Weekly Racing Roundup (10.18.21)

Machitski, Lind Clinch British GT Title

Barwell Motorsport’s Leo Machitski and Dennis Lind finished fourth in mixed conditions at Donington to clinch the Intelligent Money British GT Championship drivers’ title.

They won by 9.5 points over Yelmer Buurman and Ian Loggie, whose RAM Racing Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo finished one place and one second shy of overturning the result.

Marcus Clutton and Morgan Tillbrook earned a maiden British GT victory for McLaren outfit Enduro Motorsport in Sunday’s two-hour race.

The start was held in wet conditions that saw the and pole-sitting WPI Motorsport Lamborghini Huracan GT3 Evo spin out of title contention.

Richard Neary assumed the opening-stint lead in Team Abba Racing’s Mercedes-AMG, ahead of Loggie and Tillbrook with Machitski running further back.

A 10-second success penalty at the pit stops, during which the field took slick tires, dropped Loggie’s co-driver Buurman further behind Sam Neary in the leading Mercedes.

Clutton, in for Tillbrook, increased the pressure on Buurman and overtook the Dutchman before claiming the lead from Neary with a move at Goddards.

Buurman also got past Neary while Lind’s Lamborghini had risen to fourth, but the RAM driver needed to take two more positions to capture the championship.

Buurman was shaping up for a move on Clutton in the closing minutes of the race, only for a stranded GT4 car to lead into a safety car period that froze the positions and confirmed Machitski and Lind as champions.

Will Moore and Matt Cowley won the GT4 race in their Ford Mustang while Darren Turner and Matt Topham secured the category’s Pro-Am title with an Aston Martin.

RESULTS: Donington / Standings

***Round four of the GT Super Sprint Challenge was held at Zhuhai last weekend. David Pun won the opener in an X Works-prepared Audi R8 LMS GT3 Evo before finishing second to his teammate ‘Riokonig’ in the second bout. Race 1 / Race 2

***Over at Shanghai, the China GT Championship was also in action. FAW VW Audi Racing and Mercedes-AMG squad TORO Racing shared out the wins in the former series. Race 1 / Race 2

***Jacob Ruud rounded off an impressive TC America TCX campaign by sweeping the final weekend of the season at Indianapolis. Caleb Bacon took the TCA title with second in Race 2, while Eric Powell became TC champion. Race 1 / Race 2

***Round two of the Le Mans Virtual Series saw Team Redline win both the prototype and GT classes in the 6 Hours of Spa. Bono Huis, Atze Kerkhof and Felix Rosenqvist prevailed over entries from ByKolles and Rebellion-Williams. Sim racing specialists Kevin Siggy, Enzo Bonito and Rudy van Buren triumphed in GTE. Results

***Emmanuel Collard and Charly Samani won the four-hour GT endurance race at Magny-Cours as part of the latest Ultimate Cup Series weekend. The Racetivity Mercedes-AMG GT3 pair won by 42 seconds from Renault RS.01 drivers Stephane Tribaudini and Franck Dezoteux.

***Fanatec GT World Challenge Europe powered by AWS Endurance Cup driver Valdemar Eriksen claimed his third Danish Endurance Championship won of the season driving an Audi R8 LMS GT3.

***United Autosports has announced one of its Michelin Le Mans Cup pairings for 2022, with father and son Shaun and Max Lynn teaming up for a season in a Ligier JS P320 Nissan. Max is the brother of 2020 Le Mans GTE-Pro class winner Alex Lynn.

***Several extra entries have bolstered the International GT Open grid for this weekend’s season finale at Barcelona. AF Corse has two Ferraris listed, including one for 2012 Rolex 24 at Daytona winner Oswaldo Negri Jr. and single-make competitor Jay Schreibman. Olimp Racing is also bringing a Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo and an Audi R8 LMS GT3 Evo.

***Aston Martin will be represented at this weekend’s ADAC GT Masters round courtesy of an entry from PROSport. Last year’s DTM Trophy champion Tim Heinemann and Salman Owega, 16, will share the wheel.

On this weekend: European Le Mans Series, Michelin Le Mans Cup (Portimao), Super GT (Autopolis), ADAC GT Masters (Hockenheim), International GT Open (Barcelona)