Jessica Hawkins takes double British GT class podiums at Snetterton to seize championship lead
- RACERS
- 2 hours ago
- 5 min read
With a highly successful Snetterton weekend, Jessica Hawkins and Will Orton scored a pair of GT4 Silver podium finishes with the #21 MKH Racing Aston Martin Vantage GT4 and moved into the lead of both the overall GT4 and GT4 Silver championships.
With a highly successful Snetterton weekend, Jessica Hawkins and Will Orton scored a pair of GT4 Silver podium finishes with the #21 MKH Racing Aston Martin Vantage GT4 and moved into the lead of both the overall GT4 and GT4 Silver championships.
Hawkins arrived at Snetterton enjoying an already impressive campaign alongside Orton, having secured a runner-up finish at Silverstone, a GT4 Silver victory at Oulton Park and another class podium at Spa-Francorchamps.
The British driver has also traditionally enjoyed strong performances at Snetterton across different categories, and that form immediately returned as the #21 Aston Martin emerged as one of the leading GT4 cars throughout the weekend.
The pairing made an encouraging start in practice, with Hawkins' team setting the second-fastest GT4 time in the opening official session with a 1:56.467 lap. She then took the wheel for the opening qualifying segment and immediately placed the Aston Martin among the class leaders, setting a 1:56.6 on her first representative lap before improving to 1:56.121. As the times continued to tumble, Hawkins ultimately finished fifth in GT4 Silver and seventh overall among the GT4 field.
Orton took over for Q2 and immediately improved the benchmark, recording a 1:55.4 to move into second place in Silver and third overall in GT4. A further improvement to 1:55.307 confirmed the pace of the #21 Aston Martin, securing second in GT4 Silver and fourth overall.
Hawkins therefore started the opening race from fifth in class and seventh among the GT4 cars, but produced an excellent launch to immediately gain five positions overall and move into third in GT4 Silver.
The opening laps were particularly hectic, with several incidents affecting both the GT3 and GT4 fields, but Hawkins navigated the traffic cleanly while maintaining her podium position. She quickly found herself attacking Stanton's #59 McLaren for second in class, while simultaneously having to defend from Collins in the #24 BMW.
Collins eventually found a way past on lap three, dropping Hawkins to fourth, but the Aston Martin driver remained within striking distance. Running consistently in the 1:58s, Hawkins began to close the gap again and used traffic from the other classes to her advantage, completing a strong recovery to retake third place in Silver by lap six.
She then turned her attention back to Stanton, progressively lowering her lap times to 1:58.0 and then 1:57.8 while keeping Collins behind. Hawkins maintained an impressive rhythm in the 1:57s, running only a few tenths away from the class leader as the GT3 pit stops began to alter the overall order.
When the GT4 pit window opened, Hawkins stayed on track and continued to hold third in Silver, while also climbing the overall GT4 order as cars ahead made their stops. She eventually brought the Aston Martin into the pits on lap 16 after a highly competitive opening stint, handing over to Orton for the final 24 minutes.
The pit strategy paid off immediately. Orton emerged in second place in GT4 Silver, behind the #74 Ginetta, while the #24 BMW remained around three seconds behind.
Orton quickly settled into a strong rhythm, setting a 1:57.5 and gaining an overall position when another Ginetta made its pit stop. He was now second in both the overall GT4 classification and GT4 Silver, with the leading #74 Ginetta around 10 seconds ahead.
The Aston Martin continued to close the gap, with Orton approximately half a second per lap faster than the leader during the middle portion of his stint. By lap 26, the deficit had been reduced to around eight seconds, although the pace eventually stabilized in the closing stages.
More importantly, Orton established a comfortable eight-second advantage over the third-placed BMW, allowing the #21 crew to complete a controlled final stint and secure second place in both GT4 and GT4 Silver.
The result already represented an excellent points haul, but Race 2 presented an additional strategic challenge. Because of their second-place finish, Hawkins and Orton were required to serve a 17-second pit-stop handicap, although their championship position meant that maximizing points remained the priority. Their closest championship rivals were carrying an even larger 25-second handicap.
Orton started Race 2 from second in GT4 Silver and fourth overall. He initially had to contend with the Pro-Am cars separating him from the leading #59 McLaren, while the #61 BMW of Turkington also applied pressure from behind.
Despite losing some time in the traffic, Orton quickly returned to a strong rhythm, setting 1:57.5 laps and applying sustained pressure to the #97 Pro-Am Aston Martin ahead. He was unable to find a way past, but continued to keep the car in contention.
A major development came on lap eight when the championship-leading #74 Ginetta suffered an issue and stopped at the side of the circuit. With the race remaining green, the retirement opened an important opportunity for Hawkins and Orton in the championship battle.
Orton continued to negotiate the faster GT3 traffic intelligently, avoiding unnecessary risks while keeping Turkington behind. He remained second in Silver as the pit window approached, with the leading #59 McLaren still ahead and the #97 Aston Martin continuing to occupy the space between them.
Orton eventually pitted on lap 17 and handed the #21 Aston Martin over to Hawkins, with the mandatory 17-second handicap applied during the stop. The delay allowed the #24 BMW to move ahead, meaning Hawkins returned to the circuit third in GT4 Silver and eighth overall with around 20 minutes remaining.
She immediately went on the attack: Hawkins cleared the Pro-Am entries of Townsend and Hartshorne before catching Graham's BMW, which she passed on lap 23 to move into fifth overall in GT4 while retaining third in Silver.
The #24 BMW was now around nine seconds ahead, but Hawkins continued to chip away at the deficit. Her pace improved to 1:58.6 before she produced a 1:58.008 lap, gaining another half-second.
At the same time, Hawkins created a substantial margin behind, extending the gap to the following cars to more than 20 seconds.
With insufficient laps remaining to challenge for another position, she brought the Aston Martin home in third place in GT4 Silver and fifth overall in GT4, completing a second podium finish of the weekend.
The double podium proved particularly valuable in the championship standings. Hawkins and Orton now lead the British GT4 Championship with 106 points, holding a narrow 1.5-point advantage over their closest rivals.
Their position is even stronger in the GT4 Silver class, where they lead with 125.5 points, 7.5 points clear at the top.
After a weekend that combined strong pace and effective strategy, Hawkins and Orton leave Snetterton as championship leaders and with significant momentum heading into the final stages of the season.
The British GT Championship will return to action at Donington Park on September 5-6 for Round 7.
