Zac Meakin suffered bad luck at the weekend (June 21-23) but remains on top of the GT4 standings as the British GT Championship made a return visit to the historic Spa-Francorchamps.
Coming into the weekend things looking positive for Zac and teammate Jack Brown after going fastest in the free practice sessions. Heading into qualifying on Saturday afternoon, proceedings were brought to an abrupt halt when another car went off at speed, meaning the session was cancelled and the grid would be determined by the aggregated times of each car’s driver from pre-qualifying.
With Jack unable to set a representative lap, after a red flag led to the cancellation of what would have been his quickest time, the Optimum Motorsport duo would line up ninth overall and third in the Silver Cup for Sunday’s two-hour contest.
Zac would take the opening stint of the race, which only lasted two corners before the Safety Car was called as GT3 cars tangled, then becoming a red flag as barrier repairs were required. The teenager did well to stop quickly to avoid hitting one of the stricken machines, but unfortunately, took damage after the car behind made contract with his McLaren Artura.
After a 25-minute delay, the race resumed, this time running to 75% of the distance or 90 minutes in duration. It therefore became an exercise in damage limitation, with the performance of the car compromised, although Zac enjoyed a side-by-side battle with Luca Hopkinson through Eau Rouge for position and made on track gains to keep the car in contention.
Handing over to Jack to finish the race, the duo had to serve not only the mandatory 24 seconds as a Silver pairing, but also an additional 20 seconds compensation time for their victory at Donington Park. Battling on, after the race came to a conclusion, the duo were classified seventh in class, but remain on top of the overall GT4 standings.
Zac will return to British GT Championship action in just a few weeks’ time, as he heads to Snetterton in Norfolk for a pair of one-hour races, over July 12-14.
Zac Meakin commented, “Free practice and testing were good, and we were always up there battling for the top spots. Then qualifying got cancelled, which was a bit frustrating, because we were ninth on the grid as it was set by a combination of both times from Pre-qualifying. I had set a time, in that session, and just as Jack got in to set his fastest lap, the red flag came out, and it cancelled his time.
“At the start of the race I braked to avoid a BMW but the car behind didn’t have the same stopping distance, so it hit me and did a bit of damage, because there was something wrong with the rear right of the car. From there on we were just trying to do the best job that we could and keep with all the faster cars.
“There are always ups and downs in motorsport, so hopefully the next one is an up. It was a tough weekend, and we didn’t end up with the results we wanted. We’re still leading the championship and at least we’re not carrying any success penalties going into Snetterton.”
