Ryan Hooker in British GT Drama at Brands Hatch

29 August 2006

MSportUK Fatured Driver, Ryan Hooker headed to the penultimate round of the British GTC Championship at Brands Hatch in a strong position in his bid for the GTC Driver title at the weekend.

Ryan came to the Kent circuit just six points adrift of title leaders, and Trackspeed stablemates, Jonny Lang and Matt Allison.

In the #3 Trackspeed Porsche, Ryan was partnered for the second race in a row by Phil Keen. A successful testing session on Friday saw their hopes high for the weekend ahead.

This expectation was kept high with strong qualification which saw Ryan put the car at the head of the GTC Class for Race One on Saturday and Phil ensuring they’d start second in class for Sunday’s Race Two.

Ryan & Phil performed well to take second place in the GTC Class, on the tail of winners Mortimer & Ellis in the RPM Porsche in Race One. Finishing the podium were Lang & Allison who by finishing behind Ryan allowed him to claw another vital two points back and turn up the heat on the Championship leaders who now had just a four point advantage.

Race Two proved to be incident packed along the whole field, leading to a number of safety car periods which never allowed the field to truly spread out. Phil started the race and put in a storming drive to hand over to Ryan in a strong position which Ryan took on with gusto. Tough racing against Glew in the Motorbase Porsche and Ferrier in the RPM Porsche kept the spectators on the edge of their seat. Ryan brought the car home for a further 2nd place and with Championship rivals Lang and Allison in 5th place, important points were gained to see him level at the top of the championship table and the most exciting of showdowns at Silverstone on the cards.

However, after half an hour of this result it emerged Matt Allison had protested against a move by Phil Keen in the first half of the race. This protest was upheld and an 8 second penalty given to the #3 car seeing Ryan and Phil drop to 5th in class and notably now a place behind Lang & Allison thus losing any points advantage. From the joy of believing the final race would be a title showdown, Ryan now found himself returned to five points adrift of the championship lead.

The adjudication has been appealed by Phil Keen and the result will be heard at Silverstone at the final round.

"It is a gutting end to a weekend which otherwise saw us once again strong and consistent" said Ryan afterwards. "The adjudication has been appealed and it would unprofessional of myself to pass comment ahead of any judgement. Phil does have my utmost support in the appeal and I feel it would be a very sad state of affairs if this were to become the deciding factor in an otherwise exciting and, all round, well fought championship.

"I have to focus on Silverstone and keep my spirits high in the meantime!"

The final round of the British GT Championship time is at Saturday on 23-24 September.

RHPR

See 2006 series calendar for British GT Championship

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