Optimum Motorsport and Jack Brown claim back-to-back Silverstone 500 wins

In a race where the weather tempted fate, Optimum Motorsport and the #90 McLaren Artura GT4 came out on top in an action-packed three-hour enduro, converting pole to race win at the series’ blue riband race.

Saturday’s success during the two qualifying sessions saw Zac and Jack emerge on top, claiming GT4’s overall pole, which was later to be converted into the race win a mere 24 hours later.

The cold, wet conditions meant the action was to be started under the Safety Car on Sunday afternoon and when the racing was officially underway laps later, neither driver put a foot wrong amongst the bouts of rain across the Home of British Motorsport.

Meakin, who took to the start in #90 fell as low as fourth during the race, but fought back to third by the time the field had performed its first circle of stops under the first Full Course Yellow period as RAM Racing’s Mercedes-AMG was extracted from the gravel.

Brown, who had taken to the wheel of Optimum’s Artura hunted down the Aston that had rejoined ahead of them following their stop albeit, not for long as Jack carved out a big advantage over the rest before handing back to Zac inside the second hour.

A perfectly-timed stop during the race’s last Full Course Yellow period allowed the duo even more breathing space. The win sees Zac and Jack move up to second in GT4’s overall rankings, just 2.5 points behind the leaders.

Zac Meakin, this year's Silverstone 500 GT4 winner: "We were strong coming into the weekend. We've been quick and in qualifying we were good – going fastest overall. I started the race and then there was an incident which caused the Full Course Yellow. With that, we pitted to let Jack out. He did a mega job, doing everything he possibly needed to during a long stint.

“We swapped, and it was a little bit lairy as the track started drying up, then it rained again and the car came back to me, and from then on, I kept going, managed to pull away, and created a safe distance.

“Unfortunately, there was a crash involving our teammate in GT3 which caused a Full Course Yellow. With it we pitted and managed to get out in front of the Safety Car, gaining us a lap, which was very good, and from there it was smooth sailing. Pulling off the win is a massive boost for morale, it’s just a shame we have the success penalty next time, but that's a nice problem to have!”

The British GT action resumes in just under three weeks’ time at Donington Park on May 25/26 with the same three-hour format.