Collards and Ramyead/Robertson celebrate second wins of the season at Donington

Rob and Ricky Collard took a giant step towards winning this year’s British GT Championship by winning from pole at Donington today, while Ravi Ramyead and Charlie Robertson collected their second GT4 win in three races aboard Century’s BMW.

The father/son duo benefitted from a puncture that restricted their Barwell team-mates and primary title rivals Alex Martin and Sandy Mitchell to fourth. They now lead the standings by 24.5 points with 37.5 still available at the Brands Hatch finale later this month.

Giacomo Petrobelli and Jonny Adam scored theirs, Blackthorn AMR’s and the new Aston Martin’s best result of the campaign in second, while Shaun Balfe and Adam Smalley (Garage 59) retained their slim but mathematical championship chances by completing the podium after Team Abba’s Mercedes-AMG retired from third on the penultimate lap.

Further back, Ramyead’s excellent opening stint set up a BMW victory at the head of a Pro-Am one-two-three-four. Charles Dawson and Seb Morris (Team Parker Racing) boosted their title hopes by finishing second but also benefitted points-wise from the post-race penalty that cost Optimum’s Jack Brown and Zac Meakin 30 seconds, third place overall and the championship lead.

Century’s other M4 shared by Ian Gough and Tom Wrigley therefore completed the GT4 podium ahead of Paddock’s Mercedes-AMG and Academy’s #61 Ford, which won the Silver class.

GT3: COLLARDS TAKE CONTROL

Cars with 15 seconds of Compensation Time seldom win British GT races. But the Collards upset the odds, and grabbed the championship fight by the scruff of the neck, by largely dominating from pole.

Their cause was helped by bad luck befalling the two entries that, in qualifying trim at least, looked most likely to challenge them.

The first significant moment occurred at Redgate on the opening lap when Kevin Tse’s 2 Seas Mercedes-AMG, which started alongside Collard Snr, was nudged into a spin and lost a lap whilst waiting to be dragged clear of the gravel trap.

Martin duly moved up to second and worked with Collard to gap Mike Price during the early stages. The combination of their pace and the Greystone GT driver’s battle with almost everyone else helped the Lamborghinis quickly break clear and largely negate #63’s extra pitstop time.

Martin slipped back a little as the pitstops approached, but he was still on course to jump his team-mate until a puncture forced an unscheduled tyre change outside of the window. The delay dropped #78 to sixth and gifted Collard a 28-second lead over Petrobelli who’d move from seventh to second during the first hour.

Blackthorn’s progress was aided by a good start, Tse’s spin, RAM’s early retirement and Price dropping back, but there was no answer for the pace of Collard whose son emerged with a 14-second lead despite serving the extra Compensation Time.

Petrobelli, meanwhile, made way for Adam who slowly but surely began to edge closer. The gap was down to nine seconds at one stage before going back out to 11, at which point a GT4 accident, lengthy Full Course Yellow period and subsequent Safety Car raised the prospect of a grandstand finish.

However, GT4 traffic between the Huracan and Vantage prevented Adam from pressurising Collard at the restart, and Ricky duly reeled off the final two laps unopposed to extend his and Rob’s championship lead from five to 24.5 points.

Blackthorn’s crew were still delighted to score their best result of the season, while Balfe and Smalley – who set fastest lap – also enjoyed a clean race to finish right on the Aston’s tail after starting eighth. They must now win at Brands, and hope the Collards fail to score, to have any hope of clinching the title.

That they remain contenders at all owes something to a brake failure that sent Sam Neary into the McLeans tyre wall on the penultimate lap. It was an unfortunate end for Abba’s Mercedes-AMG which started 14th but moved forward throughout the opening stint thanks to Richard Neary whose full-send to pass Balfe at Redgate was arguably move of the race.

Mitchell’s around-the-outside effort on Phil Keen at the Melbourne Hairpin ran Neary’s manoeuvre close. But that, and Abba’s retirement, could yet prove decisive in this year’s championship fight. Fourth place instead of sixth gained the crew five crucial points.

Keen and Ian Loggie brought their new 2 Seas Porsche home fifth, while Carl Cavers/Lewis Plato (Century BMW) and Andrew Howard/Jessica Hawkins (Beechdean AMR) completed the Silver-Am podium behind Balfe/Smalley in sixth and seventh. Paddock’s McLaren shared by Mark Smith and Martin Plowman rounded out the top eight despite a trip through the gravel trap to avoid Tse and a spin triggered by Enduro’s 720S.

Results are HERE