Oulton Park Race 1: Balfe narrowly beat Ram to top spot

The first race of the 2022 British GT Championship got underway at Oulton Park with the cars in both the GT3 and  GT4 classes going to battle for an hour over the 2.69 miles long circuit.

The #22 Balfe Motorsport Audi R8 started from pole position but suffered difficulties at the start, being swamped by the approaching pack and falling down to 6^th at the end of the opening lap with Shaun Balfe on board.

With just under 40 mins left on the clock, the #2 Team Rocket RJN McLaren went into the barriers after Graham Davidson tagged the side of the #8 Team Abba Racing Mercedes.

As the GT3 pit window, the #77 Enduro Motorsport had a nightmare as Morgan Tillbrook drove into the wrong pit box and had to for another lap of the circuit.

Richard Neary was leading the race before Sam Neary took over but because of the collision with the #77 Enduro Motorsport, they faced a stop-go penalty. Things would then get much worse for Team Abba as they faced another stop-go penalty as their pit stop was less than 0.1 seconds under the minimum stop time.

The #4 2 Seas Motorsport Mercedes briefly took the lead of the race but faced a stop-go penalty, handing the lead back to Balfe Motorsport who found themselves fortunate with the penalties from the drivers in front.

Despite late pressure from the #6 RAM Racing Mercedes, it was the #22 Balfe Motorsport Audi that held on to take the victory. Joining Balfe and Ram Racing on the podium was the #40 Fox Motorsport McLaren of Nick Halstead and Jamie Stanley.

In the GT4 class, it was victory for the #42 Steller Motorsport of Richard Williams and Sennan Fielding, ahead of the #23 R Racing Aston Martin of Josh Miller and Jamie Day.

Race Two begins at 16:10pm UK Time.