James Gornall and Jon Barnes extended their lead in the Avon Tyres British GT Championship with a third place finish in the opening race of the weekend at Thruxton.

The Team Trimite pairing went into the opening race of the weekend without any ABS on the Dodge Viper which left the two drivers to fight the car throughout the opening hour long race.

Having started from sixth on the grid, Gornall was able to battle his way up to third place during his opening stint before pitting under the Safety Car to hand the car over to Barnes.

The Viper was one of few cars not to lose places in the chaos that ensued during the stops as the entire field dived into the pitlane, although Barnes rejoined behind two different cars to the ones that had been in front when the car came into the pit lane to make its stop.

Barnes battled past the Lamborghini of Adam Jones when the race resumed to hold second place but was unable to hold off a charging Aaron Scott as he moved through the field in the ABG Viper, although the former Palmer Audi champion was able to maintain his podium position to the finish to extend the pairings championship lead to over 20 points.

"I absolutely hated that race," Barnes said. "We got boxed in during the stops and lost vital time and we came out still in third but behind two cars that I don't believe we should have been behind.

"Without the ABS, trying to slow the car down from over 150mph wasn't a nice experience so I had to break early and conserve the car – so to take third is absolutely astonishing. If we can now fix the problems, we could be on for a win in race two."