Joy for Beechdean drivers at Silverstone

​Regulars in the British GT Championship, the Beechdean AMR squad took advantage of the GT Cup visiting Silverstone to race their Aston Martin Vantage GT3, and Howard was joined by Aston Martin factory-supported racer, Darren Turner, in two of the four races across the weekend.

Competing in the GT3 category of the MotorSport Vision Racing-organised championship, the Beechdean AMR car was class winner in all four of the races. Two driven exclusively by Howard, and two where the former British GT champion was joined by Turner. In each race the Aston Martin finished second overall, finishing behind the Abba Motorsport Mercedes AMG of Ian Loggie and Richard Neary.

Silverstone was the first outing for the local Aston Martin GT squad since the British GT race at Spa-Francorchamps in June, when Howard was a retirement following a collision on the opening lap.

He said: "These races at Silverstone handed us the opportunity to compete prior to the next round of the British GT Championship at Donington Park in September. It was good to score four class wins and come away with some silverware."

For Donington Park's British GT event, Howard will once again be joined in the Beechdean AMR car by Jessica Hawkins, who acts as a brand ambassador for the marque. Hawkins has been making her debut in GT3 racing during the 2024 season.

*Tom Ingram leads the Kwik Fit British Touring Car Championship following three rounds at the Croft Circuit in Yorkshire on Sunday. The Vale-based racer scored a best result of second position in his opening race of the weekend driving a Bristol Street Motors supported EXCELR8 Hyundai.

Ingram followed up that performance by finishing fourth in race two and third in the final event of the weekend to leave Croft with a total of 253 points, 21 clear of his nearest rival, Jake Hill (BMW).

*Ross Gunn and his Walkenhorst Motorsport team-mates, Henrique Chaves and David Pittard, finished the Nurburgring 3-Hours - the latest round of the Fanatec GT World Challenge Endurance Cup - in 13th position.

The Aston Martin GT3 trio battled hard throughout the three-hour race at the former Grand Prix track in Germany, crossing the line on the same number of laps as the race-winning Grasser Racing Lamborghini Huracan of Franck Perera, Marco Mapelli and Jordan Pepper.

Heavy rain during the opening two days of the event cleared away for Sunday's race, that saw a huge fifty car field take part in the race - the third round of the 2024 GT World Challenge Endurance Cup. Twenty two cars finished the race on the lead lap, with the top six finishing positions filled by cars from six different GT manufacturing brands, once again demonstrating the competitiveness of current GT racing.

Speaking afterwards, Gunn said, "We had good pace all weekend and pushed hard. Following on from our fourth place finish in the Spa 24 Hours, this again demonstrated that we are in a position to challenge for victory and we have two more events in which to do that this year."

The GT World Challenge Endurance Cup will continue at Monza in Italy during September, before heading to Saudi Arabia for its final round at the Jeddah circuit in November.