Devon Modell concluded his debut Avon Tyres British GT Championship season with a spirited drive to his sixth podium of the season at Donington Park, narrowly missing out on the GT4 crown (13-14 September).
A recent test day at Donington Park placed Modell and his TF Sport team in a strong position going into Saturday’s (13 September) free practice and qualifying sessions and only minor refinements were needed to optimise the Redhill, Surrey-based team’s GT4-spec Aston Martin V8 Vantage.
Modell, aged 23 from Maidstone, and teammate Andrew Jarman were pleased with the car’s performance and recorded the fourth fastest time in practice before going one better in qualifying.
Jarman was first to pilot the TF Sport-run machine and immediately made an impact after disposing off both polesitter Oz Yusuf and Ross Wylie to claim the class lead by the close of the fourth lap, but came under increasing pressure during an intense and prolonged battle for class honours.
Battle was rejoined after the compulsory driver-change and, spurred on, Modell set consecutive personal best laptimes to home in on Morten Dons’ Ginetta, dragging the Beechdean Aston Martin of Jake Giddings and Tom Oliphant along with him.
With 30 minutes of the two-hour contest remaining, Oliphant got the better of Giddings to snatch third place and immediately set about chasing down Modell, who drove a super-defensive line and soaked up immense pressure before dispatching Dons for the class lead.
An unfortunate error saw the Maidstone driver relinquish the GT4 class initiative to cross the line second in class and 16th overall to conclude a highly impressive debut season.
“Had you offered second place in the championship prior to the start of the season, I would have bitten your hand off, but having now finished it, I’m slightly disappointed,” said Modell. “We qualified really well for the first time since Snetterton, but struggled more in the race than recent times due to brake and tyre wear, which made defending harder. However, that’s just the nature of the Donington Park circuit.
“I was driving very defensively, which took some life out of the tyres, but the car felt great thanks to the recent test we did and I felt more than comfortable behind the wheel. I was pleasantly surprised by how quick the car was compared with the Lotus and Ginettas, and to come away with another podium is great. The TF Sport team has done a great job and have given me and Andrew Jarman a great car all season long.”
Modell will now head overseas to Germany’s iconic Nürburgring where he will be competing in Round 6 of the Blancpain Endurance Series (20-21 September).
For more information on Devon Modell and his racing activities, please follow@Devon_Modell on Twitter.