Zac Meakin’s 100 per cent scoring record in this year’s International GT Open series came to an unfortunate end at round six in Austria, blunting his ability to make up places in the championship top five.
The Briton, along with regular co-driver Michael Porter, had regularly racked up points through the first four rounds — three of which were double-header events — including second place finishes at the opening round in Portugal and both the Hungaroring and last time out at Paul Ricard. Not adding to their total while locked in a tight battle for a potential top three finish overall cost the Optimum Motorsport pairing the chance to keep pace with those around them, all of whom put points on the board at the Red Bull Ring.
The very nature of modern GT racing ensures close competition and getting to within a second of the fastest time in any session is no guarantee of a place in the top 20, as Meakin and Porter discovered while putting their McLaren 720S GT3 EVO only 23rd and 25th in the two free practice sessions that opened the weekend. In common with most of the field, the #4 machine was guilty of exceeding track limits on multiple occasions, but any lost improvement in time would not have gained positions on the timesheets.
Meakin was at the wheel for the opening qualifying session, used to determine the grid for Saturday’s opening race, and almost immediately found time in the car. Careful to keep within the white lines, the 18-year-old lifted the Optimum entry to its best position to that point, logging 16th spot in the 33-car field to cement a place on the outside of row eight, from where he would take the first stint in race one.
Quick off the line, Meakin was able to claim two further places on the opening lap and ran 14th through to lap nine, before briefly dropping back to his original spot over the next couple of laps. With the pit-stop window opening shortly thereafter, the #4 was on the rise again, reaching a high of 12th on lap 19, before handing over to Porter. Unable to make the same progress through traffic, however, the senior driver could only claw his way back to 19th place by the chequered flag, albeit good enough for ninth in the hotly-contested PRO class.
The following morning, Porter was in the car for second qualifying, claiming tenth of the grid with the Optimum team’s best time of the weekend, but all of his good work would be undone on the opening lap of Sunday’s event, as the #4 was sandwiched in the melée and sustained a puncture that forced Porter to pit. Rejoining the fray in 26th position left the two Britons requiring some luck if they were to get anything out of the weekend, but Porter remained determined, hauling the white Optimum entry back to 12th by the time he had to hand the reins to Meakin. The youngster then produced a drive from much the same mould, climbing from 18th immediately after the changeover to 13th by the end of the race, again good enough for ninth in class, but with a three-second gap before he could have joined a group battling over the final top ten position overall.
“We’re coming away from the Red Bull Ring after not exactly the best day at the office,” Meakin commented. “Sadly, two non-scoring races ended the streak that Mikey and I had going, but things just didn’t run our way this weekend. The puncture in race two, having qualified so well, set us back as we then had to do two pit-stops instead of the usual one, but we had a good race to the end and managed to get back up to P12. Better luck at the start would obviously have allowed us to finish higher than that.”
Meakin and Porter will be back in International Open GT Championship action for round seven at the Circuit de Catalunya-Barcelona over the weekend of 20th-21st September.
