Donington Park always produces a thrilling race and in one of British GTs largest ever grids, this round was no exception
The #97 Aston Martin Vantage GT4 car of Ash Hand and Tom Canning put in a solid combined qualifying effort which would see them line up in P9 for the two hour race around the Leicestershire countryside.
Ash started the race and soon got into a nice consistent rhythm and was the fastest GT4 car on the circuit! His consistent pace and fast lap times saw the #97 car come through the field to P6! As the pit window opened Ash pitted the #97 car and handed over to team mate Tom Canning. With other cars faltering around the team towards the end of the race, Ash and Tom were promoted to fifth place overall and fourth in the Silver Cup at the chequered flag. They have elevated into the top five in the overall GT4 standings and come away from the weekend with the maximum points haul with no penalties to take into Spa.
Ash commented, “Our pace was great. We started really well and moved up to ninth. We knew it was going to be a struggle at the start to get through the grid quickly, and its almost impossible to overtake cars in front like the BMW who have so much speed on the straights. So we just had to bide our time until we could get passed, and then once we did we started setting fast laps. We showed our pace and considering we started ninth, to finish fifth overall and fourth in class, it’s great. I think this is the turning point for Tom and I, we’re starting to get to grips with the car and we’re bonding even more and seem to work very well together. Now it’s just a case of being consistent to keep ourselves in contention with three rounds left and I think we’ll be able to fight at the front. I couldn’t be happier right now, I’m really looking forward to Spa.”