Andrew Gordon-Colebrooke made the trip to Donington Park with his Century Motorsport team for the fourth round of the British GT Championship and the first of two visits to the classic British track this season. Gordon-Colebrooke came to the East Midlands circuit on a high after having scored his best finish of the season at the last round at Silverstone, and the Buckinghamshire based driver was aiming to have another strong weekend. The WHIreland Wealth Management supported driver immediately felt comfortable with the BMW M4 GT4 and hit the ground running in both free practice sessions. Alongside team-mate Angus Fender, they set the second fastest time in the second outing and also got a number of practice pitstops under their belts, aiding their preparation for the race. Andrew qualified in the second ten-minute segment of the GT4 qualifying session and set a respectable time to put him and his teammate in eighth place on the grid. With another top 10 qualifying result under their belt, they were fired up to push to the front of the grid in Sunday’s race. Gordon-Colebrooke took to the wheel of the BMW for Sunday morning’s warm-up session to ensure that the car was ready for the two-hour race that afternoon. The session didn’t go smoothly though as the car suffered an ABS failure, sending the Buthlaw and Tyrrell Automotive backed driver straight on at the Fogarty Esses. Fortunately, Andrew managed to keep the car out of the barriers and the team was able to fix the problem before the race. Just like at Silverstone, Gordon-Colebrooke took the start and avoided the early race drama. Andrew had managed his tyres and had kept in touch with his GT4 rivals. However, just before the half way stage of the race, the Buckinghamshire based driver took a hit from a GT3 car which forced him off the track and caused severe damage to the BMW M4 GT4’s wishbone. Andrew was able to bring the car back to the pits, but despite the mechanics best efforts the BMW M4 GT4 couldn’t be repaired in time for the finish and the team sadly had to retire. Andrew Gordon-Colebrooke: “Practice went really well. I came into the weekend with a new technique which I was hoping would help me find some more time and sure enough, it worked. I spent quite a bit of time on older tyres but nevertheless the car still felt really good and we looked competitive heading into qualifying. "I would be lying if I said I wasn’t disappointed after qualifying though. I expected to be just that little bit faster but for some reason it didn’t quite come together. It was the same story in the race and we just can’t seem to buy any luck at the moment. “I got clipped by one of the GT3 cars at the Old Hairpin which fired me across the gravel trap and damaged the cars wishbone. Everyone did their best to fix the problem but unfortunately it just wasn’t meant to be this weekend.” Andrew Gordon-Colebrooke and the Century Motorsport team will next be in action in the fifth round of the British GT Championship which takes place at Spa Francorchamps on the 20-21st July. The races can be streamed live on the British GT website.
Image from Jakob Ebrey Photography.