British GT Championship – Round Two

It was a frustrating weekend for Academy Motorsport in the second round of the British GT Championship at Snetterton this weekend (18th – 19th May). Tough competition once again saw the two-car team tested as the battle for GT4 supremacy continued.

Following a challenging qualifying session, in which both of the team’s Aston Martin Vantage GT4 race cars recorded competitive lap times, race one was soon upon us.

Set under an overcast sky, the first hour long crusade got underway, with Ben Hurst and Alex Toth-Jones taking charge of the opening stint in their respective cars.

As the race began to find its rhythm, sadly Toth-Jones’ race came to an end after just three laps, following a collision with the Invictus Games Racing Jaguar F-Type. With one car remaining, the team’s attentions turned to that of Ben Hurst.

When the pit stop window came into play at mid-distance, a strong performance from Hurst saw him make use of others pitting. Upon making his stop, Hurst had progressed 13 places from his grid position, before handing over to team-mate Micah Stanley. A solid effort from Stanley in the second half saw the pair finish just shy of a top 10 result.

The second outing was challenging once more. Whilst Toth-Jones and Will Moore succeeded to reach the chequered flag this time around, difficulties befell the sister car of Stanley and Hurst.

A victim of another driver’s incident, Stanley was forced to retire following unsustainable damage to his GT4 machine.

As the rain started to make an appearance, the chequered flag came into sight, bringing to a close the second round of this competitive championship.

Commenting on the weekend, Academy Motorsport’s Managing Director, Matt Nicoll-Jones said: “It’s been a trying weekend for us all here at Snetterton. To have each car miss out on finishing a race was hard, especially given the amount of work everyone has put in.

“All four drivers performed brilliantly once again. Hopefully we can get the results everyone deserves at the next round.”
The third round of the British GT Championship takes place at Silverstone during 8th-9th June, for what will be a three-hour race. However, before that, the team will head to Paul Ricard for the third round of the GT4 European Series.