Revie Lake was in full control as he led the opening stage of the the race until another unfortunate technical issue prevented him from standing on the top step of the podium for the first time.
Just one week before the legendary 24 Hours of Spa, British GT visited the same iconic Belgian circuit, Spa-Francorchamps, surrounded by the Ardennes mountains. This world-famous circuit is best known for its Eau Rouge corner, which represents a true challenge and a stunning driving experience for all drivers. This experience also awaited Revie Lake as he took part in the third round of the British GT Championship.
But before the race had even started, Mahiki Racing, which had operated Revie's McLaren Artura GT4, announced that its racing programme was coming to an end. This means that those responsibilities have now been taken over by Paddock Motorsport. "Well, with Mahiki no longer being involved in that sense and Paddock taking over, not much has changed for me. I still turn up, drive the car as fast as possible, and work with the team to keep improving. Yes, it's different people, but we still have the best engineer and the best car on the grid, with Blake still alongside me," said Revie.
In qualifying, they managed to secure a front-row start for the two-hour race, marking their best starting position of the season so far. "Qualifying was definitely our weakest part of the weekend, to be honest. As we didn't do much qualifying-simulation running in the heat, it compromised us quite a lot in the middle sector, which was where we struggled with the car the most that weekend. However, I was happy that we somehow managed to get P2 out of it."
The front-row start gave hope for a strong result, and those hopes only grew when Revie, who was behind the wheel for the opening stint, took the lead of the race immediately after the lights went out. As the race progressed, the rising motorsport driver built a solid gap to the car behind. Everything looked very promising, but then, during the safety car period, a technical issue appeared on the blue McLaren, bringing the race to an end for the #84 crew."When I first saw the lights go green, all I could do was put my foot down and pray that I got a better run through Eau Rouge, and somehow I took the lead before the start line! I then comfortably pulled away without pushing too hard, building a strong gap. Then the FCY arrived. Nothing happened until the middle of the safety car period, when I lost my even gears (2nd, 4th and 6th), so I had to cruise around using only 3rd and 5th gear during the race, with multiple power cycles in between. It was a shame that we couldn't stand on the top step, as I felt that was the best weekend I've had so far, but at least the first 15 minutes were mine," Revie stated.
Motorsport can be brutal at times. You can be the fastest on track, do everything right, and still not get the result you deserve. However, Revie and the whole team showed tremendous effort and impressive pace. It's just a matter of time before the breakthrough comes. "Yes, it was a shame that we had the issue with the gearbox, but I was very happy with the pace of the car, as well as with my own performance and Blake's. We topped most of the sessions by a significant margin, and the race start was epic, so we managed to show what we were capable of, just not for as long as we needed to, unfortunately. However, I do feel much more confident heading into Snetterton."
The British GT season is now at its halfway point, with three more events still ahead. The next one will take place at Snetterton on 15–16 August and will feature two one-hour races.