Paddock battles to best points score despite bruising Donington weekend
Paddock Motorsport may have taken some blows during last weekend’s British GT Championship event at Donington Park, but the team’s sheer perseverance shone through as its two cars celebrated their best points finishes to date.
Ed McDermott and Matt Cowley produced their best performance of the season so far to finish a superb fourth overall in GT4 aboard their Mercedes-AMG, coming agonisingly close to a breakthrough podium.
Mark Smith and Martin Plowman’s GT3 McLaren may have been roughed up more than once, but the pair fought on to finish an eventual eighth overall, and an impressive fifth in the GT3 Pro-Am class, also securing their best points haul of the year.
The fact the team leaves the penultimate race of the year having faced down the challenges thrown at it and come out the other side with a season-best score speaks volumes about the rate of improvement and sheer fighting spirit within the squad.
Both of Paddock’s cars proved themselves as ones to watch from early in the weekend, with both the McLaren and the Mercedes-AMG showing pace that would make them contenders in the two-hour race.
After two practice sessions in mixed conditions, qualifying took place on a largely dry track, with Smith and Plowman placing the GT3 12th on the grid on combined times, and McDermott and Cowley sixth in GT4 Pro-Am, 13th overall in GT4.
Sunday promised much, with the weather clearing for a fully dry race, and both Paddock cars put on a slick showing, despite more than a few obstacles being chucked in the road.
The first one came early, when Smith was forced to take avoiding action into turn one as the 2 Seas Motorsport Mercedes GT3 that had started on the front row was tipped into a spin and came to rest broadside across Smith’s bonnet. The quick-thinking American took to the gravel and, while he avoided damage, the lost time dropped the car to the tail of the field.
Undeterred, Smith put on a great charge, scything through the GT4 traffic ahead to recatch the GT3 field. He then engaged in a tight fight with the J&S Motorsport Audi and Century Motorsport BMW, eventually working his way up to eighth and suddenly the car was back in with a chance. That was until Smith was punted into a spin by the chasing Garage 59 McLaren, the Paddock car coming to a rest right in the middle of the track. Mercifully everybody missed Smith, who did well to restart the machine and get out of trouble. He pitted for Plowman from tenth, and a well-timed stop from the Paddock crew got the car back out in ninth.
The lost time would prove impossible to claw back, but Plowman pressed on and picked up a further place when the Team Abba Mercedes-AMG crashed out late on.
In GT4, things were more straightforward, even if McDermott and Cowley kept the nerves jangling by coming agonisingly close to their first silverware of the season.
Having been blocked on two of his fastest laps in qualifying, McDermott was fired up to make progress in the race, and did not hold back when the lights went out, taking advantage of the opening lap chaos to make his way up to fifth in class on the opening lap. The momentum didn’t let up, as McDermott’s consistency helped him gain a full six places overall by the time the pit window opened, also slipping past the rival Xentek Motorsport Porsche to run fourth in Pro-Am by the time he stopped to hand to Cowley.
Cowley rejoined eight second behind the Century Motorsport BMW that ran third in class and, with a podium in sight, he began to eat into the gap, trimming tenths off the M4 with each lap. Cowley had just got within sight when the safety car was called following a scary accident for a Ginetta at Melbourne Hairpin that required lengthy barrier damage repairs.
With just two laps of green-flag running left when racing did resume, Cowley piled the pressure on the BMW ahead but was run wide, eventually settling for fourth in class and fifth overall at the flag. That then became fourth overall when the Optimum McLaren was penalised post-race for speeding under the caution period. It may not have been a podium, but there’s no doubting how impressive McDermott and Cowley’s performance was, and the duo will be hopeful of going even better in the season finale at Brands Hatch later in the month.
Ed McDermott said: “I’m really happy with fourth overall, even though it’s not a podium that’s a great result for us, especially given it’s been a challenging weekend. I was annoyed at losing my best laps in qualifying to traffic, and without that we would’ve been well in the mix. Still things came together in the race and the team worked really hard to give us a car we could fight with. There’s still room for improvement, but we have to be happy with this result.”
Matt Cowley said: “Overall it’s been a strong weekend for us, even if we could, and perhaps should, have had a podium here had we not been run out of road. We’ve come a long way since the start of the season and it’s clear to see the performance is there now. Ed drove a great stint, keeping things clean and gaining good ground to put me in a position to pressure the BMW late on. If we go like this at Brands Hatch, then we’ll be right in the mix for a big result.”
Mark Smith said: “Even though the result is actually pretty good, the race was so tough. The start was crazy and I had the choice of the gravel or going the other side of the spinning Mercedes and likely being hit by another car. The gravel was the safest option, but it cost a lot of time and once again I found myself having to fight through from the back early on. My stint from there went really well and we had great pace in the car… I was gaining spots back and then bang… I got hit from behind by the Garage 59 car, but the driver did apologise to me after, which I really appreciated. It’s been a tough weekend, but we could’ve easily been top five without the problems.”
Martin Plowman added: “It’s been a challenging weekend for the team, but there’s a load of positives to take from it that both cars came away with their best results yet. It’s been a lot of hard work, but we showed some strong pace in both the GT3 and GT4. From our side, Mark did a great job to avoid the chaos at the start and then flew back up the order and we were suddenly back in a strong position only to have more misfortune. It’s bitter-sweet that we had a car we could really fight with, yet not the luck to match. Still to come away with some solid points is some reward. It’s great to see Ed and Matt in the mix this weekend with the Mercedes. They’ve been knocking on the door of a big result in recent rounds and I have no doubt that podium will come their way soon if they continue showing the sort of performance they did today. We’re going into Brands Hatch at the end of the month looking to end the year on a high.”
The season finale of the British GT Championship takes place at Brands Hatch across the weekend of September 28-29.
