British GT- Parfitt and Morris take Silverstone 500 win

Rick Parfitt and Seb Morris claim the RAC Trophy in stunning Silverstone 500 win. Whilst the Track Club Mclaren takes another GT4 win…

This years Silverstone 500 was contested by 30 starters in glorious weather, bright blue skies graced the Northamptonshire circuit for the Blue Riband event of the British GT season.

A dominant performance by the Team Parker Racing Bentley outfit with Rick Parfitt and Seb Morris at the wheel of the #31 machine, a perfect start from Parfitt put the car in the lead and there they stayed until the chequered flag waved them home, clear by over one minute from the second place team of the #24 Macmillan AMR Aston Martin of James Littlejohn and Jack Mitchell. Coming home to claim the third step of the podium was Duncan Cameron and Matt Griffin onboard of the #21 Spirit of Race Ferrari 488 GT3.

Parfitts’s perfect start saw him get an almighty launch, sweeping right around the outside of the #24 Macmillan AMR Aston Martin to take the lead through copse. Whilst the #31 Parker Racing Bentley had the best start the polar opposite was for the #21 Spirit Of Race Ferrari 488, dropping from third on the grid down to seventh in the first few laps. #33 Lamborghini of the championship leading Barwell pairing started in fourth and came home in fourth, a different strategy played by those guys by stretching out their stints came to no avail only taking the flag in the same position as they started.

#88 Mercedes AMG from Team Abba with Rollcentre car showed great potential through practices and qualifying especially with the addition of Christadoulou. Richard Neary took the start but lost control only a few laps in with huge pressure from Ian Loggie, the race progressed and the car was climbing back up from the tenth position it slipped down to in the opening stint. from nearly to Christadoulou then short and back Christadoulou, he took over the car and even with a penalty for a short pitstop the car was still brought home to a top five finish.

Reigning champions, TF sport #1 Aston Martin in the very capable hands of Jonny Adam and Derek Johnston had a lonely race battling mechanical issues. The car lost power steering during Derek Johnston’s opening stint in the car, the pairing fought off the technical issues and brought the car home for some very key points in 9th position, the points could all matter as the season enters it’s second half now.

Return of the Century Motorsport Ginetta wasn’t the weekend the team wanted bringing the car home in 10th position, flashes of speed from Ginetta Factory driver Charlie Roberston shows ultimate potential for the team but couldn’t maintain the pace of the front runners.

GT4 honours were claimed by Track Club with their Mclaren 570s, drivers Adam Balon and Adam Mackay took their second victory of the season coming from fourth on the grid to claim the win.

Second in GT4 was the team that only arrived at the circuit on Sunday morning and took the start from 30th position on the grid. #62 Academy Motorsports Aston Martin Vantage GT4 piloted by Matt Nicoll-Jones and Will Moore were racing in the European GT4 championship in Austria at the Red bull Ring on the Saturday and travelled through the night to take part in the warm up and race at Silverstone on Sunday.

Coming home in third position was the #29 In2Racing Mclaren 570s of Marcus Hoggarth and Matthew Graham.

Biggest loss of the day was #55 HHC motorsport Ginetta G55 GT4, the car had a broken driveshaft very early on completely putting them out of contention for the race. The drivers championship leaders Stuart Middleton and William Tregurtha come out of Silverstone in third in the drivers table whilst Track Club’s Adam Balon and Adam Mackay jump to second in the standings.

Tolman Motorsport Mclaren 570s driven by Joe Osborne and David Pattison came home as the last classified GT4 in 13th place in class after having a complete Nightmare race with 2 punctures putting them well down the order despite. Joe Osborne did claim the fastest lap of the weekend but bad luck hindered the outright pace of the car.