Autosport – 25 July 2019

25 JULY 2019 AUTOSPORT.COM 53

Ellis’s last outright British GT

win was in a Ford in 2008

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can every weekend. We have one goal

which is to try to win.”

Tom Ferrier, boss of Barwell’s rival

TF Sport, was left frustrated after Jonny

Adam and Graham Davidson were unable

to capitalise at Spa and slipped from third

to eighth in the second stint, following a

penalty for contact, and brake trouble.

“It’s a shame because we would

have been on for at least a third, if

not better, and that would have shot

us right up there,” Ferrier said.

“I’m a bit gutted with that, but

we’ll go to Brands and try to win it.”

Barwell’s troubles mean Spa winners

Bradley Ellis and Oliver Wilkinson are

now outside contenders for the title.

Ellis praised the consistent approach

of his Optimum Motorsport team

following his first British GT outright

win for 11 years, which leaves him

16 points off the summit.

“I said to Ollie at the start of the

season that as a Silver line-up, we’ve

just got to be consistent,” Ellis said.

“If we could get on the podium, amazing,

but we just need to be aiming for fifth,

fourth, third sort of region all the time,

getting strong points and trying to

minimise the success penalties for

the following rounds.”

JAMES NEWBOLD

BRITISH GT

ERC Sport boss Keith Cheetham is

aiming to return to British GT next

year, after having to withdraw his

team’s Mercedes-AMG GT4 from the

second of two planned outings this

year at Spa due to work commitments

for gentleman driver Peter Belshaw.

The 2011 GT4 champion finished

second on his previous outing

alongside factory driver Maxi Buhk

at Silverstone, and Cheetham – who

was at Spa running Lee Mowle in

the Blancpain GT Sports Club – is

hopeful that he will commit to the

full season in 2020, with the rest

of this year’s races fully subscribed.

“I’d like to have a car at least or

two cars in British GT and maybe

one in Europe doing Blancpain in

GT3, especially with the new [Merc]

update coming,” said Cheetham.

Meanwhile, Toyota Racing Series

title winner M2 Competition made

its series debut at Spa running Tony

Quinn’s new Aston Martin Vantage

GT3. Chief engineer Elise Moury

told Autosport that the outing was

a toe-in-the-water exercise for

the team with no targets set.

Its car – which was set to be

shipped to Australia after the event

• had not turned a wheel before it
  arrived at the track. Quinn and
  championship returnee Darren
  Turner finished 13th.
  JAMES NEWBOLD

ERC team targets GT return

BRITISH GT

Phil Keen says team-mate Adam
Balon would benefit from putting less
pressure on himself after the pre-event
championship leader crashed out of
British GT’s flyaway round at Spa.
The Barwell pair have held the points
lead since winning both Snetterton
rounds in May, but Balon followed
difficult weekends at Silverstone
and Donington Park with a first
non-score of the season in Belgium
after spinning his Lamborghini
Huracan Evo into the wall at
Blanchimont, damaging the radiator.
It was the third year in a row that Balon
had heartbreak at his bogey track – he’s
failed to complete a racing lap there since
he entered the championship in 2017.
Having dropped behind team-mates
Jonny Cocker and Sam De Haan – who
took seventh after De Haan was spun on
the opening lap – by 0.5 points, perennial
bridesmaid Keen says Balon needs a
“reset” ahead of the final two rounds.
“I think he’s putting himself under
a bit of pressure,” said Keen. “We just
need to reset, stop worrying about
scoring points and just concentrate
on enjoying himself. I think then
the results will start going our way.”
The top four teams are now separated
by 26 points, but Keen feels having
more cars in the mix won’t make any
difference to Barwell’s preparations.
“I haven’t looked at the points, I very
rarely do,” Keen added. “There’s nothing
you can do about it so we just try to
score the maximum amount that we

P58 SPA RACE REPORT