Avon Tyres British GT Championship debutant Oli Basey-Fisher concluded the opening event of the 2014 season at Oulton Park International Circuit on Easter Monday, 21st April, frustrated to have missed out on the chance of a GT4 Class podium finish – instead posting a best result of seventh.

While happy with the overall pace of the Academy Motorsport Ginetta G55 he shares with former GT4 Class Champion, and Academy team principal, Matt Nicoll-Jones, the 18-year-old from Suffolk was less satisfied with the outcome to the weekend but pleased with his own level of performance.

Due to the Ginetta G55 having been the pace-setting car in GT4 last year, the category’s ‘balance of performance’ regulations dictate Oli’s car has to run with an additional 130kg of ballast compared to the rival Aston Martin, Porsche, BMW and Lotus cars.

Despite the significant handicap, the reigning Protyre Motorsport Ginetta GT5 Champion produced some good lap times and managed to qualify fifth fastest in GT4 for round one, within 0.6 seconds of the top three.

Getting away from the rolling start very well indeed, the Great Finborough-based driver climbed into the class top three on the opening lap and maintained his podium challenge throughout the first half hour of racing. On lap 15 the Safety Car was deployed, so Oli immediately pitted for the mandatory driver change pit-stop.

Nicoll-Jones emerged back onto the track in sixth place in GT4 and when the race action got back underway, the former champion made his way into the class top five within a few laps. With the rear tyre pressures set too high, though, handling became tricky and the end result was seventh place.

“The first race was OK, I was pretty happy with my stint and really pleased with my start”, said Century Logistics and DCB (Kent) Ltd-backed Oli, “I handed the car over to Matt from fourth but then we made the mistake with the pressures, from then on the car was almost un-driveable for him so we lost out on what was a good chance of a podium.”

Round two was less fruitful for the Academy pairing when an unfortunate parts failure resulted in a forced retirement at mid-distance. Qualifying seventh on the GT4 grid, despite a decision to focus on conserving tyres and therefore completing only a single flying lap, Nicoll-Jones took the opening stint of race two and made an excellent getaway.

Rising into fourth in class, he initially pressurised Devon Modell’s Aston Martin GT4 before slipping back as the race order settled. Following a Safety Car period, Nicoll-Jones was back into seventh in GT4 and with 35 minutes of the race remaining he pitted to hand over the car to Oli. Just a couple of laps later, though, the teenager had to retire to the pits due to hydraulic pipe failure.

“It’s been a frustrating start to the season really”, said the British GT rookie, “Qualifying went quite well, especially considering our limited time in the car before the weekend – I’d only had three days in it and Matt [Nicoll-Jones] hadn’t driven the car at all. The balance of performance is hurting us but our overall pace is still good. I’m sure we’ll be stronger for the next round in a couple of weeks.”

Rockingham in Northamptonshire will host round three of the Avon Tyres British GT Championship season, the first two-hour race of the campaign, on Bank Holiday Monday, 5th May.