For the penultimate round of the 2019 British GT Championship, Andrew Gordon-Colebrooke and the Century Motorsport team headed to the iconic Brands Hatch Grand Prix circuit in Kent. A late development ahead of the weekend saw the WHIreland Wealth Management driver have a new team-mate for the meeting in the shape of team boss and successful GT racer Nathan Freke. Brands Hatch is one of Gordon-Colebrooke’s favourite circuits and it showed, as Andrew demonstrated strong pace to finish seventh in the first practice session. The car was showing great pace on both old and new tyres which gave him and the team a lot of confidence moving forward. The strong form continued through free practice two as they once again finished inside the top ten, leaving the Buthlaw and Tyrrell Automotive driver in position for a solid qualifying session. With both Gordon-Colebrooke and Freke posting top ten times in their respective ten-minute segments, their aggregate effort secured them tenth position in the Silver Cup class, right behind the sister Century Motorsport BMW M4 GT4. The morning warm up session on race day saw the team focus purely on pitstop practice in a bid to ensure that everything was ready for the race ahead. For the second consecutive round, Century Motorsport elected to put Gordon-Colebrooke in for the start and the Buckinghamshire based racer repaid his team’s faith in him by gaining a superb seven places on the opening lap. Despite a safety car period and a number of yellow flags, Andrew managed to stay out of trouble during his stint and matched the pace of the GT4 leaders before handing the car over to Freke in the top ten. Gordon-Colebrooke’s teammate was able to make up a couple of positions in the last hour and the team finished on the road in fifth position in their class. A post-race penalty for one of their rivals though meant they were promoted to fourth place, Gordon-Colebrooke’s best finish of his British GT career so far. Andrew Gordon-Colebrooke: “It’s always a pleasure to come back to Brands Hatch and race around this historic circuit. It’s so much fun to drive and I was sure that we would get a good result. “The car felt super at the start of the weekend, on both old and new tyres which is always a big confidence boost. I was pleased to have Nathan Freke alongside me, he was right on the pace and was straight back into the swing of things. "Qualifying was okay. It was so close at the top and we were in that mix which is a positive. Heading into the race, I felt we had a strong chance of a good result with our speed and also we were good with tyre wear, which would help us in the latter stages. “I was so pleased with my start. To make up that many positions on the first lap and then to be able to stay in touch with and match the pace of the leaders. Nathan did a great job and we’re delighted to pick up a fourth place finish. Next stop, the podium!” Andrew Gordon-Colebrooke and the Century Motorsport team will bring the 2019 British GT Championship to a close at Donington Park on 14-15 September. The race will be streamed live on the British GT website.
Image from Jakob Ebrey Photography.