Beechdean-AMR's Belgium setbacks in BGT

Reigning British GT championship winning squad Beechdean Aston Martin Racing (AMR) encountered a difficult weekend at Spa Francorchamps for the sixth round of British GT. The team’s GT3 and GT4 cars ran into trouble during the 2 hour race, resulting in the #407 GT4 car being the sole finisher.

Beechdean AMR was one of the few teams not to test at the 7.004 km circuit in Belgium. The Aston Martin Vantage V12 GT3 car qualified at a very respectable sixth place and was driven by team owner Andrew Howard and Aston Martin Racing factory driver Ross Gunn. Unfortunately the pairing retired from the race on lap one after a collision with a European GT4 car. The #1 car driven by Howard at the time was found to be in the wrong place at the wrong time. “It is disappointing to retire from the race on lap 1 with damage, but motorsport can be like this sometimes”, commented a frustrated Howard.

Nineteen year old Gunn added, “These kind of results are incredibly difficult to swallow, however being able to drive the GT3 car in Qualifying on Friday was a steep but useful learning curve for me. Hopefully I will be back there soon”


Paul Hollywood and Jamie Chadwick driving the #408 Beechdean Aston Martin Vantage V8 GT4 suffered from a similar feat to their GT3 team mates. Hollywood was making steady but impressive progress through the GT4 field during his stint before a small mistake on the exit of ‘Fagnes’ on lap eight. Heavy damage was caused to the car and therefore an early retirement was inevitable.

“I’m on a steep learning curve.” stated celebrity baker Hollywood. “Spa was an incredible experience. I was happy with my pace and lines and felt I learnt a lot. I’m looking ahead now to Snetterton.”

Reigning British GT4 champion and BRDC Rising Star Jamie Chadwick said, “It was great to be back within the Beechdean AMR team this weekend at Spa! Unfortunately the race result was not a fair representation of Paul’s pace and progress over the course of the weekend.”

Fellow GT4 youngsters Jack Bartholomew and Jordan Albert endured a character building weekend at Spa Francorchamps. The pairing headed to east Belgium leading the championship, but knew they would have their work cut out for them with no previous Spa race experience and an additional 50kg in weight being added to the car.


Bartholomew plummeted to the back of the field in the early laps after contact with a European GT4 car but proceeded to make ground on his competitors in front. Albert was handed the car over on the fringes of the top 10 and the Silverstone based driver duly went on to secure four crucial championship points.

“The race weekend at Spa Francorchamps was always going to be a tough one for us as a pairing”, said Bartholomew. “After the collision in the early laps it was then a case of making the best of a bad situation”