Kiern Jewiss and Charles Dawson bounced back from a challenging Spa weekend to take victory in the first British GT Championship race of the day at Snetterton, heading a 2 Seas Motorsport one-two as Maxi Götz held off a hard charging Sandy Mitchell to take second alongside Kevin Tse. 

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GT4 proved to be a demonstration of patience and consistency as Marc Warren and Jack Brown took yet another victory for Optimum Motorsports in what turned out to be a comfortable run to the flag in their McLaren Artura.

GT3

In slightly cooler conditions than we had yesterday – track temperatures more than 10 degrees cooler than qualifying – the racing was no less intriguing. 

At the start, pole-sitter Dawson didn’t get himself flustered despite Blackthorn AMR’s Giacomo Petrobelli trying a few ducks and dives heading into the relatively quick turn one. The Mercedes racer just kept his head down and didn’t let himself get spooked by having a looming field of GT3s behind him.

Indeed, he had a relatively handy lead come the conclusion of the first lap – aided slightly by Petrobelli needing to keep half-an-eye on his mirrors as Rob Collard made a relatively quick start to rob Kevin Tse of third and was looking at trying to move up. 

However, with a race still to come this afternoon, and with the cooler conditions perhaps affecting the set-up for many cars, things tended to settle into a comfortable groove. At the front, Dawson was maintaining about a second over Petrobelli, with Collard lurking about the same distance behind but not able to really close in.

In fact, the action was further toward the bottom of the top ten as Simon Orange, in the Orange Racing with JMH McLaren, was proving to be a bit of a cork in the bottle and was under pressure from Johnny Ip in the Bridger Motorsport Honda NSX.

The Japanese car was a missile on the long straights that make up big chunks of the Snetterton circuit, and he didn’t take much time to get the better of the McLaren and move into seventh, with eyes focused ahead on the similar 720S of Paddock Motorsport’s Mark Smith. 

However, Ip’s charge ended almost as soon as it started with the car spinning off at Williams on the entry to the Bentley Straight. The incident itself was unseen by the cameras but the only damage to the Honda seemed to be a missing wing mirror and rear-wing end plate. 

Behind, it was also a tough day for Optimum Motorsport, with its McLaren 720S GT3 Evos not quite having the pace of the other McLarens, or the other GT3s around it. That was highlighted by a struggling Morgan Tillbrook – a relatively rare experience for the decent Am racer – being mugged for ninth by an absolutely stunning lunge from Duncan Cameron going into the Agostini Hairpin. The Spirit of Race driver left it late but was confident in the braking ability of his Ferrari 296 GT3 and, aided by Tillbrook leaving a bit of space, he managed to get through.

Back at the front, the biggest shake up in the order came as the pit window opened with 38 minutes of the race remaining. Dawson and Petrobelli had to serve an extra lap, having missed the window opening by seconds, but the rest of the GT3 field – barring Carl Cavers in the second Optimum McLaren – all pitted immediately.

With success seconds needing to be served for Petrobelli as he handed over to Jonny Adam – the pair having won at Spa – the pair dropped from second to fourth and, combined with a slower stop for Collard as he handed over to Hugo Cook, that allowed Maxi Götz to get up to second having taken over from Tse, and it allowed Sandy Mitchell to take over the Barwell Lamborghini from Alex Martin in third. 

Minimal pitstop penalty allowed Kiern Jewiss to take over from Dawson with a mammoth 13-second lead, but Götz looked like he was determined at the start of the stint with a pair of rapid laps slashing the deficit down to just under 10 seconds. 

However, the German didn’t count on the determination of Mitchell – a demon in the Huracán GT3 Evo2. The Barwell racer was all over the back of Götz and as they diced through GT4 traffic, it looked as though the positions could change at any moment – especially after a hairy moment for the Mercedes-AMG Factory Driver as he smashed the kerb squeezing up the inside of a lapped Phil Keen. 

But the clock was in 2 Seas’ favour, and Götz held on to ensure the team took a one-two with Mitchell less than a second behind across the line. 

Fourth went to Blackthorn, with Adam unable to make up ground in the Vantage, finishing almost 18 seconds off the podium, but 10 seconds ahead of Smith and Martin Plowman in the Paddock McLaren. The latter held off pressure from Hugo Cook and Sven Muller for a chunk of the second half of the race, aided no end when Cook was tapped into a spin by Marcus Clutton in the Orange Racing entry.

Muller and Nick Jones also benefitted from that bit of naughtiness as they inherited sixth, while Cameron and Matt Griffin powered their Ferrari to seventh.

Collard and Cook recovered to eighth, while Tillbrook and Marvin Kirchhöfer – the latter normally so fast in a McLaren – couldn’t seem to get the race going, and took ninth. They benefitted from a 10-second penalty for Clutton, which put him and Orange down into 10th. 

Victory extends Dawson and Jewiss’s championship lead to 15 points, with Petrobelli and Adam now on 99, whilst Tillbrook and Kirchhöfer have slipped back slightly and are now on 87. 

GT4

The GT4 category proved to be explosive from the very start, with drama as the cars headed to the first turn for the first time. With two Optimum Motorsport McLaren Arturas on the front-row, it was imperative that pole-sitter Luca Hopkinson and teammate Marc Warren got through the first corner cleanly.

That, didn’t quite happen. Hopkinson went a little too deep into the corner and missed the apex, giving a bit of a shoulder barge to Warren, sending them both wide and letting Josh Miller, in the Mahiki Racing Ginetta that was third on the grid, sneak through into the lead.

Rather than being free to power off into the distance, Miller immediately had to go on the defensive as Hopkinson – no doubt relieved that the rubbing didn’t hamper the Optimum squad too badly – immediately glued himself under the rear wing of the G56 GT4 Evo and didn’t give Miller even a moment to breathe.

Despite that pressure, Miller didn’t make a single mistake and the pair were stuck in a bit of a limbo until the first round of pitstops. Hopkinson elected to pit a lap earlier than Miller with Harry George taking over and it seemed like a good move as the Artura was immediately back on the tail of the Ginetta once Miller handed over to Jack Mitchell. 

Mitchell, though, is an old-hand at defending and he was not one to be threatened by a looming McLaren. George was trying everything he could to get through and on the final lap it looked like momentum was on his side. But, a slightly wild exit of Williams snapped the McLaren into a slide which George just held onto, but it gave Mitchell enough scope to take a relatively comfortable second overall and the win in Silver Cup. 

Second was all he could manage because of the absolutely textbook display by Optimum’s Marc Warren and Jack Brown at the head of the field. Running third in the first stint, Warren kept himself out of trouble and handed over to Brown. As a Pro/Am, they benefitted from not having the Silver Cup success seconds and came out with a comfy advantage. Brown, as reigning GT4 champion, showed why he’s odds on to retain his title as they took yet another victory.

It could have been slightly more pressurised, but Century Motorsport’s Ravi Ramyead and Charlie Robertson spoiled what was looking like a successful opening race. A drive-through penalty for repeated track limits infringements dropped them down to fifth initially, before passing the sister BMW M4 GT4 Evo of Branden Templeton and Chris Salkeld to take fourth overall and second in Pro-Am. 

The latter BMW rounded out the Silver Cup podium, whilst sixth overall went to Joe Wheeler and Ian Duggan in the second of the Mahiki Ginettas who rounded out the Pro/Am top three.

British GT’s second race gets underway at 15.05 local time, and you can watch it by clicking on the LIVESTREAM link at the top of the article.