Nick Jones and Sven Müller showed strong pace across the latest round of the British GT Championship at Brands Hatch last weekend, only for their challenge for yet another strong finish to be ended by unfortunate contact.
The #66 Team Parker Racing-run Porsche 911 GT3 R was well in the fight for some big points when Müller’s charge up the order was halted by a collision when duelling for fifth, the contact damaging the Porsche’s steering and sending Müller into the gravel at Hawthorns and out of the race.
It was an unfortunate end to a race that had until that point promised much, with the #66 looking nailed-on to secure at least a fifth top-six finish in a row, and potentially even better.
Brands Hatch always offers a unique challenge in British GT terms due to there being no pre-event testing around the 2.4-mile Grand Prix Circuit, meaning all teams must make a fast start with only the twin practice sessions on Saturday morning to prepare for Qualifying.
Having raced at the Kent venue in the GT World Challenge Europe event earlier this year, Müller made no mistakes early on, placing the #66 inside the top four in each session, as Jones got back up to speed with the fast layout having not raced at Brands Hatch since 2022.
In this context, Jones did well to qualifying just outside the top 10 in his segment, backed up by Müller going second fastest of all in the Pro session, meaning the SD Porsche would start 10th, with every chance of moving forward in the two-hour race on Sunday. And that’s exactly what it did.
Jones made up ground immediately by passing Simon Orange’s Orange Racing McLaren, and then the Bridger Motorsport Honda NSX of Chun Cheong Ip to settle into an early eighth. This would spark a race-long battle with the Honda, which enjoyed immense straight-line speed against the Porsche.
Two safety car periods were needed to tidy up some early chaos, unsettling Jones’ rhythm, but he would pit for Müller from 10th when the window opened, with the Team Parker crew getting the German installed and fresh Pirellis bolted on. Müller rejoined in seventh after an ideal stop, and with the bit between his teeth.
He breezed past The Beechdean Astion Martin of Tom Wood to grab sixth and then became bottled up behind the Paddock Motorsport McLaren driven by Martin Plowman. Müller made several attempts to get past, but had the door closed at every opportunity. Things came to ahead when the two cars made contact into Surtees corner, spinning the McLaren and damaging the Porsche, leading to Müller going off the road a few turns later and ending the race in the gravel.
Regardless, both Jones and Müller again showed great potential as a pairing, and will aim to finish the season on a high at Donington Park in October.
Nick Jones said: “Today was just one of those days, really. We could have had so much more from this race, but it’s all part of motorsport and sometimes things don’t go your way. I was really pleased with how the weekend went from my perspective. I hadn’t raced here for three years so the first few sessions were a bit of an eye-opener as I dialled back in to how fast the Brands GP loop is. The race was always going to be a battle, but I manged to move forward and took my chances. The team did an excellent job in the pit stop and Sven kept that momentum going until the unfortunate clash with the McLaren. That bent the steering arm and there’s nothing you can do from there. It’s a shame, but we can take away some real positives from the performance.”
Sven Müller added: “In general it was a good weekend. We were competitive and had a great balance in the car so we could enjoy every lap of Brands, and going P2 in my qualifying session was great. Starting further back always makes it difficult to make up positions, especially on a track where you cannot overtake very easily. I really tried everything to get to the front, but my overtaking did not work out every time, and when the McLaren closed the door we touched and my steering broke. I’m sorry to the team and to Nick, but we will be back fighting for the final race.”
The British GT season finale will be held at Donington Park across the weekend of October 4/5.
