British GT Championship 2013 Final Round, Donington Park

British GT Championship – Bright autumnal sunshine greeted a 32-car British GT field at Donington Park for the final round of the 2013 season. A tense, two-hour encounter would decide the destiny of the GT3 title, with six cars entering the race with a chance of taking the crown. The United Autosports pairing of Mark Patterson and Matt Bell secured the race victory, but lost the title by the narrowest of margins to Beechdean driver Andrew Howard.

The fascinating battle swung back and forth throughout the race, with penalties galore being served for a variety of misdemeanors up and down the field. Drivers were penalised for overtaking under yellow flags, speeding in the pitlane and not being stationary for the minimum pitstop time, all of which kept the title race alive right down to the wire.

The early running was dominated by the pole-sitting 888Optimum BMW Z4 GT3 of Lee Mowle, who lead the field into Redgate and began pulling away from everyone bar a fast starting Gregor Fisken in the early laps. It didn’t take long for the drama to begin, with the Preci-Spark Mercedes of Godfrey and David Jones becoming involved in the first of several incidents, making contact with the M-Tech Ginetta G55 and forcing Derek Johnston into the pits with suspension damage.

The PGF-Kinfaun AMR Aston Martin also headed for an early bath, the car hitting the rear of the title contending #888 BMW and retiring. The BMW continued but was then hit further around the lap by the Jones’ twins Mercedes at the Melbourne Loop. This incident also involved Ahmad Al-Harthy’s title contending Porsche, tipping the Motorbase driver into a spin and effectively ending he and Michael Caine’s title challenge on the spot. The Preci-Spark Mercedes was black flagged and disqualified later in the race.

The safety car was then deployed following a spin for David Ashburn in the Trackspeed Porsche at McLeans as he tried to lap the Twisted Team Parker Racing Ginetta. Ashburn could not get the car restarted, and was out of the race.

Following the restart, Mowle again darted away from the field, taking Fisken with him. Fisken then had a quick spin at Goddard’s, dropping to eighth. This promoted the FF Corse Ferrari of Gary Eastwood to second, and eventual champion Andrew Howard to third in the Beechdean Aston Martin, having just passed title rival Marco Attard. While the leaders squabbled amongst themselves, series returnee Gregoire Demoustier was on a fantastic charge in the Von Ryan McLaren. Having started 17th on the grid, he wasted no time in battling his way through the GT3 midfield. The Belgian would challenge Howard for third before the pitstop window opened.

The leaders all pitted in close proximity, and with the professional drivers now installed, the final hour should have been a straight shootout for the title. However, several drivers were penalised for overtaking under yellow flags, including the race leading #8 BMW, now with Joe Osbourne at the wheel. The 888Optimum car retained the lead, chiefly due to the extra 15 seconds added to the second place Ferrari’s pitstop time.

Following the stops, the large crowd were treated to some thrilling battles down the field. Matt Bell, now up to third in the United Autosports Audi, had a lengthy battle with Rob Barff in the FF Corse Ferrari. The Audi eventually gained the upper hand, and Bell set off in pursuit of the leading BMW. Disaster was about to befall the #8 machine, as it was called in to serve a stop and go penalty for speeding in the pitlane. The 888Optimum team hotly contested this penalty, but the officials stood firm. A day that promised so much ended in retirement, as the car’s propshaft failed in the pitlane following the penalty.

This promoted Matt Bell to the lead in the Audi R8, and from then on it was plain sailing to take his and Mark Patterson’s first victory of the year. They missed out on the title by just 1.5 points, as Jonny Adam moved up to third place in the Beechdean Aston Martin, which was just enough to give team mate Andrew Howard the 2013 title. Rob Barff took second place in the race following an impressive run for the FF Corse team.

In GT4, Ryan Ratcliffe and Rick Parfitt Jnr took third place in the race, which was enough to give them the class title by just two points.

Full race results can be found here

Words and pictures by Richard Crawford

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