Victory for team Webb as BMW returns in style at Snetterton.
James Webb held on for victory in Group GTA as his BMW M3 GTR despite a last-lap pass by James Reveler at a baking-hot Snetterton. With engine problems troubling the BMW to start this season, Webb returned in style, despite the constant attention of Reveler’s Ginetta, which Webb had to re-pass coming out of the final corner for the win.
“It was a bit of a strange one because we were kind of similar with the cars ahead, but I couldn’t quite push through them,” said Webb. “I was trying to manage the gap and try not to put them off too much, so they didn’t lose any more time and just try and manage cooling temperatures which were getting a bit high as well. It got a bit hairy towards the end when they really started scrapping.”
The overall victory as well as in Group GTO went the way of Gareth Downing in the National Motorsport Academy Mosler, capping a great start to the season for the team. “Everything was good, we had to try and manage oil temperature and water temperature, so we couldn’t afford to be in the traffic, even backmarkers,” said Downing.
“It was just trying to maintain it and not do anything silly. The track got slippery, the tyres started to go, so it would be quite easy to lock up and go straight on, but it was about trying to maintain concentration and just keep going.”
John Seale battled with the fellow Ferrari 488 Challenge of John Dhillon for the lead of Group GTC on this hot afternoon, before the latter was given a drive through penalty. “It was even hotter in the car than it was out of it!” said Seale. “I got a good start and from then on it was all about just keeping the pace. I’m definitely enjoying myself; it’s a great championship to be a part of.”
Topcats Racing’s Warren Gilbert fought the heat inside the car for the win in Group GTB, handing the Marcos Mantis another victory in 2018, despite a final lap scare. “It was a good start, I got the jump on the Porsche and the BMW I think, and kept the BMW behind,” he said. The Porsche was pretty quick, but we got past it in the end, and then the tyres were finished.
“The Mosler had done a quick lap on the last lap, it got across the line with 5 seconds to spare and I backed off as I thought it was going to be the last lap. I judged it perfectly to have them all behind me, and then saw there was another lap, so the Porsche got back past me. It was a great race!”
Adam Hatfield fought back from a drive-through penalty to claim the win in Group GTH. “I started off really well, got a really good start and just tried to manage the gap as well as I could from there. Unfortunately, I got a drive-through penalty which cost us a lot of time,” he said. “But we got lucky, we inherited the win back through some other people’s misfortune, but I’ll take them how they come.”
Results:
Group GTO
1 – Gareth Downing – National Motorsport Academy (Mosler MT900)
2 – Nigel Hudson – JMH Automotive / HUD Motorsports (Aston Martin Vantage GT3)
3 – David Krayem – Speedtec Motorsport (Dodge Viper GT3)
Group GTC
1 – John Seale – FF Corse (Ferrari 488 Challenge)
2 – Paul Bailey – Horse Power Racing / SB Race Engineering (Ferrari 488 Challenge)
3 – John Dhillon – FF Corse (Ferrari 488 Challenge)
Group GTB
1 – Warren Gilbert – Topcats Racing (Marcos Mantis)
2 – Chris Car – G-Cat Racing (Porsche 911 GT3 Cup Gen I)
Group GTH
1 – Adam Hatfield – Whitebridge Motorsport (Aston Martin Vantage GT4)
2 – Steve Ruston – JMH Automotive (Ginetta G55 GT4)
3 – David Holloway – Century Motorsport (Ginetta G55 GT4)
Group GTA
1 – James Webb – Team Webb (BMW M3 GTR)
2 – James Reveler – Topcats Racing (Ginetta G55 GT4)
3 – Mike Jarvis – Want2Race (Ginetta G55)
