2 Seas Motorsport brings maiden British GT season to a close with double top-5 finish at Silverstone 500

Al Faisal al Zubair joins McLaren Professional Driver Martin Kodrić at the wheel of a third McLaren 720S GT3 for the team, adding a further exciting one-off Silver line-up to the championship finale.

• Debut racing season signed off with two cars in the top five against world-class grid

• Al Faisal al Zubair and Martin Kodric take impressive Silver Cup podium on series debut

• Race results see 2 Seas Motorsport secure P3 in GT3 Team championship

The Intelligent Money British GT Championship 3-hour season finale was packed with action and incident from lights to flag, and 2 Seas Motorsport ended its debut season by successfully bringing each of its three McLaren 720S GT3s home, with a double top-5 finish and an impressive Silver class podium. Series debutants Al Faisal al Zubair and Martin Kodrić led the team home in P4 overall at the end of 180 minutes to net the final podium spot in the hotly contested Silver Cup. Angus Fender and Dean Macdonald finished P5, while season-long teammates Jordan Witt and Jack Mitchell battled hard to P12 overall.

Making a one-off appearance in the championship, the Silver pairing of Al Faisal and Martin was immediately on the pace during the free practice sessions and they looked strong heading into their first qualifying session. Al Faisal’s qualifying performance in particular was a standout during the opening 10-minute session as the Omani driver – driving the McLaren for the first time this weekend – claimed P5 place against the Am and fellow Silver entries. After a compromised start to the same session, Angus recovered well to run ninth quickest, while Silver Cup championship contender Jordan ran P13 at the flag.

The second of the qualifying sessions saw laptimes improve across the grid with the second Silver drivers in the pairings running against the Pro opposition from the Pro-Am line-ups. The session saw the 2 Seas Motorsport drivers repeat the order seen in the earlier session with Martin leading the trio in P14, Dean in P17 and Jack taking P18. The combined laptimes from the two sessions saw Al Faisal and Martin line up P11, Angus and Dean in P14 and Jordan and Jack in P17 for the start of the 3-hour battle.

After a cold and dry qualifying, race day saw heavy fog delay the day’s proceedings and the race started with a damp and greasy Silverstone circuit presenting a new challenge to the drivers.  Despite the tricky conditions, Angus made a blistering start and was immediately on to the back of Al Faisal with both drivers pushing for a top-10 position, while Jordan also looked to make an impression in the early stages.

Shortly after, as the drivers set off on their second tour of Silverstone’s Grand Prix circuit, heavy contact between a GT3 and GT4 car brought out the Safety Car and the race was neutralised while the track was cleared. This extended period saw the field cycle through an initial pitstop, shuffling the order and Angus briefly moved up to P2 before pitting. While under Safety Car conditions, all three drivers pitted and switched drivers, and the race eventually got back underway with all Martin, Dean and Jack all narrowly outside the top-10 at the 60-minute mark.

At the second round of pitstops, Jack was first of the trio to pit while Martin and Dean remained on track to run solidly in the top-10. The driver switch for the middle-stint of the race saw each of the three drivers shine, and each benefitted from penalties for the lead pack as the race neared two-thirds distance. Al Faisal continued to impress in the #11, running as high as P5, while Angus put in one of his strongest drives of the season to progress up to P7. Jordan also worked his way through the field, pushing for a top-10 position by the end of his run.

Another round of seamless stops by the 2 Seas Motorsport pit-crews saw all three McLarens back out for the sprint to the flag, before a series of late dramas would hit front-running entries in the closing laps. Two of the top-5 were hit by issues as the clock ticked down, and Martin and Dean were able to capitalise and move up the order to run in P4 and P5. Meanwhile, Jack was engaged in an intense battle for P10 and was forced to defend hard. Despite his best efforts, Jack was unable to hold off a late charge and was forced to concede.

At the flag, all three entries crossed the line on the lead lap after 180 minutes, with Martin and Al Faisal in P4 overall, Dean and Angus in P5 and Jack and Jordan’s P12 place not a fair reflection of their efforts.  In the Silver Cup, the results saw Martin and Al Faisal take P3 with Dean and Angus narrowly behind in P4.

As a one-off entry for the season-ending Silverstone 500 event, Al Faisal and Martin’s entry was not eligible for championship points, along with a number of other one-off entries on the grid. This adjustment sees Angus and Dean awarded championship points for P4 overall, and P3 in the Silver Cup. These adjusted results mean Jack and Jordan end the season in P4 in the Silver Cup, with Angus and Dean in P6. In its debut season, 2 Seas Motorsport claims P3 in the GT3 team’s championship having secured silverware at each of the seven race weekends.

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Isa Al-Khalifa, 2 Seas Motorsport team co-owner.

“It is great to end the Intelligent Money British GT Championship with two cars in the top-4, and to bring all three cars home at the end of a tough 3-hours of racing.
The drivers all did a great job over the weekend, and it was a great end our debut season.

“It has been a big mountain for the team to climb this season, especially with the impact of Covid-19 and the condensed schedule of races over the past couple of months, but the drivers have performed extremely well and the whole team has worked hard to achieve great results throughout the year.

We would like to thank each of our sponsors and partners for their help and support to have made this season possible, and for helping us secure 3rd in the GT3 team’s championship in our first season.”

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