Runner-up finish for Charlotte Birch on British Endurance Championship debut

Charlotte Birch secured a second-place finish in Class G at the British Endurance Championship at Donington Park, overcoming an opening lap setback to achieve a strong result in her return to endurance racing.

Photo credits: Stevie Borowik Photography

Charlotte Birch enjoyed a successful return to endurance racing with a second-place result in the British Endurance Championship at Donington Park. Teaming up with Cameron Pratt-Thompson in an SVG Motorsport prepared Ginetta G55, the duo recovered from an opening lap incident to score a runner-up finish in Class G in the two-hour event.

After opening her season with an appearance in the Milltek Sport Civic Cup, Birch then contested two rounds of the Track Action series with great success. A multiple overall race winner during the campaign, Charlotte displayed her versatility while driving her Vinna Sport prepared Honda Civic. Now returning to endurance racing, Birch teamed up with fellow former Junior Saloon Car Championship driver Cameron Pratt-Thompson in the British Endurance Championship.

Birch is no stranger to endurance racing following a successful spell in the GT Cup Championship where she drove a Lamborghini Huracan Super Trofeo machine as well as a Ginetta G55. Returning to drive a Ginetta at Donington Park, Charlotte arrived into the weekend with familiarity of this car and circuit combination, however in a different championship.

Joining leading team SVG Motorsport, Birch was looking to help Pratt-Thompson continue his superb start to the season with the teenage racer a multiple class winner during his maiden campaign in the British Endurance Championship.

Much like the format of Charlotte’s previous series, the GT Cup Championship, the action for the British Endurance Championship drivers got underway with a back-to-back practice and qualifying session. Birch got up to speed in the early part of practice, before Pratt-Thompson got behind the wheel of the Ginetta G55 to close out the session in preparation for qualifying. It was a productive free practice session as the SVG Motorsport pair completed 17 laps and finished the session fastest in Group G courtesy of Pratt-Thompson’s penultimate lap.

Qualifying took place directly after free practice and Cameron was immediately setting the pace among the Class G competitors. At the end of the short session, he had set the fastest time in class to claim a superb pole position by over a second, also placing fifth in the overall classification ahead of the trio of homologated GT4 machines.

Pratt-Thompson took the start of the race from the third row of the grid and was challenging for a strong position into Redgate corner. Contact was made between Cameron and the Porsche 911 GT3 Cup car of Richard Avery and this resulted in damage to the Ginetta G55. The bonnet had come loose and was partially obscuring the view of the driver, therefore the SVG Motorsport machine was called to the pit lane.

A good job from the team saw the car repaired but unfortunately Pratt-Thompson was almost two laps behind the class leading car of Jonny MacGregor. Nonetheless, Cameron was pushing hard to make up for lost time and immediately set the fastest lap time in Class G. This allowed him to make substantial inroads on second place driver Marc Elman, with Pratt-Thompson unlapping himself from Elman with just over twenty-minutes of the race completed.

The pit window opened shortly after and with the leading MacG Racing Ginetta G55 pitting early in the window, Pratt-Thompson was up to second position in class. By lap 30, Cameron had cut the gap to Elman to less than 40 seconds and was maximising his performance until Owen Hizzey drove a stint in the sister SVG Motorsport Ginetta G55.

On lap 37, Elman brought his class-leading machine into the pits and this allowed Pratt-Thompson to take the on-track lead, however a pitstop was owed in comparison to their rivals.

A fantastic stint from Pratt-Thompson came to an end on lap 48 when he pitted from the class lead to hand over to Birch for her opening stint in the race. Charlotte rejoined the race just four seconds behind Owen Hizzey in the sister SVG Motorsport machine. Just a few laps into her stint, the class leading MacG Racing machine found the gravel trap with Arthur Simondet at the wheel and was out of the race. Therefore, it was between Birch and Hizzey to contend for the Class G victory at Donington Park.

Charlotte attempted to hang onto the tail of Hizzey in the opening stages of her stint, however his extra experience driving the Ginetta G55 in the British Endurance Championship was paying off as he slowly extended the margin. On lap 61, Birch pitted and took the team’s secondary mandatory stop while remaining in the car with her minimum drive time not yet completed. Hizzey pitted two laps later and was also managing a gearbox issue which gave hope to Birch and Pratt-Thompson despite their first lap setback.

Birch rejoined the action in second position within Class G and was continuing to gain confidence in the car, setting a number of personal best lap times as she raced well to remain on the lead lap. The gap between Hizzey and Birch was approaching 40 seconds as the pit cycle was completed and although Hizzey continued to extend his margin, it was a great effort from Charlotte on her return to endurance racing.

The damage to the bonnet was also preventing her from achieving maximum lap time with the aerodynamic efficiency of the car suffering as a result. Nonetheless, Birch was able to bring the Ginetta G55 to the checkered flag in second position within Class G, seventh in the overall classification.

Despite the challenges faced by Birch and Pratt-Thompson, it was an excellent result for the duo in tough circumstances at Donington Park. Charlotte was able to gain valuable multi-class experience while adapting to rear-wheel-drive machinery for the first time in a number of years.

Birch will now look ahead to securing further opportunities during the second half of the 2024 season which has seen her compete successfully in a range of championships throughout Britain.

Photo credits: Chris Valentine