Ferraris won both British GT Championship races at Snetterton over the Bank Holiday weekend as Chad Racing and MTECH shared the spoils.
With Chris Hyman unavailable due to business commitments, Chad Racing made the decision to pair his regular partner Dan Brown with Tom Ferrier at the Norfolk circuit and the move paid off handsomely as the pair dominated an action-packed race 1.
Brown qualified third behind the Preci-Spark Ascari of reigning champions David and Godfrey Jones and the Rollcentre Mosler of Gregor Fisken and Martin Short, but was into the lead by lap 2.
From then on, the 18-year-old simply drove away from his rivals and had a 12-second lead when he handed over to Ferrier midway through the race.
Having stayed out longer before his stop, Short led for 8 laps having earlier passed David Jones, but when he handed over to Fisken the Scottish driver rejoined just behind Ferrier who quickly pulled out a big lead.
That advantage was wiped out soon after when the third-placed MTECH Ferrari of Duncan Cameron suffered a spectacular puncture, leaving tyre debris all across the track and necessitating the Safety Car to be deployed.
Ferrier, however, nailed his restart as the race went green and pulled away to win by 10.4 seconds from the Rosso Verde Ferrari shared by Hector Lester and Allan Simonsen.
Simonsen had climbed through the field after taking over the car from his team-mate, but was later reprimanded for his move on Fisken which netted him third. Nevertheless, he pursued the Predator CCTV Ferrari of Adam Wilcox, who had also passed Fisken a few laps earlier, and when Wilcox suffered a mechanical problem near the end of the race, the Australian inherited second.
Third place went to the RPM Ford GT of Philip Walker and Alex Mortimer, with championship leaders David Ashburn and Glynn Geddie fourth in the Trackspeed Porsche and the Barwell-Cadena Aston Martin of Paul Whight and Michael Bentwood fifth. Fisken managed to hold on for sixth, although the Mosler stopped short of the finish line after losing drive.
Race 2 saw Cameron and team-mate Matt Griffin bounce back from their earlier disappointment with a third win of the season, the MTECH pair leading for all but four of the 100 mile race.
Griffin powered past Wilcox into Riches on the opening lap and although he never extended his advantage beyond six seconds, Cameron took over with the car still ahead and brought it home to the finish.
Simonsen was up to second at the time of the pit stops, but after handing to Lester the Rosso Verde car steadily dropped down the field with Brown moving past to finish second and the Jones brothers’ Ascari netting third after late moves on both Lester and Phil Burton in the Predator CCTV Ferrari.
Short charged through the field to finish fourth ahead of the Wilcox/Burton and Simonsen/Lester Ferraris, although it was his team-mate Fisken who picked up the Sunoco Driver of the weekend for his efforts.
Ashburn and Geddie, hampered by the success ballast that comes with leading the championship, suffered badly in the second race and finished outside the points in ninth.
The G4 class was dominated by the Century Motorsport Ginetta G50 of Benji and Freddie Hetherington which won both races.
British GT Championship results – Rounds 9 & 10, Snetterton
Round 9
1 Chad Racing, Tom Ferrier / Dan Brown, Ferrari 430 Scuderia, 50 laps 1:00.03.22 (GT3)
2 Rosso Verde, Hector Lester / Allan Simonsen, Ferrari 430 Scuderia, +10.455 (GT3)
3 RPM, Alex Mortimer / Phillip Walker, Ford GT, +12.173 (GT3)
4 Trackspeed, Glynn Geddie / David Ashburn, Porsche 997 GT3R, +15.265 (GT3)
5 Barwell-Cadena, Michael Bentwood / Paul Whight, Aston Martin DBRS9, +17.650 (GT3)
6 Rollcentre, Gregor Fisken / Martin Short, Mosler MT900R, +1 lap (GT3)
7 GT3 Racing, Craig Wilkins / Aaron Scott, Dodge Viper Competition, +1 lap (GT3)
8 MTECH, Duncan Cameron / Matt Griffin, Ferrari 430 Scuderia, +2 laps (GT3)
9 Predator CCTV Racing, Adam Wilcox / Phil Burton, Ferrari 430 Scuderia, +3 laps (GT3)
10 Century Motorsport, Freddie Hetherington / Benji Hetherington, Ginetta G50, +3 laps (G4)
11 Century Motorsport, Nathan Freke / Vibe Smed, Ginetta G50, +3 laps (G4)
12 Team Osborne Racing, Joe Osborne / Rob Brown, Ginetta G50, +3 laps (G4)
13 Speedworks Motorsport, Christian Dick / Jamie Stanley, Ginetta G50, +4 laps (G4)
14 Appleby Engineering, Ant Scragg / James Appleby, Aston Martin GT4, +4 laps (G4)
15 Peter Smith, Peter Smith / Matt Smith, Ginetta G50 Modified, +7 laps (Inv)
Not classified
Preci Spark, Godfrey Jones / David Jones, Ascari KZ1R GT3, 15 laps (GT3)
Round 10
1 MTECH, Duncan Cameron / Matt Griffin, Ferrari 430 Scuderia, 52 laps, 1:00.50.663 (GT3)
2 Chad Racing, Tom Ferrier / Dan Brown, Ferrari 430 Scuderia, +3.999 (GT3)
3 Preci Spark, Godfrey Jones / David Jones, Ascari KZ1R GT3, +20.747 (GT3)
4 Rollcentre, Gregor Fisken / Martin Short, Mosler MT900R, +27.057(GT3)
5 Predator CCTV Racing, Adam Wilcox / Phil Burton, Ferrari 430 Scuderia, +30.322 (GT3)
6 Rosso Verde, Hector Lester / Allan Simonsen, Ferrari 430 Scuderia, +32.284 (GT3)
7 RPM, Alex Mortimer / Phillip Walker, Ford GT, +53.394 (GT3)
8 GT3 Racing, Craig Wilkins / Aaron Scott, Dodge Viper Competition, +1:13.095 (GT3)
9 Trackspeed, Glynn Geddie / David Ashburn, Porsche 997 GT3R, +1 lap (GT3)
10 Barwell-Cadena, Michael Bentwood / Paul Whight, Aston Martin DBRS9, +1 lap (GT3)
11 Century Motorsport, Freddie Hetherington / Benji Hetherington, Ginetta G50, +3 laps (G4)
12 Speedworks Motorsport, Christian Dick / Jamie Stanley, Ginetta G50, +4 laps (G4)
13 Century Motorsport, Nathan Freke / Vibe Smed, Ginetta G50, +4 laps (G4)
14 Appleby Engineering, Ant Scragg / James Appleby, Aston Martin GT4, +4 laps (G4)
15 Peter Smith, Peter Smith / Matt Smith, Ginetta G50 Modified, +5 laps (Inv)
Not classified
Team Osborne Racing, Joe Osborne / Rob Brown, Ginetta G50, 0 laps (G4)
Championship Standings (after 10 rounds)
1 David Ashburn, 77pts
2 Matt Griffin, 57
= Duncan Cameron, 57
4 Glynn Geddie, 51
5 Hector Lester, 45
6 Allan Simonsen, 43
7 Tom Ferrier, 33
8 Philip Walker, 32
9 David Jones, 30
= Godfrey Jones, 30
= Alex Mortimer, 30
Next round(s): 26 September, Brands Hatch
Watch 1-hour British GT highlights from Snetterton on Sunday 12 September at 8:45pm (BST) on Motors TV.
Andy Wilkinson
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