The final round of the British GT Championship took place over the mid-October weekend at Donington Park.
Following some fast times in testing, Tom and Jordan achieved pole position during Saturday’s two qualifying sessions, their first of the season.
Out first, Tom lined up hoping to replicate his speed from the previous day, but with championship contenders behind him, it would not be an easy task to hold the lead.
Lights out and the Audi of Century Motorsport was quick to get alongside the Supra, but it was Tom who led after the first corner. An incident in the GT3 field sent cars back into the GT4 field, something that could well cause difficulties as they tried to make their way back up the grid.
As Adam Balon made his way forward in his Lamborghini, the Audi was also catching up, resulting in the cars going three wide at the Melbourne Hairpin. Balon, however, moved back into the GT3 group without incident and some excellent defensive driving from Tom allowed him to maintain his lead.
Having survived the close racing of the first two laps, he began to extend his lead and, racing consistently, the gap was opening up lap by lap.
Then, following an incident in the GT3 field, a safety car at the half hour mark unravelled much of Tom’s progress.
Determined to maintain his lead, a fast restart began to open up the gap behind him once more and the first stint finished, bringing the car into the pits for teammate Jordan Collard to drive the second hour, following a refuel and tyre change.
Having pulled so far ahead and without a success penalty, a fast pit stop was within grasp. Unfortunately, the GT3 cars pitting soon after congested the pit lane, meaning mechanics had to rotate the car as they changed the tyres. Thankfully the team was swift enough that Jordan was very quickly out on track and back at the front of the grid.
Now all Tom could do was watch on!
Another safety car bunched up the grid once again, as Jordan strove to maintain the lead for another 40 minutes and by taking advantage of the Supra’s fantastic pace, he managed to pull ahead just as Tom had done, closing out the season with a race win for Toyota Gazoo Racing.
Tom:
I’m incredibly pleased with this result at the final round of the season. We’ve had several great moments over the course of the year but finally achieving the race win is fantastic.
From practice onwards we were fast and we knew we were in with a chance for a podium. Our combined qualifying time put us on pole and we didn’t give it up. I was out first and managed to pull ahead, have my progress taken away by a safety car and then made it up. It was a similar story for Jordan who did an amazing job of carrying the lead to the finish.
The entire team has worked incredibly hard to deliver Jordan and I a car we can win in, so to reward them with a P1 to close out the season feels great.
My first season in British GT has been a really good experience, working with the team at Toyato Gazoo Racing UK with Speedworks and having Jordan race with me has allowed me to learn a lot and get a couple of podiums along the way.
I’m happy with my progress and finished a very respectable 4th overall in the GT4 standings. Hopefully I can carry on this momentum to be a championship contender next season.
Now the season has come to a close I must thank my sponsors who have allowed me to race this season, Toyota Gazoo Racing UK with Speedworks for running the car, and all of my supporters. I have some definite highlights that will stick with me throughout my racing career, my first win a GT car and racing at Spa-Francorchamps to name a couple.
Keep an eye out on my website and e-mails as announcements will come in due course as to what my plans are next year. I look forward to racing again in 2023.