Jonny Adam equaled the winning record of the Intelligent Money British GT Championship taking his third win of the season alongside 2 Seas Motorsport team-mate James Cottingham in an often intense but also strategy-oriented three-hour race at the Autodromo do Algarve.
The duo extended their championship lead over Optimum Motorsport's Mark Radcliffe and Rob Bell, the latter keeping behind Sandy Mitchell – who shared Barwell Motorsport's Lamborghini with Shaun Balfe – during the final 30 minutes.
Two Safety Car periods in the first half hour saw most teams make two of the three mandatory driver changes sooner than expected, and at the end of all those strategy choices, it was Michael Johnston and Chris Salkeld who found themselves at the top in GT4.
The Century Motorsport BMW duo took their first class victory by 3,3s over Enduro Motorsport's new Mercedes-AMG, with Darren Burke and Harry George, who inherited second place from pole sitters Josh Miller and Seb Hopkins, after the latter crashed out of Raceway's #55 Ginetta.
The unscheduled stop for repairs to his car looked to pave the way for Toro Verde's James Townsend and Mike Simpson to take the podium, but their aspirations were dashed with a puncture early on the final lap.
Josh Rowledge of DTO Motorsport and Aston Millar unexpectedly finished third.
Meanwhile, Kevin Tse and Chris Froggatt looked well on their way to their fourth consecutive GT3 Silver-Am win, until a drive-through late handed the class win to Barwell's Mark Sansom and Will Tregurtha.
GT3: 2 Seas triumphs in the Algarve
Adam's record-breaking replica of victories is a highlight at the end of the Algarve race, but it was the excellent stint Cottingham intermediate that helped the pair overcome not only a turbulent first hour, but also the 10-second stoppage time that finally allowed Phil Keen's winning tally to be equaled.
No one sailed better in the opening exchanges than Cottingham and Adam, who avoided the multitude of mishaps experienced by their rivals.
Miguel Ramos took advantage of the 'pole position' to stand out with the McLaren Garage 59, shortly after the start, leading Cottingham and Ian Loggie in the second 2 Seas Mercedes-AMG in the first few laps. But this was only in the initial period, as two safety cars in the first 30 minutes led the teams to change their strategies.
The first safety car he was called out after just nine minutes, when Century's #4 BMW GT22 plunged into the exit of turn five. With the race neutralized, the majority of the field opted to pit and perform the first of three mandatory driver changes.
Optimum decided otherwise and kept Radcliffe on track to keep the McLaren out of the strategic corner for much of the race.
After leaving the safety, Dan Harper increased the pace over several laps and in doing so moved the Century BMW into second place behind Radcliffe. But just as the race appeared to be stabilising, Paddock Motorsport's McLaren GT4 #7 stopped on the track with an exhaust problem that caused flames to invade the engine compartment.
Then came a second safety cars, after just 32 minutes, and another wave of stops, which shuffled the order. Some riders were delayed leaving the pits by the safety car who was leading the field, but RAM Racing made a strong bet by placing Raffaele Marciello in seventh, in exchange for John Ferguson, and the car returned to the asphalt of roller coaster in second ahead of Sansom's Barwell Lamborghini, Lucky Khera's RACE LAB McLaren, Matt Topham's Enduro Aston Martin and Cottingham.
The second hour was enlivened by the battle between Ferguson and Cottingham, last seen at Snetterton. When Sansom fell behind and Khera and Topham joined, Cottingham passed the pack to attack Ferguson but, once again, the RAM Mercedes-AMG fought back with no mistakes and only a huge overtake on the outside at turn 13 pierced your defences.
Cottingham attacked decisively and took a comfortable lead, while Ferguson held back the competition. That gap – around 30 seconds – would prove vital for 2 Seas at the time of their Trim Time and it was Adam who kept command of the race for the final hour.
although a third safety car – called upon to retrieve the #56 Raceway Ginetta from the gravel – eroded Adam's advantage, he ended up holding the lead at the checkered flag.
After betting to stay on track during the first safety car, Optimum took advantage of the following to move Bell up to second, as the final cycle of stops had worked. Bell pursued Adam, but when his mirrors filled with Sandy Mitchell's Lamborghini Barwell - who also opted not to stop in the first period of safety car - the pressure is gone scare Adam
Bell held off Mitchell to clinch a second podium of the year for the Optimum GT3 team, while Marciello capitalized on Ferguson to come home in fifth, despite serving the maximum compensation time at the pit stop end.
GT4: Salkeld scores long-awaited victory
The performances of Johnston and Salkeld have often gone under the radar this year, despite the pair being second in the Pro-Am standings ahead of Sunday's race. But with the three-hour format, the #4 BMW M14 was a model of consistency through chaos as the pair went from eighth on the grid to claim their first British GT win.
The race itself came down to a three-way fight between the BMW of Century, the Enduro Mercedes-AMG of Harry George and Darren Burke, and the Aston Martin of R Racing of Josh Miller and Seb Hopkins, who perhaps could have won.
As in GT3, the first periods of the Safety car led most participants to do two of their three pit stops much sooner than conventional wisdom would dictate.
The first period was caused by Johnston and Salkeld's Pro-Am championship rival and teammate Carl Cavers, when he planted the car he shares with Lewis Plato in the gravel and out of the race within the first 10 minutes, before the Pro-Am standings were cut further when Tom Rawlings was forced to pit the #7 McLaren of Paddock.
Os dois Safety Cars made the first hour unpredictable, giving teams the chance to try alternative strategies that could alter the order.
Both Raceway Ginettas opted to run hard, as did Academy Motorsport's twin Ford Mustang, which meant that the true running order would only become clear when these four cars had made their final visits to the pits in the final hour.
R Racing's Aston led every session in the Algarve, and led the race early on, but was also one of the first cars to stop on the first Safety car.
Miller and Hopkins raced under pressure for much of the afternoon, as did the BMW of Johnston and Salkeld. Both cars were in the top six in the middle distance, and then both made their final stops with no problems to battle it out for the full hour.
R Racing's compensation time, plus the fact that the Pro-Am duos make shorter stops overall, meant that Salkeld took the overall race lead with half an hour to go, with Hopkins around eight seconds behind but quickly recovering.
Hopkins pressed hard and was just three seconds behind the leader when a collision with the #55 Ginetta damaged the Aston's front left and forced him to make an extra stop to repair the car.
Hopkins would rejoin but lost two laps, and a post-race penalty for contact further delayed the car.
This left Salkeld at the wheel for a first victory for BMW, ahead of a cheerful Ainsley Harriott who was in the pits. The Enduro Mercedes-AMG kept its cool and pace and Burke gladly accepted the gift of second place and victory in the Silver category.
But there was more drama in the day's line-up, as the Ginetta of Mike Simpson and James Townsend – who fared better from the strategic options and should have rounded out the podium – suffered a dramatic blowout as it started its final lap, clearing the way for Josh Rowledge and Aston Millar's McLaren DTO to finish third.
The RACE LAB McLaren Artura of Tom Wrigley and Ian Gough was fourth, ahead of the Mustang of Simpson/Townsend and Matt Cowley/Erik Evans, who completed the top six.
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