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TF Sport Wins Race 2 as Barwell Penalized

Jonny Adam, Derek Johnston take first British GT win in 13 months…

Photo: British GT

Derek Johnston and Jonny Adam won the second British GT Championship race at Snetterton for TF Sport as Jon Minshaw served a drive-through penalty in the final five minutes.

The No. 1 Aston Martin Vantage GT3 started third with Jonny Adam at the wheel, and the Scot briefly took the lead around the outside of the first corner before Barwell Motorsport’s Phil Keen took back the position. 

The Race 1 winner and championship leader held onto the top position for the remainder of his stint, with Minshaw coming out in the lead having taken over the No. 33 Lamborghini Huracan GT3. 

With no success penalty to serve and the Barwell car facing 10 seconds in added time owing to its win earlier in the day, Johnston had looked set to exit the pits in the lead.

However, a stalled Ginetta G55 GT4 blocked his exit from the pits, allowing Minshaw to make his way past.

Later in the race it was revealed that the Barwell car’s pit stop was too short, with Minshaw forced to serve a drive-through penalty as a result.

He came out of the pit lane seventh, while Johnston inherited the lead ahead of Liam Griffin in the sister No. 6 Barwell Lamborghini he shared with Sam Tordoff.

This marks Johnston and Adam’s first British GT win since Rockingham last year and ties Adam for most GT3 wins in the series.

“At last!” Adam said. “The record’s been a long time coming. But at the start I knew I had to pass at least one of the Lambos because their race pace is so fast and Phil’s qualifying lap was pretty special.

“I’m not sure how much time we lost in the pits but at least we were in a position to push Barwell into an error. Derek’s probably the happiest guy in the pitlane just now!

“All of my victories have been in Astons – nine in this baby and two in the DBRS9 is a nice personal achievement, but we’re focused on the championship and desperately trying to claw points back against Barwell.”

Mark Farmer came through to complete the podium in the other TF Sport Aston Martin, while Rick Parfitt and Seb Morris were fourth.

A controversial move by Morris shunted Matt Griffin into the pit lane exit at the start, dropping both the No. 31 Team Parker Racing Bentley Continental GT3 and Spirit of Race Ferrari 488 GT3 down the order.

Duncan Cameron could only achieve seventh in the Ferrari, while Morris later served a drive-through penalty for the contact.

Sandy Mitchell and Ciaran Haggerty were victorious in GT4 meanwhile, having moved up from fourth to first in class following a safety car restart.

Alex Reed took second in the Lanan Racing Ginetta, 11 seconds behind Mitchell’s No. 100 Garage 59 McLaren 570S GT4.

Third position went the way of Tolman Motorsport after a dominant first stint from Joe Osborne. 

An incident in the closing stages sent Will Tregurtha’s HHC Motorsport Ginetta into the barriers from second position, after the team won the first race of the weekend.

Contact between Callum Macleod and Jacob Mathiassen in the No. 7 Team Parker Bentley and No. 43 Century Motorsport Ginetta G55 GT4, respectively, ultimately took both cars out of the running.

Macleod later parker the Bentley on the side of the track, with the safety car eventually coming out for a few laps to collect the stricken car.

RESULTS: Race 2

Jake Kilshaw is a UK-based journalist. He is a graduate of Politics and International Relations.

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