Orange Racing by JMH enjoyed a mightily successful weekend at Snetterton last weekend (15/16 August), grabbing two British GT podiums to keep the pressure on in the title chase.

Following the team’s exceptional performance in Belgium earlier in the summer, where drivers Simon Orange and Marcus Clutton scored a class win at Spa-Francorchamps, they returned to the UK with two McLaren 720S GT3 crews ready to fight for yet more silverware in a brace of one-hour races in Norfolk.

The #67 car, backed by Sale Sharks, William Hare, CorpAcq, BOL Foods, Parkway England, Smith Bros. and Shoppertainment, also held the lead of the Pro-Am class standings, with Orange and Clutton also up to a strong fourth in the Overall table. The squad once again would be running the similar #69 McLaren, for Steven Lake and McLaren factory driver, Dean MacDonald.

Right from the off, Simon and Marcus were on the pace in both Friday testing and the following morning’s two practice sessions, giving them plenty of positive data and optimism ahead of two short 10-minute Qualifying sessions later that Saturday afternoon.

Simon took the wheel for Q1 and was a contender for a strong result throughout, eventually putting the car sixth for the first of the weekend’s two races despite red flags scuppering his final lap, when he went purple in sector one. Marcus was next up, and set a scorching time of 1m45.896s that was good enough for the front row of the grid for race two – only 0.159s from outright pole position. The #69 would finish its sessions seventh and sixth respectively in Pro-Am, MacDonald impressing with seventh outright in his session.

All focus shifted to Sunday’s double-header. The first hour-long outing would see Orange and Lake starting the two McLarens, and the former found himself having to take evasive action twice during a hectic opening lap. Firstly, he sneaked around a wayward Century BMW, then dodged the spinning Lamborghini of Alex Martin at Nelsons to climb to fifth place and give chase to the similar McLarens of Morgan Tillbrook and Mark Smith.

A collision between Tillbrook and Smith exiting Nelsons then gave Simon the chance to pounce and grab third before handing the #67 over the Clutton at half-distance, rejoining in fourth – after serving a success penalty from Spa – behind Ben Barnicoat, who took over from Tillbrook. On scrubbed tyres, Clutton pursued his rival all the way to the chequered flag, finishing third overall and grabbing strong points for second in Pro-Am after a time penalty was dished out to the #77 crew of Tillbrook and Barnicoat.

Clutton started the second race of the day from the front row on a set of new Pirellis, fuelled with optimism from Qualifying. He would drop in behind Barnicoat and Ross Gunn following a suspicious looking rolling start, keeping the pressure on the pair until the mandatory stop after 30 minutes of searing pace. Simon took the wheel and immediately put the hammer down, catching and then passing a spinning Kevin Tse for third, before reeling in both the leaders to set up a tense showdown for success.

A late off for second-placed Andrew Howard gave Simon the clear run for two laps to go for the overall win, with Tillbrook right within his sights. He closed the gap to under a second by the chequered flag, narrowly missing out on a sensational win but claiming a brilliant second overall and in Pro-Am once again to leave the #67 crew only 16.5 points from the overall series lead with two meetings still to go.

After suffering damage on lap one in the opening encounter, Lake and MacDonald enjoyed a stronger second race in the #69 McLaren. The latter kept within 10 seconds of the leaders during a rapid opening stint, handing the car over to Lake while fifth in Pro-Am. Lake was in the running for a top-six finish outright after a strong final stint, but was sadly involved in a late incident with Martin’s chasing Lamborghini that dropped them to sixth in Pro-Am.

Jason Hughes, Team Manager: “That was a massive weekend for us and one that we were aiming for to keep us at the top of Pro-Am and in the title hunt overall. We’ve shown this weekend with the pace we’ve had and the performances of Simon and Marcus that we’re not here to mess about. Now we’ve got two big races left, and hopefully this form continues as we look towards the big prize.”

Simon Orange: “A really intense and exciting weekend for us as a team. I’ve had some good runs at Snetterton over the years, so now with the experience behind us we took that next step and came so close. I was pushing as hard as I could and with a few more laps I think the chance was there, but we’ve got to be happy with that weekend. Two podiums, and still leading Pro-Am. We’ve got a great chance now.”

Marcus Clutton: “A strong weekend for us and important to keep the points coming in now we’re in the gritty end of the season. We pushed hard all weekend and came close to pole and wins, but that’s something that we’re doing regularly now which is good news for us in the title fight. It’s about that consistency, and Simon did everything to try and win us that one right at the end, so we’ll go into the last rounds pumped and ready to fight for it.”

Next up for the Orange Racing by JMH squad is a single enduro at Donington Park across the weekend of 5/6 September.