Both of 2 Seas Motorsport’s Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evos took pole position for the pair of 60-minute British GT Championship races at Snetterton as Charles Dawson and Maxi Götz ensured both entries took a top spot. 

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It was a tale of two sessions for Optimum Motorsport, as the team took a one-two in GT4 for the first race, but a crash for Harry George in the second sessions means the team is in a race against time to get both cars ready. Pole for the second race went to Mahiki Racing’s Jack Mitchell, one of the few cars not to run off track. 

Race One

The Ams got behind the wheel to set the times for the first of Sunday’s two races and immediately there was action as Giacomo Petrobelli, in the Blackthorn Aston that won at Spa last time out, was putting down the pace early on in the Vantage – not wanting to waste any of that Pirelli rubber.

He didn’t have too long a spell at the top as Alex Martin – racing for the Barwell team that always has a pretty good showing in Norfolk – was starting to string good sectors together in his Lamborghini Huracán GT3 Evo2. 

Even that didn’t stay as Kevin Tse, who had ran so well in practice alongside Maxi Götz, was quickly dropping the times down and a lap in the high 1m48s quickly dropped into the lower 1m48.350sec and a time that was looking like it was going to be strong .

Petrobelli, though, was hustling the Aston and through the twistier middle sector he came alive – his lap of 1m47.916sec was an absolute beauty and was surely going to be enough for pole.

That didn’t account for Dawson, who was slightly behind on track and using the front-engined grunt of the AMG to his advantage. He crossed the line and knocked 0.151sec off the time to ensure it was a 2 Seas car on pole – but not the one you might have expected.

Tse took third in the end, although it would have been fourth if Simon Orange hadn’t had his last lap deleted for track limits penalties – the Orange Racing with JMH funder will start down in seventh.

Barwell took fourth and sixth – Rob Collard sneaking in a good lap toward the end of the session to get onto the second row, despite having a lap deletion of his own. The meat in the Lamborghini sandwich was Mark Smith – one of his best sessions of the season in the Paddock McLaren 720S GT3 Evo, carrying on his good form from GT Cup around Snetterton. 

Johnny Ip was eighth in the Bridger Motorsport Honda NSX, the first of the field just outside that one-second bracket, while Nick Jones and Morgan Tillbrook rounded out the top 1o – the latter spoiling his session somewhat with an off in the middle-sector which covered his tyres, and the car, in grass and mud. 

Compared to the relative calm of GT3, the GT4 session proved to be slightly more action-packed but finished under a red flag as Jon Currie had a spin trying to avoid running onto the exit kerb onto the Bentley Straight and span into the barriers.

Before that, it was actually pretty unpredictable as quite a few drivers had a go at playing provisional polesitter until the music stopped and everyone had to find a seat. First it was Marc Warren, the Am in the Optimum Motorsport McLaren Artura who has been showing up the Silvers this season. 

But then Josh Miller, in the #84 Mahiki Racing Ginetta G56 GT4 Evo pushed himself ahead by 0.055sec, before Warren bested him with a 1m55.693sec. 

It looked like both were going to get blown out the water by Luca Hopkinson, who was flying in the sister Optimum Artura but he had his first lap thrown out for track limits at turn one. It was no issue, though, as the very next lap he dug out a 1m54.989sec to absolutely blow the competition out the water. You had to go 0.704sec back to find Warren and another three-tenths to find Miller in third. Pole was comprehensively his.

Good laps looked like they were starting to form, but with Currie’s car impacting – and damaging – the barriers, spreading debris across the track, the session was red flagged with 36sec remaining.

That meant Branden Templeton proved to be the best of the Century Motorsport BMWs, with Ravi Ramyead half-a-second behind in fifth. 

Sixth went to Steven Lake in the second of three Mahiki Ginettas, while Currie did set the seventh fastest time but it’ll be a race against time for Team Parker Racing to get the Mercedes-AMG GT4 ready for the first race, if it’s not too badly damaged. 

Ian Duggan was eighth in the last of the Mahiki entries, whilst Rupert Williams rounded out the field in the returning Jolt Racing McLaren albeit four seconds down on the next in class.

Race Two

With the Pros behind the wheel for the second session, the fastest times of the weekend so far were getting clocked, and in what was a thrilling 10 minutes the top spot was only confirming in the closing minutes. 

Initially, it was Sven Muller in the Team Parker Racing Porsche 911 GT3 R who set the benchmark time, but it had no time to settle as Sandy Mitchell almost immediately put the Barwell Lamborghini on top with a 1m45.748sec. 

That time stood a little longer than Muller’s, as drivers were getting to grips with a hot circuit – track temperatures nearly touching 40°C – but it didn’t take long for Maxi Götz, fastest in every session so far today, to assert his authority on the grid. 

A 1m45.703sec looked amazing, but fellow German Marvin Kirchhöfer wasn’t about to be discounted. In the Optimum McLaren he shares with Tillbrook, he stormed to the top of the times – taking nearly three-tenths off Götz’ benchmark. 

But eyes drifted back to the timing screen and the 2 Seas racer was putting in yet more purple sectors. Pretty much as the chequered flag was waved, Götz struck the decisive blow – a 1m45.282sec was 0.157sec quicker than anyone as he ensured both Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evos took a pole position. 

Mitchell couldn’t improve in the closing stages but took third, joined on the second-row by Orange Racing’s Marcus Clutton. The McLaren racer proved to be something of a boomerang in the session – initially third-fastest he was knocked down to fourth and then every time he got shuffled further down the order, he managed to set another lap which got him back up to fourth. 

Kiern Jewiss took fifth, taking over the #42 from race one polesitter Dawson, just 0.001sec down on Clutton – who pipped him on the last lap. 

Jonny Adam was sixth, pushing Muller down another place into seventh, while Hugo Cook couldn’t quite find the extra tenths required to move his Lamborghini up from eighth. 

Two McLarens rounded out the top 10 as Callum Macleod bettered Martin Plowman by 0.080sec to be on the inside of the fifth row. 

Like in the first session, another red flag impacted on proceedings in GT4 and took the wind out of the sails of what was looking like an intriguing battle. 

Jack Brown, in the championship-leading McLaren he shares with Marc Warren, was fastest initially but was pushed down a place by Charlie Robertson who is gelling superbly with the Century BMW as he knocked two-tenths off the best time. 

But talking about someone becoming at one with a car, Jack Mitchell is looking like a Ginetta veteran the way he is getting the best out of the Mahiki G56. His best time of a 1m55.156sec was 0.231sec faster than Robertson and looking strong.

It was near-enough solidified when a red flag came out with just over three minutes remaining. It demonstrated just how fickle motorsport can be. Just a session after Hopkinson stormed to a superb pole, his co-driver Harry George took just a bit too much inside kerb at the Hamilton left-hander and smashed into the tyre stack on the inside. 

Ripping a gaping hole in the front left of the Artura, George had to pull off at Williams and the session had to be stopped to let marshals sweep up the large amount of debris scattered on the circuit.

When the session went green again, there were no improvements as tyres proved to be beyond their peak. That meant Mitchell stayed on pole, with Robertson second and Brown in third. 

Fourth went to Joe Wheeler, losing out on the chance to improve his time by going well onto the grass at turn one on his last lap, while George was listed as fifth at the flag. But, like Currie in the first session, it’ll be a lot of work for Optimum to repair the car in time for tomorrow.

Blake Angliss took sixth for Mahiki, while Chris Salkeld struggled to find time in the Century Motorsport BMW so he’ll start seventh. Jolt once again rounded out the grid, John Ingram pedalling the Artura this time.