British GT4 Donington Park: Will success penalties restrict early pace-setters? 11.08.2020: Intelligent Money British GT Championship Donington Park 15-16 August 2020 Neither of the joint-leading crews won a race at Oulton. Instead, a pair of podiums for Jordan Collard and Patrik Matthiesen, and Jamie Caroline and Daniel Vaughan see th

Intelligent Money British GT Championship
Donington Park
15-16 August 2020


 
Neither of the joint-leading crews won a race at Oulton. Instead, a pair of podiums for Jordan Collard and Patrik Matthiesen, and Jamie Caroline and Daniel Vaughan see the HHC Motorsport and TF Sport drivers enjoy a two-point cushion over the chasing pack.



Second and third for Collard and Matthiesen was perhaps the best they could hope for at a track where TF Sport’s other Aston Martin appeared to have the upper hand all weekend. Nevertheless, it is the Anglo-Danish crew’s consistency that has kept the McLaren on top of the pile. What’s more, their Success Penalty will be five seconds shorter than that of Caroline and Vaughan who finished just ahead of them in Race 2.



The top step was filled by Mia Flewitt and Euan Hankey who lie two points behind the early leaders. Flewitt’s victory was the first by a woman in British GT since Flick Haigh at Brands Hatch in 2018 but one that also carries a caveat of the full 20-second Success Penalty in Race 1. Some of that will be negated by the longer minimum pitstop time served by hers and Hankey’s Silver Cup rivals, while current championship leaders Collard/Matthiesen and Caroline/Vaughan will have an additional 10 and 15-seconds on top of that.


Those factors leave the door ajar for two entries that shone at Oulton and whom will compete time penalty-free on Sunday morning.


Connor O’Brien and Patrick Kibble marked themselves out as firm championship contenders with a pole position, lights-to-flag victory and fastest lap in Oulton’s opener before an accident denied TF Sport’s #95 Aston Martin another strong points’ haul in the second.



Speedworks’ new Toyota Supra also looked the part, and – especially in the hands of Sam Smelt – was frequently O’Brien and Kibble’s closest challenger in terms of raw pace. Indeed, fifth in the early championship standings doesn’t do justice to this entry’s potential.



Likewise Jordan Albert and Matt Cowley whose Academy Mustang – a race winner at Donington last season in the hands of Multimatic – missed out on a likely podium at Oulton. As such, the pair find themselves behind the more consistent Chris Wesemael and Gus Bowers (HHC), and Andrew Gordon-Colebrooke and Ben Hurst (Century).






-Lauren Granville, Tom Hornsby  - photo Jakob Ebrey