Snetterton Race 2: Tse and Götz claim dominant victory as Ramyead and Robertson bounce back in GT4

2 Seas' Kevin Tse and Maximilian Götz overcame seven seconds of Compensation Time to triumph for the second year in succession at Snetterton, while Ravi Ramyead and Charlie Robertson bounced back from their Race 1 penalty to win the second 60-minute contest and reduce Optimum's GT4 championship lead.

Götz, starting from pole, was 6.4 seconds clear of Marvin Kirchhöfer when both pitted together. That should have given Optimum's McLaren a slight advantage, but it was the Mercedes-AMG that emerged just ahead before pulling clear.

Kirchhöfer's co-driver Morgan Tillbrook resisted Alex Martin until the final five minutes when Barwell's Lamborghini finally found a way past. His co-driver, Sandy Mitchell, had spent the first half of the race bottled up behind the same 720S that ultimately dropped to fourth behind Rob Collard and Hugo Cook's Barwell Lamborghini. Giacomo Petrobelli and Jonny Adam (Blackthorn) got ahead of the McLaren on the road, but a penalty for contact set them back to fifth.

Further back, Century's BMW took full advantage of its Compensation Time-free race to claim a dominant GT4 victory. Robertson never looked back after passing Jack Mitchell's Mahiki Ginetta on lap two before Ramyead completed the job after the pitstops.

Their championship hopes were also aided by Optimum's Marc Warren and Jack Brown serving a one-second stop-go penalty for a short pitstop as well as the maximum Compensation Time. Mahiki's Ian Duggan and Joe Wheeler finished second overall and third in Pro-Am, while Silver victory and third outright narrowly went the way of Century's Branden Templeton and Chris Salkeld.

GT3: 2 Seas at the double

Götz and Tse completed a dream weekend for the 2 Seas team, scoring the Mercedes-AMG squad’s second lights-to-flag victory of the day.

After his impressive displays throughout the weekend, the safe money was on Götz when starting from pole and the German made no mistakes, bolting when the lights went out to lead the pack through Riches before establishing an early advantage over Kirchhöfer’s Optimum McLaren.

With seven seconds of Compensation Time to overturn, Götz got the hammer down and managed to erode much of the penalty before pitting for Tse. A clean swap got the car back out in front, but only just ahead of Tillbrook, who had taken over the McLaren from Kirchhöfer.

Tillbrook initially looked like he’d pressure Tse through traffic but ultimately had no answer to the Mercedes-AMG, which eventually toured clear to secure the win. Tillbrook then gradually fell back into the clutches of Martin’s Barwell Lamborghini. Kirchhöfer had successfully resisted Martin’s team-mate Mitchell in the first half, and Tillbrook looked like following that example by holding firm for lap after lap until Martin found a gap alongside into Agostini before completing the pass at Hamilton.

Tillbrook then found himself duelling with the sister Lamborghini of Collard, who also dive-bombed his way past through Agostini/Hamilton to snatch the final podium place in the closing moments. Subtle contact from the Aston Martin of Petrobelli then tipped Tillbrook around through Oggies, dropping the #77 to fifth on the road, however the places were reversed post-race, meaning Tillbrook at least salvaged fourth.

Sven Müller and Nick Jones were sixth despite Jones having a grassy moment at Riches during his own fight with Collard and Petrobelli. Simon Orange/Marcus Clutton’s Orange Racing McLaren was seventh after having a penalty for contact rescinded, while Race 1 winners Charles Dawson and Kiern Jewiss beat both maximum Compensation Time and a 10-second penalty for an out-of-position start to bag seventh, limiting the points damage.

GT4: Smooth sailing for Century

Race 1 may have brought its troubles for Robertson and Ramyead but there would be no errors second time around as the Century BMW crew secured a comfortable GT4 victory.

It marked the pair’s third win of the season, and their second consecutive year of winning at Snetterton. It also means that nobody other than Robertson/Ramyead and Optimum’s Marc Warren/Jack Brown has won a GT4 race outright this year. 

Jack Mitchell started the #84 Mahiki Ginetta on pole but was powerless to resist Robertson, who powered around the outside of Brundle to assume the lead on lap two. From there Robertson kept things clean and the car’s advantage was boosted as trouble struck his pursuers one by one.

The #71 BMW led by 1.6s by the time the pit window opened and Mitchell stopped first to try and undercut. However, a short stop while handing to Josh Miller earned the car a drive-through. A similar fate befell the points-leading McLaren when Brown handed to Warren, with the Optimum crew also having to make an additional pit visit for a penalty.

Then the sister Ginetta of Blake Angliss/Steven Lake that had run fourth early on but inherited second amid the chaos picked up its own drive-through for track limits infringements. That all left Ramyead an entire lap clear by the finish, with Ian Duggan and Joe Wheeler claiming second for Mahiki ahead of Silver winners Chris Salkeld and Branden Templeton (Century BMW).

Luca Hopkinson and Harry George were fourth in their Optimum McLaren, ahead of the recovering Miller/Mitchell Ginetta and Warren/Brown, who now lead the championship by a reduced 23.5-point margin.

The British GT Championship is next in action at Brands Hatch over the weekend of August 23/24.

Results are HERE