Ash Hand: "The car has taught us a lot about what we needed to do"

TF Sport racer Ash Hand believes his GT4 drivers’ title is a testament to the season-long hard work he and team-mate Tom Canning have put in in their first season together in the British GT Championship.

The pair took a win and four podiums over the course of the season as they saw off the challenge of five rival crews to take the title by 7.5 points over early-season leaders Scott Maxwell and Seb Priaulx in the Multimatic Ford Mustang thanks to a strong third-place in the #DoningtonDecider.

On paper it seemed the pair had an easy run of it, but Hand told GT REPORT it was anything but, saying: “It wasn’t an easy race. We knew from the last time that the Mustang was really fast here, they won the race at the last meeting and the Audi was really fast but they broke down in the last race so we knew those two cars were going to be epically fast.

“But we had a great car under us, we have had all year so we knew we could come here and get the job done and we did. Everybody in the team has done a fantastic job, everyone at AMR – we’ve had an amazing year and to do it together with a great team is an amazing feeling.

“We’ve worked for this for the whole season, we’ve done so many days together, we’ve been in the car, so much time with the team, looked at so much data. We’ve worked so hard to get to where we’re at now.”

Ash Hand and Tom Canning’s success is made more remarkable because of the fact his Aston Martin Vantage V8 GT4 was brand new to the championship at the start of the year, with the pair avoiding the teething problems that are typically associated with brand-new cars – something made more remarkable by how hard the pair have been pushing it over the course of the season.

“It is good for us two drivers to take that car and we’ve stretched it this year and done a great job with it. The car has taught us a lot about what we needed to do, and to have a great car under us that’s been reliable,” he explained.

“I think the word reliable stands out for this car, as well as its pace, but it’s been a great car, a great team and everybody around us has done a great job. I couldn’t prouder of them or my team-mate Tom.”