Collard pairing secures first win of 2024 British GT at wet Oulton Park

Feature Image Credit: British GT Championship

Rob Collard and Ricky Collard at Barwell Motorsport secured the first win of the British GT season at a very wet Oulton Park despite a confusing decision over penalties. 

The rain had fallen ahead of the opening race of the British GT season, at Oulton Park, which meant the safety car started proceedings at the Cheshire circuit. 

Rob Collard led the pack to green flag conditions, in their GT3 Lamborghini Huracan, after securing pole position on Saturday to get the race – and season – officially underway. 

However, the Barwell Lamborghini was slapped with an option of two penalties in the dying embers; a drive-through penalty or an extra 30 seconds on their race time. 

Race control soon retracted their penalty which allowed the Collard duo to secure their first win of the 2024 championship, in the double-headed race at Oulton Park. 

How the race unfolded…

Whilst Collard led the pack to the start, there was immediate drama at the opening corner. The #32 Audi R8 of J&S Racing rotated around at turn one and spun out but fortunately, Sach Kakad was able to get the car moving again without further issue. 

This set the story for the majority of the race as several drivers spun out due to the wet conditions.  

At the 18-minute mark, the Ford Mustang GT4 of Academy Motorsport found itself beached on the soaked grass verge – on the exit of the Shell hairpin – with Will Moore at the helm. 

After a lengthy delay, the full course yellow was deployed. During this time both the GT3 and GT4 classes were able to pit and return to the circuit. During the FCY, Toyota Gazoo Racing’s Kavi Jundu, in the #44 Supra GT4, crashed out of the race on the exit of the Shell hairpin which extended the FCY intervention. 

The safety car later peeled out onto the circuit, with 20 minutes left on the clock. Once the field sped up and bunched up, the safety car peeled back into the pit lane.

Ricky Collard, and Barwell Motorsport, were offered two options for a penalty for infringing the safety car procedure; a 30-second time penalty after the race or a drive-through. Both options would’ve knocked the win out of their hands. 

However, the decision was soon retracted by race control who announced there would be no penalty awarded to the Collard pair. In turn, this allowed them to secure the first overall win of the season ahead of Ian Loggie and Phil Keen, at 2 Seas Motorsport, and Barwell Motorsport’s Alex Martin and Sandy Mitchell. 

In the GT4 class, Mikey Porter, of Forsetti Motorsport, led himself and his partner Jamie Day to their first victory. 

Charles Dawson and Seb Morris, of Team Parker Racing, and Jack Brown and Zac Meakin of Optimum Motorsport rounded out the GT4 podium in second and third respectively. 

That’s it for the article: Collard pairing secures first win of 2024 British GT at wet Oulton Park!

Read more British GT here!

• British GT confirms 36-car field ahead of 2024 championship season
• British GT and SRO part ways from Intelligent Money
• Brands Hatch set to stage British GT Finale in 2024
• British GT: Cottingham/Adam & Brown/Clark secure wins in Donington Park
• British GT: Loggie/Gounon and Gough/Wrigley win second race in Oulton Park
• British GT: Cottingham/Adam and Moore/Nicholl-Jones secure opening win of the season

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Kamron Kent

Hi, I’m Kamron. I created ApexMotorsports.co.uk in the dying embers of the 2021 Formula 1 world championship. It allowed me freedom to write whatever I wanted to write about which was all things motorsports, my passion.

I have put a lot of effort in over the years to keep this website in its best shape and I’ve loved seeing the brand grow consistently, month-on-month, year-on-year. My ambition is to keep watching this brand grow into a primary outlet of news for all things motorsports whilst fueling my desire to pursue a career in sports journalism, specialising in motorsports.

Kamron Kent

Hi, I'm Kamron. I created ApexMotorsports.co.uk in the dying embers of the 2021 Formula 1 world championship. It allowed me freedom to write whatever I wanted to write about which was all things motorsports, my passion. I have put a lot of effort in over the years to keep this website in its best shape and I've loved seeing the brand grow consistently, month-on-month, year-on-year. My ambition is to keep watching this brand grow into a primary outlet of news for all things motorsports whilst fueling my desire to pursue a career in sports journalism, specialising in motorsports.