Andrew Gordon-Colebrooke brought his rollercoaster maiden season in the British GT Championship to a close during an action-packed season finale at Donington Park (14/15 September). The WHIreland Wealth Management supported driver headed to the East Midlands for the championship’s milestone 300th race hoping to end his debut campaign on a high with the Century Motorsport team. The weekend didn’t get off to the best of starts though as Gordon-Colebrooke was unable to set a time in the first free practice session due to an injector issue on his BMW M4 GT4. The Buckinghamshire racer did manage to get out on track in the second session though and set a competitive time. Feeling happy with the car, he and team-mate Nathan Freke were confident for qualifying. A solid performance saw the drivers' combined times put them eighth in the ultra-competitive 22 car GT4 field, with the Buthlaw and Tyrrell Automotive backed driver believing that they could gain ground in Sunday’s two hour race. After checking over the car and running through their pitstop procedure during the morning warm-up session, the final race of the season was upon them. Gordon-Colebrooke was selected to take the start and drive the opening stint. As the field started the second warm-up lap though, the BMW suffered a sudden clutch failure that ended their race before it had even started. Andrew Gordon-Colebrooke: “It was such a shame that we had the clutch go on the warm-up lap. There was nothing we could do, but it’s all part of motorsport. Some days everything goes your way and on others things like this happen. “Not getting a lap in during FP1 was frustrating, but Nathan [Freke] was able to show what the car was capable of and as soon as I got in for the second session I felt comfortable straight away. “We knew it would be very close between everyone in the GT4 field in qualifying, so both myself and the team were very happy to have qualified in the top ten. We knew we could race well from that position, but sadly we just didn’t get the chance. “I’ve loved every minute of the season. Luck has deserted us at times, like when we were on for a podium at Oulton Park, but we’ve had some really good performances through the season and shown we’ve had the pace to fight at the front. “There are lots of positives to take from my rookie year in the championship and I have to say a massive thank you to the whole Century Motorsport team and my loyal sponsors for a brilliant season.”
Image from Jakob Ebrey Photography.