• McLaren Customer Racing teams claim GT3 and GT4 overall wins at Silverstone
•Garage 59 entry of Shaun Balfe and Adam Smalley wins the Silverstone 500 race
•Optimum Motorsport takes top GT4 honours with Zac Meakin and Jack Brown
•RJN Motorsport wins GT3 Pro-Am class ensuring McLaren Customer Racing teams win three out of four classes
•Three-hour race is British GT Championship's blue riband event
McLaren Customer Racing teams were the stars of the show in the British GT Championship's blue riband Silverstone 500 race (April 28) with victories in both the GT3 and GT4 classes for the McLaren GT3 EVO and Artura GT4 cars respectively.
A total of 11 McLaren cars were entered as part of a capacity 42 car grid for the three-hour event, split between eight McLaren GT3 EVOs and three Artura GT4s. Of the latter, the Optimum Motorsport entry of Jack Brown and Zac Meakin claimed pole position in the GT4 category, while the Garage 59 McLaren GT3 EVO of Shaun Balfe and Adam Smalley qualified second overall.
The race start took place behind the Safety Car in torrential conditions with the order changing several times in the opening half. Balfe and Smalley ran strongly, as did Brown and Meakin in the GT4 class, but the race took a dramatic turn later on after a Safety Car intervention. The two Garage 59 entries of Marcus Clutton and Morgan Tillbrook, followed by Balfe and Smalley were lying third and fourth at the restart. When the Safety Car returned to the pits, Clutton passed Smalley but their battle allowed the Team RJN McLaren GT3 EVO of Jann Mardenborough to pass them both through Club corner. The trio raced for position but an incident between Clutton and Mardenborough delayed both cars and it was Smalley who would race into the lead and take the chequered flag for McLaren.
In the final result, five McLaren GT3 EVO cars finished in the top ten claiming first, third, fourth, sixth and seventh places. This included the Team RJN car of Chris Buncombe and Mardenborough, which finished third overall and first in the GT3 Pro-Am class.
In the GT4 class, Brown and Meakin were unchallenged to win by over a minute and a half. The result made it back-to-back victories in the event for Optimum Motorsport to round out a strong result for McLaren after three hours of racing in gruelling conditions.
'The competition in British GT is unbelievably close, so to come away from an event like the Silverstone 500 with not only the overall win, but victory in both GT3 and GT4 classes is an incredible achievement for all concerned.
My congratulations go out to Shaun and Adam on their win, but also to everyone at Garage 59 and Optimum Motorsport. Congratulations too for Team RJN on claiming the GT3 Pro-Am class spoils. My thanks also need to go out all off our McLaren support technicians who were on site for the event and everyone back at Woking – we all share in these successes from British GT right up to the FIA World Endurance Championship.'
Mick McDonagh, Director of MSO and Motorsport, McLaren Automotive
Photo credit: McLaren posted on conceptcarz.com
