
Despite not winning a race all season, consistency proved the key to the title for the #10 Ferrari
Father/Son duo of Glynn and Jim Geddie have won the 2011 British GT Championship, thanks to a great drive (and perhaps a bit of luck) from both drivers in the final race on the Silverstone GP circuit. Despite qualifying only 9th and a few tenths away from the top 3, Glynn believed the car could be better for the race. However, with some of their title rivals fading by the way side thanks to penalties and/or retirements, the Championship leaders going into the final race pulled off a great recovery to get the points needed for the title.
Majority of the teams ran their 2nd driver first, doing a shorter first stint, allowing their 1st and faster driver to complete the race with the longest stint. The only requirement that each driver does at least 45 minutes, resulting in a one stop strategy for everyone.

Aston Martin of Howard/Adam take their 2nd win of the season
At the start, it was initially the 3rd Audi of Joe Osborne and Zak Brown and the #5 Ferrari of Charles Bateman and Michael Lyons that led away after battling their way past the outgoing champion of David Ashburn, who struggled in the opening stages, and the pole position car of the Aston Martin, driven in the opening stint by Andrew Howard, again, also struggling in the opening laps, but eventually regaining pace and 3rd place by the first 30 minute mark.
The leading pair pulled away from the battling pack, pegging each other till traffic and a damaged rear spoiler on the Bateman/Lyons car meant they lost over a second a lap some laps, and dropped back from the Audi after what looked like a promising fight and a chance for the title for the Ferrari pair.
The battling pack behind the top 2 provided much of the entertainment in the early stages, with Ashburn holding on gallantly from the chasing Ferrari’s, Mercedes and Audi’s.
After half an hour, the top 10 was: 29 (Osborne), 5 (Bateman), 7 (Howard), 22 (Jones), 2 (Fisken), 1 (Ashburn), 21 (Cameron), 20 (Draper), 23 (Guasch), 10 (Geddie).
Andrew Jordan was enjoying his 2nd outing in a GT race this year, in the bright orange Ginetta G55 partnering Tom Sharp, battling with the CRS Ferrari of Andrew Tate. Numerous times going side by side before eventually getting past a few laps before their pit stop.
Another Touring Car driver going well for the 2nd time in 2 weeks was Gorden Shedden, once again partnering Hector Lester and out pacing his more experienced team mate. Shedden even trying to get past Tim Bridgman late on in the race despite being a lap down on the Porsche.
A lengthy safety car period intervened at the 57th minute and caused havoc with the leading cars. Although most cars had done their one and only pit stop before the safety car starting at the 51st minute, a few pitted under the safety car, caused by the GT3 Aston Martin of Paul White hitting the barriers over the far side of the circuit at Club corner.
After a bit of reshuffling, with a few winners and losers as Race Control tried to sort out the order, with Westbrook almost losing out in the safety car period, getting increasingly frustrated with the Chevron of David Witt (father of Jordan Witt in the sister Chevron) as they lapped slowly trying to catch up with the safety car train. Eventually, after about 20 minutes, the safety car pulled off after all the cars were behind it and with the race leader the leading car.
Safety car restart Order: 29 (Brown), 5 (Lyons), 22 (Jones), 7 (Adam), 1 (Westbrook), 10 (Geddie), 21 (Griffin), 2 (Bridgman), 20 (Draper), 23 (Bell).
The safety car restart was bad news for Tom Sharp, retiring after contact near the Wing, and pulling off outside the new pit complex, thankfully though in a safe place leaving the race as a race and not bringing out another Safety Car.
However, up front, a fantastic part of the race was unfolding, where Glynn Geddie now at the hands of the #10 Ferrari, showed why he was never going to give up on the title.
Adam, Jones, Westbrook and Geddie were in a nose to tail in fight for 3rd, with the Jones Mercedes starting to drop down the order.
Adam in the Beechdean Aston Martin gets into second with a pass on the Lyons Ferrari, with Griffin and Bridgman side by side through Luffield, Griffin just holding on to the spot. The Aston was on the move again as Brown in the leading Audi with a 1.5 second lead was being caught at a rate of 3 seconds per lap. No surprise then when Adam in the Aston Martin snatches the lead from Brown.
Numerous penalties and retirements affected the championship contenders. Matt Griffin took a 12s stop/go penalty for a pitlane infringement, Mike Gausch/Matt Bell in the #24 Audi pulled into the garage following contact and Michael Lyons served a drive through penalty for not respecting the track limits.
That left David Ashburn within the chance of retaining his title despite being an outsider coming into the final round, with his hopes in the hands of Westbrook, holding onto 2nd place behind the leading Aston, provided Glynn Geddie could do no better than 4th.
Holding that 3rd place that would gift them the championship was Brown in the Audi, but Geddie fought his way through, and began to close on Westbook in the final stages of the race.
The Audi dropping back, losing 5th place to the Mercedes before the end of the race.
Westbrook was slowing and Geddie was hassling the Porsche for the 2nd, even though that 3rd place would net them the title. Jim Geddie in the pitlane was apprehensive, its not over till that chequered flag falls – the race was not yet over and the championship was not yet won. They needn’t of worried though, despite the Ferrari drivers best efforts, he had to settle for 3rd, but it was enough for the title.
“Qualifying wasn‚’t great but come the race Jim did a great job” Glynn said. “He had a close call with a couple of cars and then when the safety car came out on the lap that we pitted, it looked like a disaster for us. But everything worked out okay in the end.”
“The last couple of laps were a bit intense as I tried to get a step up the podium; in the end I backed out of it because we had won the championship”
Father Glynn was equally delighted with the championship title: “I don’t think it’s sunk in yet” he said. “I was so nervous I was sick before the race, and I was sick again after I got out of the car. I would definitely like to come back to defend the title next year. We didn’t have the best of starts to our season but I’m delighted to have won it. I’d like to come back next year after some proper winter testing and be on the ball from the first race.”

The KTM proved victorious in the GT4 class
In the GT4 class, the KTM of Peter Belshaw/Marcus Clutton had all but the Championship wrapped up, with the Lotus of Freddy Nordstrom/Leyton Clarke battling with the 2 Ginetta’s of Dan Denis and Jake Rattenbury/Josh Wakefield, all still within a shot of the GT4 title, however a steady drive to 2nd in class by the KTM secured them the title. The Lotus of Chris Holmes and Phil Glew took a comfortable victory in the GT4 class from pole position.
Provisional results GT3 & overall
GT3
1 Beechdean Aston Martin Andrew Howard/Jonny Adam 2h 01m 26.220s / 97.68mph
2 Trackspeed Porsche David Ashburn/Richard Westbrook +22.738s
3 CRS Racing Ferrari Jim Geddie/Glynn Geddie +22.939s
4 Trackspeed Porsche Gregor Fisken/Tim Bridgman +37.231s
5 Preci-Spark Mercedes David Jones/Godfrey Jones +43.170s
6 United Autosports Audi Joe Osborne/Zak Brown (USA) +56.941s
7 Scuderia Vittoria Ferrari Michael Lyons/Charles Bateman +1m 14.286s
8 MTECH Ferrari Julien Draper/Matthew Draper +1m 20.669s
9 MTECH Ferrari Duncan Cameron/Matt Griffin (IRL) +1m 23.848s
10 CRS Racing Ferrari Andrew Tate/Alex Mortimer 53 laps
GT3B
1 Backdraft Lamborghini Simon Atkinson/James Pickford 45 laps
GT4
1 Lotus Sport UK Lotus Chris Holmes/Phil Glew 52 laps
2 ABG Motorsport KTM Peter Belshaw/Marcus Clutton 51 laps
3 Scuderia Vittoria Ginetta Dan Denis/David McDonald 51 laps
4 Century Motorsport Ginetta Josh Wakefield/Jake Rattenbury 50 laps
5 Magic Ginetta Stewart Linn/Chris Midmark (SWE) 50 laps
6 Lotus Sport UK Lotus Leyton Clarke/Freddy Nordstrom 49 laps
7 Secure/Barwell Aston Martin Peter Erceg/Tiff Needell 49 laps
GT Cup
1 Chevron Racing Chevron Jordan Witt/Anthony Reid 52 laps
2 Chevron Racing Chevron David Witt/Ray Grimes 50 laps
Final Championship Positions (Top 10):
British GT3 Drivers Championship
1 GT3 Glynn Geddie 144
1 GT3 Jim Geddie 144
2 GT3 David Ashburn 130
3 GT3 Matt Griffin 116.5
3 GT3 Duncan Cameron 116.5
4 GT3 Michael Lyons 116.5
4 GT3 Charles Bateman 116.5
5 GT3 Andrew Howard 113.5
5 GT3 Jonathan Adam 113.5
6 GT3 Matt Bell 110.5
6 GT3 Michael Guasch 110.5
7 GT3 Gregor Fisken 107.5
7 GT3 Tim Bridgman 107.5
8 GT3 David Jones 98
8 GT3 Godfrey Jones 98
9 GT3 Richard Westbrook 89
10 GT3 Hector Lester 88.5
British GT4 Drivers Championship
1 GT4 Marcus Clutton 205.5
1 GT4 Peter Belshaw 205.5
2 GT4 Dan Denis 164
2 GT4 David McDonald 164
3 GT4 Freddy Nordstrom 164
3 GT4 Leyton Clarke 164
4 GT4 Jake Rattenbury 157
4 GT4 Josh Wakefield 157
5 GT4 Phil Glew 139
6 GT4 Ollie Jackson 101.5
7 GT4 Chris Holmes 75.5
8 GT4 Peter Erceg 59
9 GT4 Michael Mallock 51
9 GT4 Athanasios Ladas 51
10 GT4 James Nash 37.5
Report: Nick Deeley
Photography: Surreal Illusions