A sunny Snetterton welcomed the British GT paddock as racers faced their penultimate weekend of the season with many hoping to keep title chances alive.

As has been the case in the last few seasons Snetterton hosted two, one hour races for the GTs giving teams two chances at glory within the same race day. Qualifying on the Saturday had set both grids with each of car’s two drivers getting to start a race.

The Kent-based Motorbase squad only had the one car campaign this year compared to the previous seasons but with the efforts of Phil Dryburgh in race one qualifying, the #8 Aston Martin lined up ninth on the grid. The team of course had hopes for a solid opening stint from Dryburgh before handing over to pro-driver, Ross Wylie but as the field charged in to and through turn one following the rolling start, Dryburgh would run wide on the exit, relegating the car down to the back of the GT3 field.

With the initial set back out of the way, Phil was able to set a series of consistent laps and with the aid of this and some GT4 traffic, he had climbed back toward the top ten before handing over the controls. Wylie climbed in just before the half-way point of the race and would continue this charge back through the pack. At the end of the first one-hour encounter, Wylie has made it all the way back up to sixth place which secured a solid points finish to start their day off.

Amongst the GT4 ranks, Team HARD were present fielding two RCIB Insurance backed Ginetta GT4s which started race one sixth and seventh in their class. An action packed start to their race saw both cars get bumped and barged about but with composed drives through the remained of the race both cars would finish in the top ten with Jordan Stilp and William Phillips in sixth, while Rob Barrable and Aaron Mason finished eighth following their victory last time out at Silverstone.

However, while local team Team HARD claimed two solid finishes, young Wrotham based racer Jack Mitchell would be up front challenging for victory in his Generation AMR Team Aston Martin GT4. Leading the early stages of the race, Mitchell would hand over to Matthew Graham who would bring it home in a very respectable third place in class.

Race two qualifying efforts would not be so promising for all of the Kent racers. Motorbase lined up eleventh, Team HARD in GT4 tenth and thirteenth while Mitchell claimed the GT4 seventh starting position. The got off to a clean start for all involved but it didn’t take long for the race to become a war of attrition – A number of cars retired with mechanical issues, of which the Generation AMR entry of Jack Mitchell and the #75 RCIB Team HARD Ginetta of Barrable and Mason – a far from ideal finish to their weekends.

The remaining RCIB Team HARD #45 Ginetta would climb to finish seventh place (In GT4)adding to the teams points tally ahead of the season finally at Donington. Motorbase also had their troubles losing a lap to the leaders but would survive the one-hour race to finish seventh.

Between British GT sessions, Team HARD were still present on track with their usual army of cars in the VW cup which was back on the weekend support package. Qualifying took place on the Sunday morning in which the Team HARD’s, Simon Rudd qualified fourth with season-rookie Keiran Gordon in fifth. Team HARD scholarship winner, Toby Davis set the twelfth fastest time after getting a time dis-allowed due to track limits abuse.

Race one for the VW cup saw the top five hold station for the first lap and manage to break clear of the chasing pack. This break away included both Rudd and Gordon who stayed close to the leading Sciroccos, waiting for their time to pounce. Rudd would take care of his tyres in the early stages and came strong in the closing stages, picking his way through to third by the flag while Gordon got stuck in in the battle for fourth but would just lose out in his first car race at Snetterton.

Following the post race podium, a minor technical issue would see Rudd’s car excluded from the race result, losing both his points from this finish and a strong starting spot for the second race later in the day. This exclusion did promote Gordon to fourth and Davis up to eighth after battling through finishing ninth on the road.

With Rudd starting from the rear of race two he had his work cut out but with just a couple laps completed, Rudd was already fighting for spots toward the back of the top ten. While Gordon started on the second row, he would hold his ground in the early stage only to fall back due to an off track moment. He would bring his VW Golf across the finish in seventh, just ahead of the charging Simon Rudd. Toby Davis would unfortunately retire just after the race’s half way point on lap six.

The British GT now rolls on to their final round at Donington in September where champions will be crowned and teams will get one last shot at victory in 2016.