After the addition of a second BMW M4 GT4 and a rejig of their drivers, Century Motorsport claimed a sensational podium finish at the Brands Hatch GP round of the British GT Championship.
Just a few days prior to the Brands GP round, Century announced that they would be running a second car. Full-season drivers Andrew Gordon-Colebrooke and Ben Hurst, who had partnered one another for the first two rounds, each had a new partner for the Kent based racetrack.
Adam Hatfield – 2018 GT Cup Champion – partnered Ben Hurst in the #43 car, whilst Ben Green – 2018 British GT4 Vice Champion with Century – returned to the team and championship for a shot at his home circuit with Gordon-Colebrooke in the #42 car.
Hatfield jumped into the driver’s seat of the M4 GT4 for the first time on Friday in the very wet one-hour test session. Much drier conditions for Saturday’s practice sessions, all four drivers managed to get some decent lap times in, ready for the x2 10-minute qualifying sessions that afternoon.
Each pairings’ best qualifying lap times were combined to give their grid start positions for Sunday’s race. This put #43 in P7 and #42 in P6.
Hurst started the race in #43 and after handing the car over to Hatfield; the car exited the pits in P9. Several safety car laps did Hatfield no favours as this left him unable to catch up with the pack and he crossed the line in P6. A post-race penalty was handed to the #97 car, bumping Hurst and Hatfield up to P5.
Gordon-Colebrooke started the race in #42, storming ahead to P4. Upon exiting the pits after handing over to Green, the car was in P5. Green hunted out second place but this was soon taken from him as TF Sport’s pair of Aston Martins were on a mission, causing a couple of collisions along the way, which pushed Green back to fourth place on the penultimate lap. The #97 Aston then managed to push his teammate off the track (who was running in second place). This pushed Green back up to third however a post-race penalty for the #97 car saw Gordon-Colebrooke and Green come away with the second place result that they deserved.
The next round of the British GT Championship is at Donington Park, which is on 18-19 September. This will be the first of two 3-hour races this season, the second being at Silverstone for the final round.
Photo credit: Jakob Ebrey Photography