STELLER SEASON FOR FIELDING AND WILLIAMS
Despite numerous setbacks, the British GT4 crown went the way of Audi pairing Sennan Fielding and Richard Williams
Apoints deficit, success penalty and positions to be gained created an uphill challenge for the Steller Motorsport pairing of Sennan Fielding and Richard Williams at the British GT Donington Park finale.
A constant battle to the end was a fitting way for the duo to take the British GT4 title, the pairing having generally been the class of the field in their Audi R8 LMS. But “lots of little things”, according to Fielding, meant they trailed the Newbridge Motorsport Aston Martin Vantage of Darren Turner and Matt Topham on points heading into the final round.
“I feel like we’ve been so fast all year and then we’ve just had some slight misfortune throughout which has been really frustrating,” adds Fielding. “I feel like outright pace we’ve had a slight advantage. We’ve always been up front; the car’s been unbelievable.”
They did things the hard way from the outset, with victory in the opening round at Oulton Park coming after a Fielding fightback, which became something of a theme during the season. Williams led after briefly dropping to second, but a short mandatory pitstop meant the car had to serve a penalty before Fielding hunted down Ross Wylie for the win. They doubled up in the sequel, in which Fielding got the jump on polesitter Turner at the start before the crew were helped when a red flag annulled their pitstop success penalty, but only after a successful appeal to the UK National Court.
Although there were a further four podiums over the season, incredibly there were no more wins since at each meeting the duo had to overcome a setback. They were never able to negate the pitstop disadvantage of being an all-silver pairing at Silverstone and finished third, while the Pro-am pairing of Turner and Topham won after serving 14s less at all three stops.
It was the same situation at Brands Hatch, where safety cars meant Williams was unable to build a big enough gap for Fielding to rejoin in the lead and he followed Turner home.
There were also low points in the middle of the season – they
finished eighth on the first visit to Donington after Williams spun from the lead in the opening laps, while there was a non-score in the second Snetterton race due to a post-race penalty after they were caught speeding in the pitlane.
Victory looked assured at Spa but, with Fielding on the cusp of taking the lead, the team was again hit with a penalty for a short pitstop. After dropping down the order, he charged back through to overtake both Tom Edgar and Turner on the final lap to finish fourth.
It was another scintillating performance from Fielding, who had shown similar brilliance a month earlier in the opening race at Snetterton. The Steller Audi suffered a gearbox problem shortly before the start, meaning Williams started from the pits and made steady progress before relaying to Fielding. He rejoined ninth and moved up to third on the road – which became second post-race – culminating in an incredible pass on Turner into Riches, which included using the pit exit and making door-to-door contact.
“He’s a person I’ve looked up to for years and to be racing against him, I’ve got so much respect for him, but when you’re out on track everyone is the same,” enthuses Fielding. “I’ll always race fair and after we came together, we shook hands. So yeah, it was a good moment – to be fair I was quite proud of that move, and to pull it off on him made it a little bit more rewarding.”
Turner and Topham made good on their potential from last year, with the Am putting in a good defensive drive in the second Oulton race to finish runner-up before the wins at Silverstone and Brands Hatch, as well as podiums in both Snetterton outings.
Scoring points in every race put the Aston pair in the pound seat for the Donington finale, 12.5 points ahead, but they never featured in the two-hour race. Topham struggled to keep pace during the opening stint while also picking up a safety car infringement penalty, meaning Turner rejoined well down the order. While the three-time Le Mans 24 Hours class winner failed to make progress – he finished seventh – it was the opposite for Fielding, who took over from Williams in fourth and once again needing to make up places.
“We knew we had to push 100%, every lap was a qualifying lap,” says Fielding of his final Donington stint, where he passed Moh Ritson and Jamie Day to finish second and claim the title. “I thought whoever is in front of me I’m going to get past by hook or by crook and thankfully we did that. I’m chuffed to bits to win this championship with this team. They deserve it more than anyone.”
Arguably the surprise of the season was Day and fellow British GT rookie and R Racing Vantage team-mate Josh Miller. The pair secured two wins, the first at Snetterton making them the youngest winners in the championship on combined age after on-the-road victors Jamie Orton/seb Hopkins (Team Parker Porsche 718
Cayman) were penalised for a collision. A further victory followed at Spa, and they too headed to the final round with an outside shot of the title, but third was not quite enough.
Matt Cowley and British GT newbie Marco Signoretti took the top step with the Academy Motorsport Ford Mustang on the first visit to Donington, but lacked consistency to mount a title tilt, Signoretti also taken out from the lead at Snetterton by Hopkins. Reigning
GT4 champion Will Burns and Century Motorsport BMW M4 team-mate Jack Brown finished in the points at every race but took only three podiums, Brown overtaking Topham for their sole win at the second Snetterton race.
Edgar and Jordan Collard finally delivered on flashes of speed with Toyota Gazoo, guiding their GR Supra to victory at the final race, with not even Fielding able to close the gap.
“I THOUGHT WHOEVER IS IN FRONT OF ME I’M GOING TO GET PAST BY HOOK OR BY CROOK”