Safety cars aid Topham/turner as Williams/fielding fall short
BRANDS HATCH BRITISH GT4 10-11 SEPTEMBER
A second outright victory of the year for Matt Topham and Darren Turner at Brands Hatch has edged them closer to the GT4 title despite the best efforts of chief rivals Richard Williams and Sennan Fielding.
Topham’s Newbridge Motorsport Aston Martin Vantage remained within touching distance during the opening stint having started seventh, as three safety car periods prevented Williams in the polesitting Stellar Motorsport Audi R8 from pulling out a much-needed gap.
Jamie Orton in the Team Parker Porsche 718 Cayman had been the big mover at the start, climbing into second from fourth and proving something of a cork in the bottle as Marco Signoretti (Academy Ford Mustang), Tom Edgar (Toyota Gazoo GR Supra) and Jamie Day (R Racing Aston) all made attempts at passing.
Signoretti fell out of contention with a puncture having been shuffled back in the pack, while Moh Ritson’s Paddock Mclaren was eliminated after being pushed wide at Sheene Curve by Edgar.
The Mclaren suffered wheel damage and Ritson ended his race in the Stirlings gravel a lap later, which necessitated a third safety-car period that only ended two minutes before the GT4 pit window opened.
Williams, Edgar and Topham stopped immediately but, with 14s less to serve due to being a Pro-am pairing, Turner resumed with a gap of 20s over Bobby Trundley in the Team BRIT Mclaren. Fielding, in for Williams, rejoined in a net third place but soon moved ahead of Trundley and progressively closed the gap to Turner.
Day, meanwhile, had stayed out, passing Orton with a neat switchback at Surtees and even took the overall race lead as the GT3 field pitted. Relaying to team-mate Josh Miller towards the end of the pit window,
the car initially dropped to a net fifth place after serving a 20s success penalty.
Rejoining just behind the Porsche of Hopkins, in for Orton, the pair both caught and passed the Mclaren of Trundley in the final 16 minutes – Hopkins out of Clearways and Miller a lap later into Druids.
Out front, Turner was never headed, although Fielding closed the gap to within 5.3s by the flag, despite a hair-raising moment for the Audi driver while being lapped by Marcus Clutton’s Mclaren at Westfield, which resulted in contact. Topham/turner now sit 12.5 points above Williams/fielding in the standings.