A wet morning and dry qualifying meant that both team and drivers had to work double-hard to try and perfect set-ups for both sets of conditions, but the generation AMR Macmillan Racing machine was quick, whatever the weather.
“It started out quite wet,” said Jack Mitchell, “which isn’t ideal as neither Matty nor I have had much wet running this season, but we were in the top three in both Free Practice sessions.
“With our lack of wet-weather running, I was pretty apprehensive,” agreed Matty Graham, “but the car felt very comfortable right away and we were very competitive.
“For qualifying, it was completely dry, so again we had to adapt to that change and go into qualifying with no dry running. But I was very fast straight away, passing lots of other cars and I ended the session in second place, only 0.018secs off the fastest car!
“I was a little bit gutted not to have had the fastest time. When you’re so close, you go over, in your head, all the little things you could have done, but that’s the way it is and I’m still really happy with my session.”
“Matty had a really good session,” said Jack, “and when I went out, I settled in quickly and was getting faster and faster.
“Unfortunately, on my fastest lap, I made a mistake at the chicane, which cost me quite a lot of time. But overall, I’m pretty happy with our pace and we know that starting from 4th gives us a real chance to do something special – like we did at Snetterton.”
Jack will start the no. 42 Aston Martin Vantage V8, with Matty taking over around the midway point. With both GT3 and GT4 title battles still to be decided, the Championship contenders will be feeling the pressure. For Macmillan Racing, however, Sunday’s race represents another chance to shine, with that first race win perhaps tantalizingly close.
“How can it be the end of the season already?” grinned Team Principal David Macmillan. “It seems only a few weeks ago that we had an idea – but no car, no drivers and no history.
“Tomorrow’s race will complete our first-ever season in motorsport! I think we’ve proved conclusively that we are a team to be reckoned with in the British GT Championship and we have all earned our stripes, the hard way.
“From the gut-wrenching low of Brands Hatch, where the car was written off, to the highs of three podium finishes, so far, I think I can safely say that we’ll all remember this season for a very long while.
“But we still have one more race to go… and who knows what Sunday will bring. Perhaps that first win.
“Win, lose or draw, we have the champagne on ice, because tomorrow we will celebrate a huge achievement by everyone at Generation AMR Macmillan Racing.”