A British GT race at Donington Park is always full of action, but the recent Bank Holiday visit for round 4 of the season took things to a new level. Changeable weather conditions doesn’t even come close to how things were throughout the race, but the whole Blackthorn AMR team, and Giacomo did a great job throughout, and we made some good progress after a slightly disappointing qualifying saw us out of position.

The overall pace for the weekend was lacking, but the effort and determination was definitively there throughout. We started slightly down the order, but the rain on the formation lap meant best-laid-plans in terms of strategy for the whole grid immediately went out the window. This meant that we had a bit more flexibility with strategy in the race, although the rain quickly passed, and a drying line formed as Giacomo made gains up the field. Some dry running for me then saw us fighting into the top-10, before chaotic scenes as more heavy rain started to fall, but only at selected corners.

The race was red flagged, and the racer order was scrambled as pitstops for driver changes and a switch of tyres took place, but we were now inside the top-10 and looking to keep the momentum going into the second half of the race. The action certainly didn’t stop there, though, and Giacomo was unlucky as the field continued to fight after the restart and he was in the wrong place at the wrong time, getting spun round as a result of someone else’s actions. However, such is the determination of this whole team, the challenge lit the fire with us even more, and the final stints saw positions regained. It was an intense ending to the three-hour race, but we moved into the top-10 and held P9 overall / P8 in class at the line, scoring more important championship points.

Next up for the series is our international round, and one we are all looking forward to; Spa. We make progress and big steps forward with each session we run, so looking to keep building on the weekend, and aiming to be fighting at the sharp end as we head to Belgium.

British GT Championship 2024 –

Team: Blackthorn AMR
Car number: #87
Race 4: P9 / P8 Pro-Am
GT3 drivers’ championship: 16 points; P8

Pro-Am drivers’ championship: 31.5 points; P6