Bartholomew shines at sunny Snetterton

British GT4 championship challenger Jack Bartholomew enjoyed a successful weekend in the sunshine at the Snetterton 300 circuit in Norfolk, competing in the seventh and eighth round of the 2016 British GT4 championship, in what was the penultimate event of the season.

Driving an Aston Martin V8 Vantage GT4 car for Beechdean AMR, Jack was partnered by Aston Martin factory driver Ross Gunn. At the start of the weekend, Jack was 17 ½ points behind the championship leaders and therefore needed a strong weekend to keep his championship hopes alive and the duo did not disappoint. Taking 2nd place in the first one hour race, only just behind the leader and winning the second race by over 12 seconds, Jack is now only 2 ½ points behind the leaders going into the last round.

Starting from 5th on the grid in race one, Jack made an electrifying start elevating him into second place by the first corner. He spent the rest of his stint in the car chasing down the leader until he stopped for his mandatory pit stop to hand over to Ross Gunn. Ross emerged in 3rd place and set about chasing the McLaren and Aston Martin in front of him. He managed to pass the 2nd place MacMillan Racing V8 Vantage, but was unable to pass the Mclaren and crossed the line in second place, just 0.360 seconds behind.

Starting from Pole position for race 2, Ross had a good start and held on to the lead despite extreme pressure from the Generation AMR Aston Martin Vantage in second place behind him. After 30 minutes, Ross came in for the mandatory pit stop and, despite having to serve a 7 second time penalty for coming second in race 1, Jack emerged in second place. Within three laps, he had caught and overtaken the

leader and with some extremely consistent fast laps, he extended his lead to over 12 seconds bringing the V8 Vantage home in first place. This was the very first time an Aston Martin V8 Vantage has won a British GT4 round at Snetterton.

Jack Bartholomew

“It was great to be a part of the first Aston Martin Vantage V8 GT4 win at Snetterton” commented championship challenger Bartholomew. “The entire team were awesome all weekend and managed to quickly erase the gremlins we suffered in Saturday practice. This victory was certainly a team effort and I can’t wait for Donington.”

Ross Gunn

“I enjoyed my return to GT4 assisting with Jack’s and Beechdean’s assault on the title. Both races were near faultless from all of the guys and it was fantastic to be back on the podium.”

This weekend’s results for the #407 GT4 will see the championship go down to the wire at the last round on the 11th September at Donington Park race circuit.