The weather did its best to put a dampener on the opening rounds of the British GT Championship at Oulton Park, but Fulbeck’s Shaun Balfe came away with two class wins writes Peter Scherer.
Balfe shared his Garage 59 McLaren 720 GTS GT3 with Adam Smalley as the pair geared up for a busy race weekend.
Testing and free practice sessions had been hampered by showers and red flags, so Balfe had very little time in the car before the short sharp qualifying session.
It was wet for Easter Monday’s warm up and the start of the race, with Balfe taking the opening stint in fourth position after another car had to withdraw from the race after sustaining damage in the warm-up.
Balfe set about chasing Alex Martin’s Lamborghini for third place before the lead trio started to escape.
After changing drivers, Smalley emerged behind Tom Gamble in the Radcliffe McLaren.
Much of the race was under caution, ending with a three-lap sprint to the flag, netting the pair fifth overall, but crossing as Silver-Am Class winners.
The second race was soon under caution too, with Smalley starting from fifth.
The sun began to shine, and having made the stops after 15 laps, the Garage 59 crew managed to get Balfe back on track, having
made up two places.
However, hopes of catching Iain Loggie’s Mercedes for third were dashed, when a combination of full course yellow flags and safety
car took them right to the flag.
Fourth place saw the pair net a second win in the Silver- Am Class.
Shaun’s son Tom made his seasonal debut in the Ginetta Academy finishing within the top ten in several of the day’s races despite a collision.
Both Shaun and Tom will be back in action again at Silverstone at the end of the month.
