A Loughborough College racing driver has made British GT History for Bentley with a lights-to-flag maiden win.
Seb Morris celebrated at Oulton Park International Circuit with a dominant British GT Championship victory.
After his switch from single-seater competition, this was the first win on only the third weekend in the endurance racing discipline for the 20 year old, who studies on the MSA programme with Loughborough College.
Morris claimed the historic victory in round four of the season alongside team-mate Rick Parfitt Jnr.
Victory in the one-hour contest, by more than 10 seconds from the duo’s closest challengers, marked the first ever success in the championship for the Bentley Continental GT3 and came off the back of Seb’s second pole position of the season in the Team Parker Racing-run machine.
Morris also concluded the event with the award for setting the fastest race lap of the weekend, a time of 1m34.804 seconds (102.22mph) - a new Oulton Park International Circuit record for GT3, smashing the previous benchmark by a massive 0.7 seconds.
“It’s amazing to get the win,” said Morris. “We didn’t have any hiccups in the race, everything ran so smoothly – it was absolutely brilliant. We could really push the car, we made some changes between the races and they worked fantastically well.
“All of the guys in the team did a top job all weekend, massive thanks to everyone at Team Parker, to Rick, obviously, for doing a great job in his stints and to Bentley too – we have an incredible car.
“We had a lot of friends and family along this weekend, being the home track, so it’s amazing to be able to celebrate this win in front of them and to help make a piece of history for Bentley.”
Now Morris is looking forward to being back on track this weekend at the home of British motorsport.
Sunday’s big race, the ‘Silverstone 500’, will be contested on the full Grand Prix Circuit layout at the Northamptonshire venue and, at three hours in duration, will be the longest endurance challenge of the season – and of Morris’s burgeoning GT career.
“Silverstone should be a good weekend and the Bentley should be strong there…to be so fast at Oulton makes us very positive for how we should go on the big GP track at Silverstone. We have an inherently good car and plan to give it some beans next weekend to keep the momentum going.”
As well as holding third place in the British GT Championship standings and the Pro-Am GT3 title race, Seb also leads the prestigious Sunoco Whelen Challenge – a contest which compares driver performances across a variety of categories. The competition offers a sensational prize for the eventual winner, a fully funded outing in the Daytona 24 Hours in America next year.
“It really is fantastic to be leading the Sunoco Whelen Challenge. It’s a very high-profile competition and obviously carries an amazing prize. If we can keep going how we have been so far this year in British GT, who knows – we could be paying a visit to Daytona next year!”
Image courtesy Jakob Ebrey Photography