Bahraini-British motor racing team claim double podium kicking off championship

TDT | Manama                                                      

The Daily Tribune – www.newsofbahrain.com

Bahraini-British motor racing team 2 Seas Motorsport clinched a double podium yesterday in the first two rounds of the 2024 British GT Championship.

The pair of one-hour races were held as part of the season-opening weekend at Oulton Park Circuit in Cheshire, England, and it kicked off the GT3 Teams’ title-defence for 2 Seas, co-owned by His Highness Shaikh Isa bin Abdulla Al Khalifa.

The 2 Seas tandem of Ian Loggie and Phil Keen, sharing duties in their #6 MercedesAMG GT3 Evo car, finished as runner-up in the first race of the new campaign. They then added to that with a podium for third in yesterday’s second event.

Teammates Kevin Tse and Maximillian Goetz in 2 Seas’ #18 contender put in some solid results.

They were classified 13th overall in race one before claiming a top 10 finish in the follow-up event—gaining a number of places in both outings.

Both crews had shown impressive pace all throughout the weekend and were considered to be among the top challengers to take the chequered flag in yesterday’s action.

Front row In race one, held on a drenched track due to heavy rain, Loggie and Keen were on the front row alongside pole-sitters Rob Collard and Ricky Collard of Barwell Motorsport in their #63 car.

Tse and Goetz were handed a post-qualifying penalty and were sent back to 17th on the grid. Loggie and Keen made a strong bid for the victory and finished just 1.470 seconds behind the victorious Collard crew, who took the chequered flag after completing 27 laps at the end of the hour.

2 Seas ’ Kevin Tse and Maximillian Goetz gained four places to finish in 13th overall, 33.456s from the winners.

Race two took place in drier track conditions.

Loggie and Keen were third on the grid, right behind pole men Sandy Mitchell and Alex Martin, who were Barwell’s other crew in their #78 car.

Tse and Goetaz started from 13th.

At the chequered flag, Loggie and Keen held on to their position to claim their double podium, finishing 2.583s behind Mitchell and Martin, who claimed the win after posting 25 laps over the hour.

They were 1.060s from Optimum Motorsport’s #27 duo of Mark Radcliffe and Tom Gamble. Tse and Goetz were a solid 10th, 10.164s behind the leaders.

2 Seas are hoping to emulate their title-winning showing from last year, when their two entries scored four race victories and four further podiums between them.

The 2024 British GT calendar features nine rounds in all. The season resumes later this month with round three at Silverstone from April 26 to 28.

Round four will then take place from May 23 to 26 in Donington Park, and then round five will be held at Spa-Francorchamps in Belgium from June 21 to 23 as the only event outside of the UK for this season.

Rounds six and seven will then be held from July 12 to 14 at Snetterton, and then the championship returns to Donington for round eight from September 5 to 8.

That will set the stage for the season-finale at Brands Hatch on September 28 and 29.