Second in class finish for Balfe's Proctor pairing

The third round of the Intelligent Money British GT Championship took place at Donington Park at the weekend, the first of two visits to the circuit in the 2021 schedule.

For Fulbeck's Balfe Motorsport it was a bittersweet meeting, with the GT3 of Stewart and Lewis Proctor finishing in sixth position overall, second in class, while the GT4 of Ashley Marshall and Jack Brown was eliminated from the two-hour race early on.

The team tested at the circuit on Thursday, and then prepared the two McLarens for the race weekend on Friday.

Lewis’ qualifying laps was especially noteworthy, being the second fastest of the qualifying session and underlining the pace of the package around Donington Park.

The two-hour race got underway Sunday afternoon with Stewart behind the wheel, and he did a great job to avoid the first lap incidents heading into Redgate.

Having made initial gains, he ran comfortably in the top three before the second Safety Car of the race was deployed on lap nine.

With the field compressed once again, Stewart found himself under pressure from behind from Kelvin Fletcher and Adam Balon.

A rare mistake heading into the Old Hairpin cost him momentum and in seconds, Stewart had lost position. Once back into his rhythm, he resumed, chasing the number 77 Morgan Tillbrook before pitting at the one-hour mark.

Lewis was soon up to speed, aiming to close the seven-second deficit to Martin Plowman ahead.

There was no stopping the Lamborghini of Sandy Mitchel making an audacious pass on fresh rubber into Redgate later in the race, but Lewis put in a great stint to catch and pass Plowman for sixth position at the chequered flag.

The race meanwhile had been a short one for Ashley Marshall in the number 90 GT4 McLaren.

Having qualified in seventh position, he had made a good start to the race, but on lap four was taken out of the race.

It was an unfortunate incident, one that was unavoidable for Ashley and especially frustrating as he and teammate Jack had been so happy with the performance of the car and had expected their first podium position of the season on Sunday afternoon.

Balfe Motorsport now prepares for the fourth round of the British GT Championship which takes place later this month at Spa-Francorchamps.