The 2009 Avon Tyres British GT Championship may have lacked the grid sizes seen in previous seasons but there was certainly nothing missing in terms of the quality of the racing on offer. Race after race provided a nail-biting finish and nine different driver pairings won rounds of the series.

The outright British GT title went by a single point to twin brothers David and Godfrey Jones, who took three outright victories at the wheel of their Team Pyro-prepared Preci-Spark Ascari KZR1, and the championship was not decided until the final round.

There were race wins also for the Mosler MT900, the Dodge Viper, the new and experimental Ginetta G50Z, the Ferrari 430 and its newest evolution, the Scuderia, and also for the Ford GT.

While GT3 provided unpredictability and a host of different winners thanks to the championship’s ‘balance of performance’ rules, there was less competition in GT4 and a clean sweep of wins for the Ginetta chassis, with champion Jody Firth and his driving partner, Nigel Moore, claiming the lion’s share of them.

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Daniel Brown and Stuart Hall enjoyed a dream start to their partnership at Oulton Park, winning both races with their Rollcentre Racing-prepared, Momo-backed Mosler.

Brown displayed nerves of steel and skill to spare in the opening laps of round one as he built a useful lead over David Jones in the Preci-Spark Ascari. Brown handed over to Hall at half-distance with a lead of 10 seconds, Hall extending the advantage during his stint to 12 seconds before easing off towards the end and crossing the line 7.6s clear of the David/Godfrey Jones Ascari. The Rosso Verde Ferrari of Hector Lester and Allan Simonsen placed third.

GT4 class honours looked set to go to the Ginetta G50 of Speedworks Motorsport pairing Richard Sykes and Lawrence Tomlinson. Sykes led handsomely up to the pit stop but Tomlinson went off the road after a clash with an unsighted backmarker, handing class victory to Jody Firth/Nigel Moore and their Team WFR Ginetta.

In Round 2, Hall had to play second fiddle to the Simonsen Ferrari for the first half. After the pit stops, Brown completed his first lap 2.8s behind the Ferrari, now in Lester’s hands, and was just sizing him up for a passing manoeuvre when Hector spun away his lead at Old Hall Corner. Brown romped home to a 21-second win.

The GT4 class lead was seized at the start by Moore, with Firth maintaining the pace during his stint to claim the duo’s second successive class win. Oulton brought impressive maiden outings for the KTM X-BOW, driven by Phil Keen and Marcus Clutton, which claimed unopposed victories in the new Super Sport class.

The Mosler of Martin Short and Gregor Fisken inherited the lead of round three when Stuart Hall’s sister car was called back to the pits for a stop-and-go penalty for a technical infringement of the pit stop procedures. But the Short/Fisken victory was anything but a lucky affair. Fisken held second behind the Ascari of David Jones for much of his opening stint, and once he was at the wheel Short pulled off a brilliant pass, diving inside the Ascari (Godfrey Jones now at the wheel) into the Bus Stop chicane. The Short/Fisken Mosler finished six seconds clear of the Ascari, with the Aaron Scott/Craig Wilkins Viper close behind for third.

The three-way Ginetta battle for GT4 honours was boisterous, with the Stark Racing entry of Ian Stinton/Mike Thomas holding sway for four laps ahead of Jody Firth/Nigel Moore. Firth was delayed by the gravel trap at Les Combes for a lap and the Gary Simms/Hunter Abbott G50 was able to wrest victory from Stinton.

Wilkins and Scott claimed a long overdue maiden British GT win in round four, their ABG Motorsport Viper snatching victory two laps from the chequered flag to deny the Ferrari of race-long leaders Allan Simonsen and Hector Lester. It was a masterly performance in tricky conditions from the Viper men, who crossed the line three-and-a-half seconds ahead of the Ferrari, with Short/Fisken and their Mosler a solid third.

The battle for honours in GT4 was dramatic and exciting, Moore leading Abbott in the early laps before pitting to hand over to Firth, who found it impossible to maintain the pace. Simms took over in front, but only until called back to the pits for a stop/go. Simms drove spectacularly after serving his penalty to close down Firth’s 10-second advantage and pass him for the class lead once again, only for Jody to repass on the final lap to steal the win.

A race of high drama and attrition brought a new race victor in the shape of the Barwell Motorsport Ginetta G50Z driven by Joe Osborne and Olly Bryant. The Zytek-engined Ginetta was making only its second appearance, and was being driven by Osborne for the first time, but that did not stop Joe from planting it on the pole, nor from leading the race from the start and for the duration of his stint.

Dan Brown in the Rollcentre/Momo car did well to keep in touch with Osborne, but Dan threw away his chances with a spin just after inheriting the lead when Osborne pitted to hand over to Bryant. Olly regained the track with a huge advantage.

Simonsen, in the Rosso Verde Ferrari, snatched second overall and GT3 class victory from Adam Wilcox four laps from the end. Nigel Moore and Jody Firth scored their fourth GT4 class race win from five starts with an untroubled drive in their Team WFR Ginetta.

In round six, Osborne and Bryant finished on top once again, lifting second with five laps to go from the Brown/Fisken Mosler and then the lead from the Jones brothers’ Ascari two laps later. Brown followed the Ginetta through for second overall and the GT3 class win on the final lap. The ABG Motorsport Viper of Aaron Scott and Craig Wilkins collected the final GT3 podium spot. GT4 honours went this time to Hunter Abbott and Gary Simms, whose Ginetta led almost from the outset.

Rounds 7 & 8: Knockhill

David and Godfrey Jones scored their first British GT race victory at Knockhill, leading the seventh round from the pole to chequered flag. David blasted into the lead from the lights and hung on in front all the way to his pit stop despite fearsome pressure from the Mosler of Dan Brown.

Brown tried everything to muscle the Mosler past, but Jones had an answer for all the youngster’s tricks. Jones pitted from the lead on the 38th of the 66 laps, with Brown taking over in front for three laps and pitting at the last possible moment for his hand-over to Gregor Fisken. Fisken exited the pits just as a charging Godfrey Jones crested the rise of the main straight, and the Ascari dived past to resume the lead. The VRS Ferrari of Phil Burton/Adam Wilcox placed second and the Rosso Verde 430, driven by Hector Lester and Stéphane Daoudi, was third. Jody Firth, driving solo, inherited the GT4 class lead after six laps when Ian Stinton’s Ginetta lost drive.

Aaron Scott and Craig Wilkins scored a surprise victory in what was a rain and penalty-strewn eighth round. They took the win after several fast rivals were handed penalties for pit stop infringements and the MTECH Ferrari of Duncan Cameron and Matt Griffin fell from the lead with drivetrain problems four laps from the flag.

The ABG mechanics and the Viper’s drivers did not put a wheel wrong all race, Scott skilfully surviving an early spin and Wilkins driving a solid second stint to be in the right place at the right time when the race came to them. The Viper crossed the line 3.3s ahead of the Wilcox/ Burton VRS Ferrari, with the Chad Ferrari collecting third and its first podium of the season courtesy Chris Hyman and visiting Argentinian ace José Balbiani.

GT4 was won for the first time by Ian Stinton’s Stark Racing Ginetta, Ian partnered for the weekend by Paul Marsh. They battled hard with Firth early on, until Firth’s Team WFR car lost its brakes.

David and Godfrey Jones took command of the ninth round during the second half of the race and held off determined challenges from several rivals to win by the narrowest of margins from the Olly Bryant/Piers Johnson Invitation Class Ginetta G50Z.

A late challenge from the MTECH Ferrari 430 came to nothing: Duncan Cameron had put in a superb opening stint and Cameron’s driving partner, ex-BRM F1 driver Mike Wilds, was performing similar wonders to threaten for the lead until he spun at Sear.

The Hector Lester/Allan Simonsen Rosso Verde Ferrari claimed second in GT3 on the final lap, when the VRS Ferrari of Phil Burton/Adam Wilcox started to run out of fuel. The GT4 class was dominated by the Team WFR Ginetta of Jody Firth and Nigel Moore.

Lester and Simonsen claimed a brilliant tactical victory in the 10th round, leading from pole position to chequered flag. Simonsen laid the groundwork for the win by bolting into the lead at the start and building an advantage of around 27 seconds, enough to give Lester every hope of hanging on in front during his stint at the wheel.

The Invitation Class Barwell Ginetta Bryant and Johnson was their most likely rival for victory, and Johnson tried his hardest in the latter stages to close the gap to the Ferrari. At the flag Lester’s advantage was 3.9s. Third overall behind the Barwell Ginetta, but second in GT3 class terms, were championship leaders Godfrey and David Jones.

Firth celebrated his seventh GT4 class win of the season, co-driven in the Team WFR Ginetta by Nigel Moore. The Stark Racing Ginetta of Ian Stinton and Hunter Abbott claimed second in class.

Alex Mortimer and Philip Walker took the first win of the season for the RPM Motorsport team, timing their pit stop to perfection to steal a march on their rivals in a wet two-hour endurance race.

The pole position MTECH Ferrari of Duncan Cameron led for 18 laps, until Dan Brown’s Mosler took up the running. Then the heavens opened and the safety car came into play for three laps. On the second of them, the RPM Ford GT dived for the pits for its refuelling stop and driver change, Walker handing over to Mortimer after running a solid sixth. Crucially the Ford was able to get back on track without losing a lap.

Brown’s Mosler was one of the last of the frontrunners to pit; it did so from the lead on lap 36, and from that point on Mortimer took over in front and never looked in much danger of losing the victory.

The closing stages were not comfortable for Mortimer, however, as he had bearing down on him the MTECH Ferrari, now with Matt Griffin at the wheel. The Irishman snatched third from the Craig Wilkins/Aaron Scott Viper with seven laps to go and second from the Paul Warren/Jose Balbiani Chad Ferrari two laps later.

Third place came back to Wilkins and Scott four laps from the end when the Chad Ferrari struck a problem; Balbiani nursed the car home fourth, about 20 seconds ahead of the Jones brothers’ Ascari.

There was another fine GT4 class win for Jody Firth and Nigel Moore after the Team WFR Ginetta passed the Century Motorsport entry of Ben Hetherington and Nathan Freke.

Duncan Cameron and Matt Griffin took their, and MTECH’s, first British GT win. The pair led for much of the two hours and won the race by half a minute, giving the 2009-spec Ferrari 430 its first success. Cameron started the Ferrari from pole and led the opening stages from the Invitation Class Barwell Ginetta of Piers Johnson. Cameron was able to hold off Johnson’s challenge, but could not repel David Jones when the Preci-Spark Ascari arrived on his tail.

Jones took the lead after 20 minutes and Craig Wilkins soon moved the ABG Motorsport Dodge Viper past Cameron as well to run second. The order remained the same, with Jones opening up a 12-second lead over Wilkins, until the pit stops.

Aaron Scott, in the ABG Viper, seemed the Ascari’s main threat for second and he chipped away at the gap. He was around five seconds behind when he was handed the place courtesy of a suspected gearbox failure for the Preci-Spark entry.

Jody Firth all but sealed the GT4 title with another class victory, he and Nigel Moore finishing eighth overall.

Rounds 13 & 14: Brands Hatch

David and Godfrey Jones secured their third race win of the season in round 13 at Brands Hatch, leading home the Ferraris of Phil Burton/Adam Wilcox and Hector Lester/Allan Simonsen. Jody Firth, driving the Team WFR Ginetta with Nigel Moore, secured his 10th GT4 win of the year to confirm his class championship title.

Smyth regained the lead as the pit stops unwound, but it was now the Team Preci-Spark Ascari, in Godfrey Jones’s hands, which was looming large in the Aston’s mirrors. Smyth was unable to resist for long, Jones sweeping past for the lead on lap 25.

The VRS Ferrari of Phil Burton and Adam Wilcox took over in second after Smyth spun and closed down the Ascari’s advantage to seven seconds by the chequered flag.

The Jones brothers sealed their championship win in the final round, pacing their way to third place in the Preci-Spark Ascari.

The outright race winner was the Invitation Class Barwell Motorsport Ginetta, driven by Phil Quaife and Leo Machitski, which stole victory in the closing stages from the Rosso Verde Ferrari of Lester and Simonsen.