Nicki Thiim: "Winning Silverstone 500 is special whether you win the championship or not"

Even when Mark Farmer spun in the opening hour of the Silverstone 500, TF Sport still came out on top in the Silverstone 500. Aston Martin Vantage GT3 racers Farmer and Nicki Thiim overcame their early accident to take the lead and eventually the win. For weeks the English brand has been taking the European race tracks by storm, often with Thiim piloting the aging Vantage machines. The Dane’s win in Silverstone wasn’t only his second in British GT this season, it’s also a continuation of his and Aston Martin’s streak of top performances.

10 seconds extra at their last pitstop—that was the cost of winning in Snetterton for the number 11 TF Sport Aston Martin Vantage GT3. If they are going for their second win, TF Sport has to go into the final round of pitstops with that much time over its pursuers. The accident in the first stint doesn’t help, but Farmer is quick to recover and spurs back into the race with hardly any time lost.

When Farmer arrives in the pits at the 44-minute mark to hand over the car to Thiim, the gap is right where they needed it to be: 12 seconds separates the Aston Martin from the Barwell Motorsport Lamborghini Huracán GT3 and the Optimum Motorsport Aston Martin Vantage GT3.

“I knew it would be tight out of the pits,” says Thiim.

“We had a 10-second success penalty and I was on it. Phil Keen [in the Barwell Lamborghini] was 11.8 in front and we came in the same lap. When I saw the Lamborghini I thought, ‘fuck, I need to get out in front of it’.

“The team absolutely nailed the pit stop. Track position is so important here and we kept it and the team made the right call, it was absolutely perfect.”

With Keen in the red and green Lamborghini on his heels, Thiim rejoins the race while Jonny Adam in the Optimum Aston slots in in third place, seconds behind the leaders.

“In the last stint Keen tried the first couple of laps when I hit the traffic really good and I couldn’t pull a gap. Then Jonny came up and he kinda distracted him a bit, which was perfect for us.”

Helped somewhat by his brand-compatriot, the Dane opens up a slight gap and controls the pace from there to bring it home for yet another Aston Martin victory. With their win, Thiim and Farmer move into second place in the championship with just 2.5 points separating the Aston Martin duo from leaders Jon Minshaw and Phil Keen.

“It’s super important for the championship. We had the best start, a really good weekend at Snetterton, I think we hit the best points. And of course, winning the big one, the 3-hour race, pays more points. The trophy and the race are the biggest on the schedule so that’s also always something special to have at the end of the season, whether you win the championship or not.”