Lamborghini during their mandatory pit stop, maintaining control until a late safety car took away their advantage over the field. Leading to Ross Gunn in the Beechdean Aston Martin putting the pressure onto Cook in the final laps of the race. Thanks to some superb defending Cook managed to hold onto the lead and winning race 1 by only 0.235 seconds which might be one of the closest finishes this season.
Over in GT4, there was similar close racing between Century Motorsport’s Branden Templeton and Will Orton of MK Racing, but ultimately Templeton held off the pressure and claimed victory for the GT4 category.
In race 2, Ross Gunn started on pole in the Beechdean Aston Martin and held onto the lead throughout the opening stint. But Ben Barnicoat wasn’t far behind in the Optimum McLaren, heading into the mandatory pit stops the Optimum McLaren managed to emerge ahead of the Beechdean Aston Martin.
Once Andrew Howard took over the Beechdean Aston Martin, he was under constant attack from Kevin Tse in the 2Seas AMG. However Howard managed to prevail and bringing it home in second, while Morgan Tillbrook maintained his lead out front in the Optimum McLaren with a 3.75 second lead.
While in GT4 Toro Verde’s Jack Mitchell was seemingly in control of the race from pole position all the way up until the closing 20 minutes where a steering failure sent the teams Ginetta into the gravel at Lodge Corner while Lue Shaw was at the helm unfortunately ending their race and handing the battle for the lead over the the pair of Aston Martins from Grange Racing by FSR and MK Racing.
Daniel Lavery inherited the lead for Grange Racing after the Toro Verde off, but with all of Jessica Hawkins efforts in the MK Aston, she closed that gap down rapidly and was suddenly all over the rear bumper of Lavery in the closing laps of the race. Under the constant attacking pressure, Lavery ran ride exiting Knickerbrook resulting in Hawkins taking the opportunity to draw alongside Lavery heading up Clay Hill. Running side by side into the final corners but ultimately Lavery recovered and overcome the pressure to bring home the victory with a lead of 0.43 seconds, a sizable lead after such closer racing in the closing stages of this race.
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