Another #doningtondecider in store after another barnstorming race from Brands Hatch in British GT
Monday, August 25, 2025
Having qualified their #7 Blackthorn Aston Martin Racing Vantage GT3 onto the front row of the grid behind just one of their 2 Seas Motorsport Mercedes AMG advisories, the Giacomo Petrobelli and Jonny Adam car didn’t get off to the best of starts as despite taking the race lead out of Paddock Hill Bend for the first time, the car was served with an unwanted drive through penalty for using external devices upon the car during the formation grid.
That transgression by the team dropped their car into the midst of the GT4 field on only about the third full racing lap having been behind the Safety Car from the second lap due to an off for a GT4 car at Druids on the opening lap.
Slightly further back meanwhile, the #97 Beechdean AMR Vantage GT3 of Andrew Howard and Tom Wood had also gotten off to a great start from their aggregated P7 position that Wood had earned the crew on Saturday by topping the Pro drivers qualifying session. After the earlier Safety Car restart, Howard had progressed up to P6 and distanced their class rivalling #86 Bridger Motorsport Honda who were then down in nineth.
Thwarting the Blackthorn’s progression through the lower order of the GT3 class was an on-track fire for one of the Ginetta GT4’s but fortunately for them, the driver was able to vacate the vehicle quickly for the trackside staff to bring things to a swift and safe conclusion although that did lose nearly eighteen minutes on the race clock.
Later after that restart, Petrobelli found himself being baulked by the #86 Honda which, whilst it was bad for them, that delay only helped their Beechdean AMR counterparts further ahead in the pack. Only just before the opening of the GT3 pit stop window did the #7 Aston pass the Honda before all bar the race leading Mercedes pitted for service at the first availability.
Pit stops done and Adam had come out in fourth thanks to the success time penalties affecting three cars out front in class whilst Wood was now P6 overall, still with a healthy lead of his own from the Honda in the silver-am class as Adam even got a warning for track limits such was his degree of determination for a decent finish this time around.
Further track drama was soon to follow as contact between a McLaren and a Porsche GT3 cars saw debris left upon track and one of those cars stranded in a gravel track – all of which necessitated a further Full Course Yellow and later Safety Car restart to sort out the mess.
With ten minutes to go, Wood put a lap onto the Honda so all he had to do was to finish to secure another class win but Adam had more problems upon his hands as he soon had other, faster cars upon him looking for track position as he became the head of a five car train with Wood immediately behind the Scot doing what he could to defend the #7 cars position.
Eventually the chequered flag came with the #7 Blackthorn car taking P4 with the #97 Beechdean car just one place behind in P5 – also taking the class win. With 37.5 points on offer at the final round from Donington Park in early October, both crews still need to perform if they want to have a chance at the class titles. The #7 car is now 28.5 points behind the championship leading #42 Mercedes whilst the #97 crew are still just 14 points ahead of the Honda powered crew.
Still all to race for at Donington then!!
