British GT12 Nationals RD5 Stafford – Report
The fifth and final round of the British GT12 National Championship took place at Stafford RCMCC on the 28th January 2024. A fantastic turnout with 50 GT12 and 6 minis in support. Despite the championship already being decided it was all to race for as some spots were still up for grabs. The day consisted of the usual format with 1 practice, 4 qualifying and 1 final for all racers. Round one kicked off on a cold track, with Ewan Thompson taking the early advantage, recording the only 27 lap run in the first round. Although Sam Coult and Alex Robertson were in hot pursuit. On to round two and the top three were shuffled around with Sam Coult moving into P1, Alex into P2 and Ewan into P3 with only these three drivers hitting 27 laps.
Round three – Track temperature was rising and the battle for P1 was growing fierce with Matt Gammons also moving into the 27 lap race. The top 4 being separated by just 5 seconds. Round four – The shootout for P1 in the round that matters most! Alex Robertson couldn’t pull together a clean run with body shell issues, while Sam and Ewan could and earning them P1 and P2. With these two setting the fastest times of the day Finals. The battle for the silverware, the minis were up first, seeing James Hart taking a convincing win over the other competitors. Onto the GT12’s and the G final, with a field of just two, congratulations to Stephen Mullock for taking the win.
F final pole sitter Gavin Thorogood was taken at the first corner with good driving from Keith Gammons, sending it down theinside to take the lead. Caleb Jones followed Keith through with another good start and the front three broke away from the rest of the field, but then some mechanical issues for Caleb Jones meant Gavin Thorogood got back though, also putting Louis Speight into the top three.
The E final. Ethan Boyce started on pole but chaos ensued! The lead changed hands between the cars of Ethan Boyce, Gary Pugh and Adam Mullock. On the penultimate lap Gary Pugh took the lead to go on and win with Ethan Boyce in second and Gavin Rice in third D final, Sam Pope took a lights to flag win from Tom foreman and Alfie Hart. C final, after a fairly clean start, Alex Eve, coming from P5 drove off with the win over Josh Flanagan and Mark Dieterman.
The B final saw a return of the canary red bodied car of David Gale, fighting hard against Daniel Mountford, who drove a good race to claim the win with David finishing just under a second behind him and Andrew Slingsby in third.
The A final was clean for the first few corners but then some contact in the midfield allowed Sam Coult and Alex Robertson (in only his 2nd Gt12 national ) to get away with Michael laws following in 3rd up from 7th place on the grid. Chase Mackman in 4th still on the highs of his LMP A final at the Eastbourne national last weekend. As the race progressed a late push from Matt Gammons saw him climb through the field but he was unable to pass Michael Laws who held onto P3 with Sam taking his maiden national victory and Alex in P2.
A Final Result
1. Sam Coult – Schumacher
2. Alex Robertson – Destiny
3. Michael laws – Schumacher
4. Matt Gammons – Schumacher
5. Chase Mackman – Schumacher
6. Matt Hunter – Schumacher
7. James Taylor – Schumacher
8. Ewan Thompson (DNF) – Schumacher
This round concluded our Championship for 2024. Congratulations to Adam Mackman, 2024 BRCA GT12 National Champion. Second was Sam Coult and Matt Gammons completing the top three of a very close championship.
Thanks to Paul Thompson for the Race report.
