2Seas Motorsport on track at Oulton Park for start of British GT season

The 2022 Intelligent Money British GT Championship roared into life at Cheshire's Oulton Park on Easter Monday in spectacular fashion, and Vale-based 2Seas Motorsport, former British GT race winners, were on-track in the thick of the action with their Mercedes AMG GT3 cars, write Colin and James Beckett.

A huge Bank Holiday crowd descended on the popular parkland track to witness two frantic one-hour endurance races that formed the curtain raising events of what looks set to be a classic season of GT racing. With Adam Carroll (Balfe Motorsport Audi) and Jules Gounon (Ram Racing Mercedes) going wheel-to-wheel for the top two positions in the opening race of the year, the scene was set for what many believe will be the best season of British GT racing ever seen.

Running competitively throughout the opening race, the DK Engineering 2Seas Motorsport Mercedes AMG GT3 of James Cottingham and Lewis Williamson, crossed the finishline in a fine fifth position. Sporting an eye catching yellow and red livery, the Mercedes was started by Cottingham, a regular racer in major historic events such as the Goodwood Revival, before Williamson took over to charge to the chequered flag.

The day's second race saw Williamson start, but he was involved in a collision during the wheel-banging opening laps which caused damage to the front of the Mercedes, and ultimately forced the car to retire after fourteen laps. Despite the disappointment of a non finish, Cottingham was pleased, saying, "This was a great weekend of GT racing, and we head to Silverstone next for a three-hour event. The team won the Silverstone race last year, and it would be great to repeat that."

Kevin Tse and Chris Froggatt, driving a Sky Tempesta Racing-supported 2Seas Mercedes, finished twelfth in the opening race, before scoring a superb podium finish in the second race of the day that was red flagged due to heavy mid-race rain. Re-started over a duration of 25-minutes, the duo were able to finish third with victory scored by the Paddock Motorsport McLaren of Martin Plowman and TV personality, and former 'Strictly Come Dancing' winner, Kelvin Fletcher.

* Alex Kapadia ad his RLR MSport team-mates, Nick Adcock and Michael Jensen, raced to a fine third place finish in the LMP3 class of the European Le Mans Series in France on Sunday. The trio were contesting the 4 Hours of Le Castellet at the Paul Ricard Circuit in France, and against a very competitive entry of LMP3 cars scored a strong result to start the 2022 campaign.

The Vale-based racer and crew were originally placed fourth in the LMP3 class results, but were moved up the order after the removal of one of the top three cars due to a post race technical infringement. Despite not having the enjoyment of standing on the post race podium, Kapadia was thrilled with the result and his team's opening race of the season.

Saying, "RLR MSport has been remarkable all weekend because of its focus and quality of work despite running five cars across all categories of the European Le Mans Series package."

Adding, "This was a great way for us all to start the year and we are full of confidence as we look towards the next round of the championship at Imola next month."

Overall victory was scored by the Prema team making their LMP2 calss debut with Louis Deletraz, Ferdi Habsburg and Lorenzo Colombo driving the team's Oreca 07-Gibson car.