The Courier & Advertiser (Angus and Dundee)
Fife racing star gets British GT title defence off to the perfect start at Brands Hatch -
Jonny Adam made the perfect start to his British GT title defence at a sunny Brands Hatch circuit in a bright weekend for Courier Country racers.
Fife star Adam and Derek Johnston qualified the TF Sport Aston Martin Vantage GT3 third for the challenge on the GP layout, but in an incident-packed two-hour race proved to be the class of the field.
Johnston took the opening stint, handing over to 31-year-old Adam who brought the Aston home ahead of the AMD Tuning BMW Z4 and the pole-sitting Bentley Continental GT3 of Rick Parfitt Jr and Seb Morris.
“We’re absolutely delighted to get the win, it’s a great start to the season,” said Adam.
The Brands opener also saw a piece of championship history made by Angus youngster Sandy Mitchell, who at just 16 became the youngest ever driver to line-up on a British GT race grid.
Dundee High School youngster Mitchell and fellow Scot Ciaran Haggerty also gave the new Black Bull Ecurie Ecosse McLaren 570S GT4 its global race baptism and capped a fine weekend to bring the machine home sixth in the GT4 field.
From a qualifying position of seventh, 2014 British junior karting champion Mitchell ran the car as high as fourth in the opening stint before a dramatic accident brought out yellow flags prior to his handover to 19-yearold Haggerty.
“We have a few small problems in practice but that’s to be expected with a new car and got them sorted out for the race,” Sandy said.
“From the start the car felt really quick and sixth is a good solid result for the first race, with a few things we can work on for the next round,” he said.
Rockingham stages the next round at the end of the month.