Xentek Motorsport fought their way to an impressive top six class finish on a hugely positive debut weekend in the British GT Championship at Donington Park (07/08 September).
The South Yorkshire squad joined the prestigious series for the first time with their newly-crowned 2024 British Endurance Championship GT4 champion duo of Bal Sidhu and Josh Steed in their Porsche 718 Cayman GT4 RS Clubsport.
With Sidhu and Steed having already raced the Simply ECO-backed Cayman at Donington Park in BEC this season, alongside a Porsche Sprint Challenge GB outing at the same circuit for Sidhu, the duo were confident they could hit the ground running in free practice on Saturday morning.
They did exactly that in tricky, mixed weather conditions, with Steed lighting up the timesheets to post the fastest lap overall in the competitive 19-car GT4 field. That was a big confidence booster for the #16 crew, though there would be frustration next time they hit the track.
In pre-qualifying, a brake line parts failure ended their session with just a handful of laps completed. The loss of track time would put them on the back foot heading into qualifying, but the two former Ginetta GT5 Challenge class champions rose to the challenge in superb fashion.
Sidhu put in a brilliant performance in his ten-minute qualifying session to finish fifth quickest in Pro-Am, before Steed followed up with a rapid lap that put him fourth fastest overall in his segment. Once combined, their efforts secured them fifth in Pro-Am on the grid for Sunday’s two-hour race.
For the first time all weekend, the sun was shining for the start of the race. Sidhu was behind the wheel for the opening stint and after climbing to fourth on the opening lap, he put in a competitive performance to maintain a top six challenge through to the mid-race pitstop.
Steed emerged from a well-executed stop in sixth place and immediately started edging clear of the cars behind. Unfortunately, a lengthy 25-minute full course yellow / safety car period hugely limited his racing time though, but he brought the car home with a well-earned sixth place Pro-Am finish.
Christopher Richards – Team Principal: “It’s been a fantastic experience competing in the British GT Championship for the first time and we’re proud of the performance we put in. We’ve worked hard with our GT4 programme this year and have shown we can compete at the highest level in the UK.
“It was a tough Saturday missing out on the pre-qualifying running, but Bal and Josh pulled out a brilliant qualifying performance. They followed that up with a great showing in the race too, and it’s just a shame that the full course yellow period stopped Josh from having a chance to make more progress.”
Images from Jakob Ebrey Photography.