Devon Modell rocked Rockingham Motor Speedway to claim a third consecutive podium in the Avon Tyres British GT Championship this Bank Holiday Monday (5 May).
First on the Maidstone-domiciled driver’s agenda was Rounds 5 and 6 of the Courier Connections Renault UK Clio Cup at the high-speed Thruxton circuit on Saturday and Sunday (3-4 May).
Having performed well in the series’ official test day at the Hampshire circuit in mid-April, Modell positioned his turbocharged Clio fifth on the grid for the start of Round 5.
As the cars lined up on the grid for Sunday’s (4 May) opening encounter, Modell bogged down on the start, dropping three places from his starting position.
Determined to make up lost ground, the Westbourne Motorsport driver was quick to latch onto the tail of double Brands Hatch winner and 2013 UK Clio Cup Vice Champion, Alex Morgan.
The two tussled for position and together joined the back of a four-car train, consisting of Paul Rivett, Ant Whorton-Eales, Ash Hand and Jordan Stilp.
The gaggle ran at full throttle for several laps before an incident at the final chicane involving Whorton-Eales and Rivett saw the former tapped into a sideways slide that collected the unsuspecting Morgan, who was kicked out of the pack and into the barriers.
The incident opened the door for Modell to claim several places as the Safety Car made an appearance while Morgan’s stricken Clio was recovered.
At the restart, Modell pounced on Stilp to move up the standings, but would have to stick his elbows out to fend off the 20Ten Racing driver as the pair battled frantically throughout the final four laps.
Modell held his nerve and crossed the line ahead of Stilp in an impressive sixth-place result to collect 18 points.
Following his outing in the UK Clio Cup – Britain’s premier one-make saloon car series – Modell then traveled 130 miles north to Rockingham Motor Speedway to compete in the highly competitive British GT Championship.
Unlike the previous meeting at Oulton Park, Round 2 was a contest of tyre and fuel management in a two-hour endurance race, in which drivers would battle it out for supremacy and maximum points.
Due to Modell fulfilling his UK Clio Cup duties on Sunday, Jarman tackled qualifying single-handedly and positioned their Aston Martin V8 Vantage GT4 29th overall, at the tail of the grid.
Jarman was first to pilot the TF Sport V8 Vantage in Monday’s (5 May) feature race, and by the end of his stint, had ascended to third place on the leaderboard, before handing the reins over to Modell.
Maidstone’s Modell rejoined the race under Safety Car conditions, which fused with their 20-second penalty for winning the second race at Oulton Park, demoted TF Sport to fourth in class.
Having only turned a wheel in his Aston Martin in Sunday morning’s 20-minute warm-up, Modell fought valiantly for the remaining hour of the race to come home third, ahead of Jamie Stanley, who kept the UK Clio Cup driver straight and true for much of the stint.
Modell and Jarman’s second place finish keeps them in contention in the GT4 championship standings, where they currently reside in second, behind rivals Ross Wylie and Jake Giddings.
“I struggled with understeer as the tyres faded away and that wasn’t helped by the fact I was under pressure from Jamie Stanley’s Ginetta for 40 minutes of the stint,” said Modell. “I had to drive a lot harder than I wanted to and push through the corners where the Ginetta is strong and that exaggerated the tyre problems and made the understeer worse. I kept Stanley behind and eventually built a gap to try have a go at the Beechdean Aston. But to take home a podium finish without even turning a wheel at Rockingham on Sunday is amazing and better than we expected on a track where the Aston Martin isn’t so strong. Andrew did a cracking job with the setup and in the first stint and I had to keep us up there.”