Podium finish for Optimum Motorsport in British GT’s Silverstone 500
A home race that did not disappoint for the British duo saw Nick Moss and Joe Osborne claim a third-place finish in their one-off 2022 British GT race, the Silverstone 500.
Having collected two back-to-back second place finishes last week in Estoril, Portugal in GT Open’s season opener, Optimum Motorsport travelled a lot closer to home to make their one-off entry into this year’s British GT big event.
Saturday afternoon comprised of two qualifying sessions, with the grid position for Sunday’s start comprising of a combination of both crew members’ fastest laps. It was Bronze-rated drivers out first, thus Nick headed out and set the seventh fastest overall time - fourth fastest in Pro-Am.
It was time for Joe to repeat Nick’s fortune, with the McLaren Factory Driver dropping into the low 1:57’s. As the chequered flag fell on the two sessions and with times combined, Optimum Motorsport’s #28 McLaren 720S claimed the sixth place slot on the grid (fourth in class).
Sunday morning did not disappoint for the large home crowd as the first lap was filled with excitement. Nick, who took to the wheel for the start moved up to fourth overall after an entanglement with two Mercedes, seeing the #4 DK entry experience large damage and consequently, retire.
As the race progressed, Nick had to contend with a lot of GT4 traffic, managing the back markers better than Tillbrook in the #77 Enduro Motorsport McLaren ahead.
After a 75-minute stint, Nick boxed to change over to Joe and as always, he managed to make his way through the field to run P2 for the majority of his stint, taking three seconds out of his initial 11 second gap to the leading #77 before boxing to change back to Nick with 50 minutes left on the clock.
It was a short final stint for Nick before going back in to compete the final mandatory stop where Joe headed out for the final time which would see him take the chequered flag in third.
Shaun Goff’s Optimum Motorsport McLaren team completed the rostrum after emerging as the fastest car from a group that ran long on the first stint. Joe and Nick, whilst making their one-off appearance, enjoyed a trouble-fee race on a day when several established outfits collected penalties.
Joe Osborne
“It’s a very good result for us today, it’s a one off appearance for us so a lot of unknowns with neither of us having any experience on the Pirelli’s [tyres], but it was a big weekend for us. Getting on the podium is something we’re both super happy with, neither of us had expected it. The team were mega, everyone at Optimum has done a great job.”
Nick Moss
“The chicane was pretty heavy at the start, and I had to swerve around the Mercedes, what made it more difficult was that there were so many of them going in different directions, but it’s great to get on the podium here!”