Beechdean takes Rockingham British GT win

The Barwell run Beechdean Motorsport Aston Martin DBRS9 of Andrew Howard and Jonny Adam took a sensation victory at Rockingham after a morning rain shower allowed to take advantage of the mixed conditions.

Barwell Motorsport MD, Mark Lemmer chose to send the Beechdean Motorsport Aston Martin DBRS9 round to grid on slicks so Howard could assess the grip levels. With Andrew still feeling that track was too wet for slicks the team made the decision to change over to wets whilst the car was still on the grid. This proved to be an inspired choice with Howard taking the lead by turn 2 after starting 8^th on the grid.

With the majority of the field still on slicks Andrew Howard started to pull out an impressive lead over the rest of the field. With rain falling again during the first half of the race the rest of the field where forced to make an additional pit stop to change to wets. By the time Howard made his mandatory pit stop on lap 16 to hand over to Jonny Adam he has amassed a 11 second lead over the second placed Team Preci-Spark Mercedes SLS.  Jonny Adam then set about extending the gap built by Howard in his stint, pulling away from the rest of the field by nearly 4 seconds a lap eventually taking the checked flag with an impressive lead of 41 seconds.

“Lucky it was wet for the warm-up because that was the first time I had ever driven the car in the wet all the time I’ve had it. First time I have raced it in the wet,” said Andrew Howard. “Thank God it did rain for the warm up otherwise we wouldn’t have had a clue. We got a good set up and the car felt really balanced. We went out on slicks on out lap and changed on the grid. There was that much difference. It’s a big day, really cool; and it’s Jonny’s birthday.”

Beechdean Motorsport will be back in action at Donington Park for the penultimate round of the British GT championship.