Orange Racing by JMH came out of a battling Donington Park event with strong points for sixth place overall last weekend (5/6 September), to keep the McLaren squad in contention for titles at the British GT Championship season finale.

An exceptional season for both Simon Orange and Marcus Clutton took another positive turn in the previous outing at Snetterton, when the McLaren 720S GT3 crew came away from Norfolk with an overall podium and the Pro-Am points lead.

The #67 car, backed by Sale Sharks, William Hare, CorpAcq, BOL Foods, Parkway England, Smith Bros. and Shoppertainment, next travelled to Donington Park in Leicestershire with the team hoping to continue that strong form, where a two-hour endurance contest was in store for the seventh race of the season.

Immediately from testing, Simon and Marcus proved to be in contention towards the top end of the times in GT3, sitting pretty inside the outright top six across both Free Practice and Pre-Qualifying on Saturday morning. Qualifying was next on the agenda for the duo, looking for a prime spot up the sharp end of the grid for Sunday’s main event.

Simon took the wheel for Q1, and was victim to track limits rules being enforced strongly as two of his laps were wiped from his tally. He eventually ended the session with a time good enough for eighth overall, ahead of Clutton’s attempt in the second 10-minute session. Marcus took the fight to all of his rivals, setting a scorching time of 1:25.702 to finish fifth in the times – only a mere 0.174s from fastest – and put the #67 eighth on the grid on combined times.

Ahead of Sunday’s two-hour showpiece, the weather took a major turn as a downpour left the GT3 field with no option but to start the race on wet Pirelli tyres. Simon took the opening stint of the race, settling nicely into the top eighth before suffering a spin at the final corner, rejoining through the pit lane. This was followed by a drive-through penalty, received as punishment for speeding in the pits as he returned to the circuit.

It left the McLaren crew with work to do as they recovered ground, Simon switching over to slicks prior to the first hour’s conclusion as the dry line finally appeared. Marcus took over the car in the second hour of the race, fired up to make places from the off.

Despite having to come from a lap down, he set a searing pace and was able to drag the car up the order. An incident for two fellow title rivals helped the recovery process even further, Clutton climbing up into the top six to complete a great turnaround and secure points for fourth in Pro-Am also.

The result means that Orange Racing by JMH heads into the final race at Brands Hatch still in overall contention – 21.5 points adrift – and crucially sit 11 points clear at the top of the Pro-Am standings.

Jason Hughes, Team Manager: “It was a tough round, but we did what we needed to and responded well in the race to come home and get those points. It’s going to be a battle right down to the wire, but we’ll work hard in the build-up to Brands Hatch, and what will be will be. We’ll be pushing for a title.”

Simon Orange: “We were keeping it nice and clean in those tricky conditions, but suffered with the spin and the penalty. We kept it tidy from that moment though, and Marcus did a great job to bring the car home in the top six and keep the fight going into Brands Hatch.”

Marcus Clutton: “We were quite excited by the rain when it came just before the race! It threw a bit of a spanner in the works, but unfortunately the race didn’t quite pan out how we wanted. The most important thing in those situations is to keep pushing and let the race come back to you, and as it went on we worked our way back up and took those points into the last round which was so important.”

The season finale awaits Orange Racing by JMH at Brands Hatch over the weekend of 25/26 September.