British GT: Loggie and Williams/Fielding win championship at Donington Decider

RAM Racing’s Ian Loggie secured the GT3 British GT Championship at the Donington Decider as Steller Motorsport’s Richard Williams and Sennan Fielding secure the GT4 title.

How the race unfolded…

Team ABBA Racing Richard Neary got a fantastic start as the lights went out to keep the lead into the opening corner, ahead of Orange Racing’s Simon Orange who was sat in second place.

However, there was early drama as Century Motorsport’s Darren Leung broke mid-corner which caught Enduro Motorsport’s Morgan Tillbrook unaware, and the McLaren rear-ended the BMW M4.

This left no other option but for RAM Racing’s Ian Loggie and Barwell Mototsport’s Adam Balon to take a visit across gravel to avoid the carnage at the first corner.

Tillbrook and Leung were soon put under investigation for the incident. It was soon found that Tilbrook was at fault and the McLaren driver was soon given a stop/go penalty by race control.

The McLaren served his penalty as the session crossed over the 10 minute mark.

As a result, Loggie had to gingerly return to the circuit and fight through the field. After his visit across the gravel, the work Loggie had made to get back to the front was soon invalidated as the Briton lost his rear tyres under acceleration which rotated his Mercedes-AMG around at the pit lane entry line.

Fortunately, the championship leader was able to continue on.

Paddock Motorsport’s Mark Smith and Greystone GT’s Stewart Proctor became the first retirements of the race as the latter faced the wrong way. Contact was made between the two drivers as they entered the turn 9 and 10 chicane (the Esses), this rotated Proctor around on the exit.

Smith tried to avoid contact, but the Paddock driver couldn’t escape the stranded Greystone McLaren. The Paddock’s front left bumper smashed the rear-left of the Greystone.

Both drivers were able to return to the pit lane but they soon retired. As a result of the debris littered across the circuit, the safety car was soon deployed, with 1 hour-30 minutes remaining.

This bunched the pack back up, and brought the championship leader back into contention to solidfy his title. The race was quickly back underway thanks to the quick work of the Marshals.

On the opening laps, after the restart, 2 Seas Motorsport’s James Cottingham made a mistake, cut across the grass and collected a Pirelli advertising board as he returned to the circuit.

Cottingham quickly returned to the pitlane to remove the polystyrene from his front grill that had latched onto the Mercedes-AMG. However, as he peeled back out onto the track, the mechanics removed most of the polystyrene but one small piece remained.  

Team Parker’s Jamie Orton became the race’s first GT4 retirement, third overall, as the first hour closed in on its 45-minute mark. This came after Team Rocket’s Simon Watts collided into the side of Orton which spun his Porsche 718 Cayman into the barrier.

With 1 hour and 10 minutes remaining, the race leader Neary pulled off to the side of the circuit, on the grass verge, at turns one, two and three. It was reported the Mercedes driver had a drivetrain issue.

On the hour mark, Kavi Jundu became the first driver to pit from the race – and the first for the GT4 drivers – to complete their driver swap. As a result this spurred on a flurry of action down the pit lane as the GT4 race leader, Toyota Gazoo Racing’s Tom Edgar jumped into the pit lane.

The GT3 drivers, Orange, Tillbrook and Loggie quickly joined suit and peeled into the pit lane three minutes later. 

After the pit stops, Barwell Motorsport’s Sandy Mitchell’s (Balon’s partner) rear bumper slightly kissed the front bumper of Enduro Motorsports’ Marcus Clutton (Tillbrooks partner) at the Melbourn Hairpin (turn 11). As a result of the contact, the body work of the Barwell Lamborghini started to rub against the rear-left tyre and Mitchell had to yield his track position to Clutton.

With 45 minutes remaining on the clock, the safety car was redeployed back on track – seemingly for the amount of debris littered across the circuit. 

With 38-minutes left, the race finally got back underway as the barriers were repaired and debris was cleared. As the race restarted, Century Motorsport’s Alexander Sims (Leung’s teammate) led the pack ahead of RAM Racing’s Jules Gounon (Loggie’s partner) and Clutton, in P2 and P3 respectively. 

Despite Gounon’s best efforts, as the session entered the final 10 minutes, the RAM Racing driver wasn’t able to force Sims into an unforced error as they worked their way through GT4 backmarkers. In the final moments, Sims remained out in the lead ahead of Gounon and Clutton who were P2 and P3 respectively. 

Whereas, in the GT4 championship, Toyota Gazoo Racing’s Jordan Collard remained out in front – contributing to his teammates (Edgar) hard work on his first stint, ahead of Steller Motorsport’s Sennan Fielding, in second, and R Racing’s Jamie Day – in third.

GT3 top three:

1. Adam Balon/Alexander Sims, Century Motorsport
2. Ian Loggie/Jules Gounon, RAM Racing
3. Morgan Tillbrook/Marcus Clutton, 

GT4 top three: 

1. Tom Edgar/Jordan Collard, Toyota Gazoo Racing
2. Richard Williams/Sennan Fielding, Steller Motorsport
3. Josh Miller/Jamie Day, R Racing

That’s it for the article: British GT: Loggie and Williams/Fielding win championship at Donington Decider! What was your favourite moment of Loggie’s, Williams’ and Fielding’s championship-winning season? Let us know in the comments!

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