Jeremy Metcalfe and Luke Hines bounced back from their disappointing start to the Avon Tyres British GT Championship at
Oulton Park to secure victory in the first race of the weekend at
Knockhill.
The CR Scuderia duo came home ahead of the Dodge Vipers of Team Trimite and ABG Motorsport to take a first win of the year after a race that featured no fewer than four Safety Car periods at the picturesque circuit overlooking the Firth of Forth.
A heavy rain shower 30-minutes before the race had made the track conditions tricky, but by the time the field lined up on the grid, the previous qualifying session had helped to ensure that all the teams started the race on slick tyres – aside from the VRS
Ferrari of Adam Wilcox and Phil Burton which remained in the paddock after dropping a valve in qualifying.
Metcalfe led the 22 car grid away from pole position, but behind him,David Jones in the Preci-Spark Ascari got a run on Michael Meadows into the first corner to snatch second place. Oliver Morley had a spin at the first corner in the Tech 9 Lamborghini and Peter Bamford in the lone Chad Peninsula Racing Ferrari also had an off at Butchers on the same lap.
Metcalfe led from Jones who had Meadows shadowing his every move, but on lap two, the Ascari ran wide at the Carlube corner and ended up stuck in the gravel trap. Steve Clark in the #1 Team RPM Viper also went off track, retiring against the barriers at Butchers.
A lap later David Ashburn also span at the Carlube corner, narrowly missing the stranded Ascari and the stewards decided to deploy the Safety Car to retrieve the beached car. As the remaining cars lined up behind the safety car, Metcalfe was leading from Meadows, with Guy Harrington in the Team Modena Lamborghini now in third ahead of James Gornall in the Team Trimite Brookspeed Viper and Oliver Bryant in the #2 Team RPM Viper. GT4 was led by pole sitter Joe Osborne from Hunter Abbott, who had moved ahead of Matt Nicoll-Jones on the opening lap.
