Minshaw takes maiden British GT victory

The Avon Tyres British GT Championship headed to Snetterton for Rounds 5 and 6 of the series and with the help of Phil Keen, Jon Minshaw took his first victory in the championship and they took Trackspeed’s first win of the season in the opening race of the weekend despite huge pressure from Jonny Cocker in his return to British GT.

Marco Attard started the Ecurie Ecosse BMW Z4 on pole position for the first race and sprinted into an early lead ahead of Jody Firth who passed Pasin Lathouras into Riches on the opening lap. Over the opening stint Attard pulled out a gap to Firth who was closed in by Minshaw after he had moved his way up from fourth on the grid. During the stops Keen, who took over from Minshaw, jumped into the lead ahead of Cocker, who replaced Attard, as the BMW had a 5 second extra pit stop after Attard finished third at Silverstone.

Cocker was never more than a second adrift of Keen but was unable to find a way ahead the Porsche which allowed Minshaw to take his first victory in the series and Trackspeed’s first victory since Zandvoort last season. With Cocker finishing in second, it scored Attard more helpful points for the championship. The second Trackspeed 997 which was in the hands of Warren Hughes in the second half of the race had to retire from third place which eventually gave Lee Mowle and Joe Osborne a podium finish after their Triple 8 team mates were excluded after contact. Mark Poole and Richard Abra finished in fourth as the leading Aston Martin.

Oz Yusuf and Gavan Kershaw claimed the first victory for the Lotus Evora in GT4 during the first encounter of the weekend. They took a slender victory of less than four second to beat the Beechdean pairing of Ross Wylie and Jake Giddings. Rick Parfitt and Tom Oliphant scored their first podium of the season and were the first Ginetta across the line in third.

After a stunning lap in qualifying, Jonny Adam drove clear of the field when the second race got underway after a long delay when Andy Schulz and John Gaw went off at Riches on lap two of the original start. Adam’s mighty first stint allowed Andrew Howard to stroke the Aston Martin home which gave the reigning champion his first win of 2014. The first half of the race saw a huge battle for second position as Adam Carroll, in his first British GT weekend, had to defend hard to keep a train of cars behind him. He was able to do so and Gary Eastwood brought the FF Corse Ferrari home in second place ahead of Paul White in the Aston Martin started by Tom Onslow-Cole. A huge battle for fourth in the second part of the race was eventually won by race one winners Minshaw and Keen.

Silverstone race winners Ade Barwick and Bradley Ellis took their Ginetta G55 to victory in GT4 ahead of Parfitt and Oliphant after Wylie received a drive through penalty in the Beechdean Aston Martin. Morten Dons and Aleksander Schjerpen scored their second podium finish in the class as they finished in third.

The Cooper Tires British Formula 3 Championship only saw six cars take to the circuit over the weekend. Sam MacLeod took two wins over the three races as he brings his season tally up to four. The reverse grid race was won by Matthew Rao after a tussle which saw erstwhile leader Camren Kaminsky retire. Martin Cao retained his championship lead despite still not taking a race victory and retiring from two races at Snetterton.

Will Palmer took his maiden victory in the opening race of the weekend for the BRDC Formula 4 Championship. Palmer took a commanding three second triumph ahead of Raoul Hyman and George Russell. The second race was a reverse grid and Arjun Maini made the most of it to take his first victory of the season. Diego Menchaca took second place ahead of the charging Russell who made his way up to third from sixth on the grid. After scoring his first victory the day before, Palmer claimed his second victory in race three after holding off Sennan Fielding and Hyman.

The Miltek Sport Volkswagen Racing Cup saw Joe Fulbrook take his first victory of the season in the opening race of the weekend after passing Aaron Mason when the reigning champion made a mistake and left a car width for Fulbrook to squeeze through. Lucas Orrock and Stefan Di Resta chased the leading two home in a close VW Cup encounter. Di Resta then used the reverse grid to take his first victory despite Mason challenging hard in the closing stages of the race. Orrock scored a second podium of the weekend after holding off Fulbrook.

The Protyre Motorsport Ginetta GT5 Challenge was only able to complete two of their three races over the weekend after the delays caused in the second British GT race. Ollie Chadwick claimed both of the victories over the weekend and in the opening race both Gary Simms and George Gamble joined Chadwick on the podium. In race two Chadwick had to work his way through after a grid penalty and he went side-by-side with Dennis Strandberg who led the majority of the race, but on the last lap Chadwick sprinted into the lead to take the win ahead of Strandberg and Simms, who also had to drive through the field due to a grid penalty. Alex Preston and Stuart Pearson took a G20 victory apiece.

Luke Caudle was the double victor in the Power Maxed Mini Challenge. Caudle fought off a race long challenge from Chris Knox in race one to take the victory. Neil Newstead took a clear third after pulling out a gap to Lawrence Davey. Davey led the early stages of race two until he and Knox made contact and Knox span out. Caudle then closed in Davey and passed him to take the victory. Davey later received a five second penalty for exceeding the track limits which gifted Henry Duprey and Newstead podium finishes. Shane Stoney took a double victory in the Cooper class.

Words by Paddock42 contributor Joshua Barrett, photos by P42 Contributors Laura Manning and Steve Cross take a look at the gallery here.

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