Hopes of a strong start to the 2018 campaign were dashed for TF Sport on Easter Monday (2 April) in the rain at Oulton Park as the British GT Championship got underway with two rounds scheduled.
Derek Johnston led the way for the team in the first round of qualifying as he set the fourth fastest time in the #17 Aston Martin Vantage, while Mark Farmer had to be content with seventh position in the #11 entry.
With heavy rain falling, the safety car was deployed for the opening laps of the race but once underway, Farmer and Jon Minshaw clashed, while Johnston suffered snap oversteer and skated off of the circuit. From this point it was very much a case of damage limitation with Johnston and Farmer circulating mid pack and towards the tail of the field.
The race continued with both making progress ahead of the mandatory driver change with Marco Sørensen taking over from Johnston and Nicki Thiim from Farmer. The two factory Aston Martin drivers continued the climb through the field before taking the chequered flag ninth and 11th respectively.
The second race saw Sørensen and Thiim claim the second row of the grid with hopes of a strong result to wrap up the weekend. The heavy rain persisted however and round two of the championship was abandoned after a handful of laps behind the safety car.
“It’s fair to say we have had a bit of a difficult weekend,” stated TF Sport Director Tom Ferrier. “The opening lap effectively finished race one for us and race two never happened. There’s not much more to add, other than we hope to be back at the sharp end in Rockingham next month and to get our British GT Championship underway.”