Duckhams Yuasa Racing wraps up Silver-Am title with Snetterton victory
Duckhams Yuasa Racing team claimed its sixth Silver-Am class victory of the 2024 British GT Championship season, and with that secured the class title with two race weekends still left to run.
Heading to Snetterton in Norfolk for rounds six and seven of the season, Adam Smalley and teammate Shaun Balfe took advantage of a day of testing at the 2.96-mile circuit ahead of the race weekend. Unfortunately, the championship’s Balance of Performance measures meant they were not as competitive as they would have liked but they lined up third in class for the first race, and second for the race two.
Shaun started race one on Sunday morning, getting a good start to hold position as the busy GT3 pack went through the opening corners. He lost a position on lap five before handing over to Adam after pitting on lap 11. The car was shuffled down the order in the pit stops with Adam rejoining fifth in class and 13th overall, however, he gained two places in the remaining laps but was unable to make any further progress before the flag fell.
Starting race two, Adam got a great start from ninth overall on the grid to gain two places by the exit of turn two. Holding position until the pit stops, he handed over to Shaun who rejoined in sixth place after slick pit work from the Garage 59 team. That became fifth when the Mercedes of Ian Loggie was given a time penalty for blocking the pit lane and a late Safety Car resulted in a three-lap sprint to the flag, where he dropped one overall position. Crossing the line in sixth and first of the Silver-Am runners, the car was then promoted to fourth overall after post-race penalties were handed out.
With 75 points on offer in the final two races, the result meant the pair now have an unassailable lead in the Silver-Am championship, wrapping up the title two months ahead of the end of the season. Their attention will now turn to the overall title, where they sit just 21 points off top spot, but they will have to wait seven weeks until the next round at Donington Park on the weekend of 7-8 September.
Adam Smalley
R1 - 4, G1 - 3
R2 - 1, G2 - 2
Championship: Silver/Am Cup – 1 (199.5 points) Overall - 3 (105.5 points)
“It's incredible to win the Silver-Am title two rounds early, and I was really happy with overall result in the last race. It was a challenging weekend for us as qualifying was critical. We were lacking a little bit for some reason, I'm not sure why - we'll go back and have a look over the next few days to find out - but I think we maximised what we had. Shaun did a great job in both stints, we kept our noses clean; we didn't get in trouble whereas some others did, and overall, I’m really happy with the result.
“In race one our pace was strong and I was making progress on the cars ahead, but it was difficult to pass once I got to them. With these circuits the cars are nearly as wide as the track, so it doesn't make it easy to get by. It was nice to start a race in the second one as it feels like a long time since I've done that. I made two places on the first lap and got stuck in, but after that it was just managing the gap to the cars around us and we did what we needed to do to secure the title. Now that we've got one, we're putting our focus on the next!”
View photos from the race here
