Top five for birthday boy Christodoulou on British GT return

Posted By Adam Christodoulou / Race Update / Abba, Career, Silverstone / No Comments

Adam Christodoulou celebrated his 28th birthday with a top-five finish on his return to the British GT Championship in the blue-ribband Silverstone 500.

On his first British GT outing in the GT3 class and his first of any kind since Donington 2015, Christodoulou shone in the Team ABBA with Rollcentre Racing Mercedes-AMG GT3 alongside Richard Neary and Martin Short and gave the teamits best finish of the year so far, laying down a positive marker for the rest of the British GT campaign.

The AMG driver and former Silverstone instructor put his knowledge of the Grand Prix circuit to good use in free practice one with a blistering lap seven tenths faster than anybody else.

Christodoulou then showed it was no fluke in qualifying, with the fastest time in the Pro class – the best of the entire weekend – With a combined time from both drivers qualifying 6th would be their starting position.

Neary, the 2016 Silverstone 24 Hour winner, took the start and immediately made up two positions around the outside at Copse corner, but lost ground with a spin at Abbey on lap four.

After dropping back to eighth, Christodoulou jumped in for the first of two stints and was soon embroiled in a frantic battle with Callum MacLeod’s Bentley. Battling oversteer in the hot afternoon conditions, Christodoulou defended stoutly and handed over to Short from second position as the pitstops cycled through.

Despite receiving a stop-go penalty for a fractionally too-fastpitstop during the final handover from Short, Christodoulou’s pace during his second stint was such that he was able to resume without losing fifth position, a strong result on Martin Short’s final outing in the championship as a driver.

While disappointed not to give the highly decorated Short one last podium finish,Christodoulou was greatly encouraged by Team ABBA with Rollcentre’s performance heading into the second half of the season, with a trip to the famous Spa-Francorchamps (7-8 July) in Belgium next on the calendar.

“It was a fun weekend, I really enjoyed being back in the British GT Championship,” reported Christodoulou after setting the second fastest time of the race with 12 laps to go.

“There’s obviously an element of mixed emotions, as I was really happy with how the testing and the qualifying went, but the track conditions in the race caught us out a little bit and just lost us a little bit of speed with the car.

“That being said, it was the team’s first top-five finish this year, so hopefully it has created a good foundation for us to work on going to Spa. It was great to work with the team and be a part of the British GT Championship in the GT3 class, so hopefully we can continue making progress and get that first podium that we’re searching for.

“I’d like to say a massive thank you to Martin, Richard and the rest of the Team ABBA with Rollcentre Racing team for welcoming me into their team and making me feel at home. I’m looking forward to seeing what the rest of the year brings!”

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