Dawson and Jewiss enjoy winning GT3 debuts at Donington

2 Seas’ Charles Dawson and Kiern Jewiss converted pole position into their first British GT3 Championship wins in the season opener at Donington where Jack Brown began his GT4 title defence with class victory alongside new Optimum co-driver Marc Warren.

1.1s separated the #42 Mercedes-AMG from Sandy Mitchell’s charging Barwell Lamborghini, which threatened to derail an otherwise faultless performance in the final 10 minutes. 2 Seas’ second entry completed the overall podium courtesy of Kevin Tse and Maximilian Götz.

GT3 Silver-Am spoils went the way of Beechdean AMR’s Andrew Howard and Tom Wood.

Further back, Warren and Brown took GT4 top spot by 13s from Century duo Ravi Ramyead and Charlie Robertson whose five-second post-race penalty wasn’t enough to promote Endurance Cup winners Ed McDermott and Seb Morris (Team Parker) into the class’ overall runners-up spot.

But the result might have been very different had Mahiki’s erstwhile pole winning Lotus not been disqualified from qualifying. Aiden Neate starred in the opening stint en route from 10th to first, but the extra pitstop time incurred by Silver crews ultimately limited his and Josh Miller’s Emira to fifth overall.

GT3: 2 Seas celebrates in the spring sunshine

2 Seas’ duo surprised many by their pace in qualifying, but any hopes Dawson and Jewiss had of disappearing into the distance were dashed by a Safety Car period that ended 10 minutes before GT3’s driver changes could begin.

Barwell’s Lamborghini initially driven by Alex Martin, who relieved Tse of second at turn one on the opening lap, also kept Dawson within sight throughout the opening stint. The gap between them ebbed and flowed but had settled at around four seconds when Giacomo Petrobelli’s contact with Mahiki’s #88 Lotus necessitated a long Full Course Yellow period and subsequent Safety Car.

Dawson had largely re-established his advantage before swapping with Jewiss, who rejoined ahead of Mitchell, Götz, Marvin Kirchhöfer, Marcus Clutton and Sam Neary.

Much of the top six remained unchanged thereafter. Nevertheless, the fight for victory wasn’t settled until the final lap.

Mitchell initially closed down Jewiss before dropping around two seconds back, confident that he would have the pace to go again towards the end of the race. And, sure enough, the Huracan – which had already set fastest lap – was back within a second 10 minutes from the finish.

That became a nose-to-tail 0.5s as the final lap approached. But if Jewiss felt any pressure it didn’t show on track, and his position was never seriously challenged before the chequered flag fell.

Götz took the final podium place another 10s back after circulating with Kirchhöfer and Optimum’s McLaren, which – in Morgan Tillbrook’s hands – had consolidated fourth place before the pitstops.

Petrobelli’s spin after the contact initially helped Simon Orange to move into fifth. But although his co-driver Clutton re-joined in the same position, a drive-through for exceeding the Full Course Yellow speed limit initially dropped the Orange/JMH McLaren to seventh. Worse was to come post-race, however, when the car was disqualified for a parc ferme infringement. The team has appealed the stewards’ decision.

Those issues helped Abba’s Mercedes-AMG shared by Richard and Sam Neary to complete the final top five, Matt Topham and Hugo Cook to finish sixth in Barwell’s second Lamborghini, and the Silver-Am winning Aston Martin – which enjoyed an entertaining scrap with Bridger’s Honda in the opening stint – to come home seventh.

Paddock’s 720S featuring Mark Smith and Martin Plowman took eighth despite a differential issue and damaged floor hindering their performance.

GT4: Brown kick-starts title defence with Optimum performance

He may be racing in a different class this year, but reigning GT4 champion Jack Brown produced a familiar result as he and new co-driver Marc Warren put in a controlled performance to guide their Optimum McLaren to victory.

Despite switching across to Pro-Am for this season, Brown was still able to celebrate his ninth career GT4 win after issues befell the car’s Silver rivals and effectively handed the momentum to the Pro-Am crews.

First, the Mahiki Lotus of Aiden Neate and Josh Miller that was set to start from pole was demoted to the back of the grid for a parc ferme infringement. Then when Harry George and Luca Hopkinson’s Artura suffered gearbox trouble on the opening lap it left the way clear for Warren and Brown to take centre stage.

Warren found himself in an early lead and made the most of it, driving superbly to forge a gap of almost 10 seconds over his pursuers before a Full Course Yellow and resulting Safety Car wrecked his work.

While Warren was comfortable out front, all eyes were on Neate over the early stages as he toiled to bring the #84 Lotus back up the order. He was fifth by lap three, inside the top three by lap 15 and eventually snatched second with a brave move on the brakes into the chicane against Ravi Ramyead’s #71 Century BMW just before the yellow flags came out.

The Safety Car moved Neate right onto Warren’s tail when racing resumed, and he duly completed a back-to-front performance by snatching the lead into Redgate. However, it would be short lived as the car would still have to serve its additional 24 seconds of Silver time in the pits, which handed the initiative back to Optimum.

The leaders pitted together. But Brown rejoined comfortably ahead and eased clear – via fastest lap – to score his second Donington win in as many seasons. Ramyead, meanwhile, swapped with Charlie Robertson who maintained the pair’s comfortable second place despite picking up a five-second penalty for contact under Full Course Yellow.

Ed McDermott and Seb Morris drove a largely flawless race to complete the overall podium and secure British GT’s first-ever Endurance Cup victory in their Team Parker Racing Mercedes-AMG. Team-mates Jon Currie and Phil Keen were next up in the sister car.

Josh Miller took the Mahiki Lotus over from Neate and fought to fifth overall as well as Silver class victory. And Rob Boston Racing’s Porsche shared by Jamie Orton and Will Burns completed the top six despite losing time early on to a drive-through.

British GT returns in three weeks’ time for its blue riband, three-hour enduro: the Silverstone 500.

Results are HERE