Devon Modell made a triumphant return to the top step of the Avon Tyres British GT Championship podium at Belgium’s legendary Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps over the weekend (11-12 July).
Modell and teammate Andrew Jarman were unfortunate to miss out on victory at the previous British GT encounter on UK soil at Snetterton and headed to Spa with the intention of negating their losses and regaining the GT4 championship initiative.
Milton Keynes resident Jarman took the start of the first of two 60-minute sprint races at Spa and immediately opened a comfortable gap to Ginetta G55 class rivals, Aleksander Schjerpen and Oli Basey-Fisher.
The 2013 Aston Martin GT4 Challenge Champion was able to control the pace for the majority of his stint before handing over the reins of the 4.7litre V8 Vantage to Modell.
The UK Clio Cup hotshot exited the pit lane and headed up the famous left-right-left sequence at Eau Rogue still in the lead of the GT4 class, but had to defend heavily from championship rival Jake Giddings for the entirety of his stint.
The TF Sport driver drove the widest car on track to fend off the Beechdean Aston Martin of Giddings, keeping a cool head and running faultlessly to happily claim class honours for the second time this season.
In the driver’s seat for the opening stint of the weekend’s second and final race, Modell lined-up fifth and had Giddings directly ahead of him, but was focused on reaching the podium places once again.
As the capacity grid roared its way to the La Source hairpin for the first time, Modell snapped at the heels of Giddings and looked well placed to claim fourth position.
Sadly, the Maidstone-based driver was unable to make a move stick and slotted back into position.
However, he was quick to bed in his Avon tyres and close up on the fourth-placed Ginetta G55 of Bradley Ellis before the first Safety Car deployment in response to an off for Tom Sharp at the top of Eau Rouge.
After several laps under Safety Car conditions, the race was resumed on lap seven, where Modell narrowed the gap to Ellis to less than a second before peeling into the pits and handing over to Jarman.
The Milton Keynes racer did everything asked of him, but was given a one-second stop and go penalty for exiting the pit lane four tenths of a second short of the minimum pit time, which demoted TF Sport to seventh and prevented it from getting back in among the main battles.
“Race one was fantastic,” said Modell. “Andrew (Jarman) did a brilliant job to put us into the lead at the close of his stint, but he was held up entering the pits, which wiped out our lead and made my job really difficult from there on. Nevertheless, it felt really good to be standing on top of the podium once again having been absent for some time.
“The second race was a different story. We were handed a one-second penalty for exiting the pitlane before the minimum pit time, which cost us 45 seconds and third place. But we’re determined more than ever to win the next two races, as we have nothing to lose. If we do win those two races, we will win the championship no matter the outcome of the results.”
For more information on Devon Modell and his racing activities, please follow@Devon_Modell on Twitter.