Within that midst were this time five Aston Martin Racing Vantage GT4 powered crews – two from the new to AMR JMF Motorsport team and a returning entry apiece from the Heart of Racing, Skip Barber Racing and Archangel Motorsport teams.
Testing at the circuit prior to the race weekend had fortunately included some very wet weather testing and that knowledge and understanding would prove important over the two, hour long races as race one would be under clear blue skies and sunshine (although chilly) with race two in what was left of another overnight deluge.
With the grid set for race one earlier on Saturday, it was the #3 and #4 JMF Astons of Jesse Webb and Braydon Arthur who stole the march upon the more experienced AMR crews as they both started from the third row as the starting line was delayed due to a stranded car upon the grid. Inevitably with so many cars circulating around sometimes a very tight track profile, there was contact in the early stages between three cars that brought out the Safety Car for the first time.
With the grid set for race one earlier on Saturday, it was the #3 and #4 JMF Astons of Jesse Webb and Braydon Arthur who stole the march upon the more experienced AMR crews as they both started from the third row as the starting line was delayed due to a stranded car upon the grid. Inevitably with so many cars circulating around sometimes a very tight track profile, there was contact in the early stages between three cars that brought out the Safety Car for the first time.
Getting back to green however, unseen contact for the #4 JMF car saw Webb stranded trackside as five to six other cars met with a crashing end to their race through the tight turn one to two sequence – another Safety Car.
That clean-up operation took until the halfway stage, so Race Control elected to allow all cars to pit under caution before getting back to green again with twenty minutes remaining. By then Hannah Grisham was up to P3 in Silver after a steady, accident avoiding stint from Hannah Greenemeier within their #26 Silver entry whilst Michael Garcia was up to second in Am within his #007 Am entered Skip Barber Racing car.
All was looking good for the #007 car until just two minutes from the end when technical issues within the red Aston Martin surrendered a certain class podium in Am but at least the #4 JMF Motorsport Aston Martin of Arthur and Mike David Ortmann hung on for a P3 finish in silver with the #26 HoRT crew just behind. The #15 Archangel AMR of Adrian Comstock and Thomas Merril finished their first race together P9 in Pro-Am.
Sundays second race was a wholly different affair as the track was still being doused by heavy rainfall that had been over the circuit all night. Again, Qualifying had already been determined earlier on Saturday but again, it was the two JMF AMR’s leading the way on the grid in P4 and P5.
This time a single file start because of the track conditions with an early spinner into turn 2 narrowly avoided by both JMF cars as the pack roared through with spray making for track navigation almost guesswork for the drivers.
Despite the conditions, the race stayed green as Grisham found herself fighting for track position with the #007 of Alex Garcia and the #15 Archangel car finally getting inside the top ten with Comstock aboard.
Just before the pit window, a BMW was forced into the concrete wall and with that stopping on the track infield a Safety Car intervention was inevitable. Judging that rightly or wrongly, the #26 Heart of Racing car was already in pit lane as the Safety Car came out and the pits were closed – missing what precisely happened next, the car was either forced to stop at pit out for the Safety Car train to pass or their stop was a particularly long one as once all the other cars had pitted, the #26 was waved around to the complete rear of the pack!
After that, track conditions began to improve as the spray volume reduced and a distinct change in colour appeared on the preferred line on track with now Greenemeir on something of a charge from the rear of the pack for the twenty odd minutes that she had left. The #007 Skip Barber car of Garcia was a distant second to its Am class leader, but that car had already received a thirty second post-race penalty for cutting a corner earlier in the race in accident avoidance and the margin to one another was there or there abouts!
With just minutes to run, the #15 Archangel AMR disappeared from the timing screen (due to issues unknown) and an Mclaren off into the tyre wall and a puncture for another would all help the #26 and #007 in their final efforts.
Eventually the chequered flag dropped, and it was the turn of the #3 JMF team to take to the podium with their P3 silver result, the #4 car just behind in P5 and with the #26 HoRT car up to P12 overall/P7 in class for their efforts. The query still resides around the finishing position of the #007 SBR car as on track, they were listed as still finishing two seconds behind the leader after their post-race penalty time deduction but social media posts from the series later said that the #007 had claimed the Am class win??
Next stop anyway for these guys will be from the Circuit of the Americas in a months’ time.
Photo credits – Teams / Series / social media