Jones and Malvern head into the penultimate round of the season in high spirits, and with the Team Parker Racing-run Porsche 911 GT3 R firmly back on-song, despite misfortune striking in each of the last two British GT events.
A crash during practice at Spa-Francorchamps put the duo out of the championship’s annual European outing, and that was compounded by a persistent throttle position sensor issue wrecking their last outing at Snetterton.
However, since then the Team Parker technical crew has been over the car thoroughly, and Jones even tackled the Porsche Sprint Challenge event that ran as a support race for the world famous Le Mans 24 Hours last month, qualifying a fine fourth amid a packed grid of 60 cars before going on to score an impressive fifth overall and second in class in the race.
Jones and Malvern are keen to continue that momentum in the two one-hour British GT sprint races this weekend and improving on their championship position of 10th overall.
Oulton is traditionally a strong track for the pairing, with Jones and Malvern coming within minutes of GT4 victory aboard a Mercedes-AMG GT4 in 2019. The pair were also awarded an outright GT4 race win there in 2018.
Nick Jones said: “I’m really up for Oulton Park, and I can’t wait to get back on track in the Porsche. Le Mans was a truly incredible experience – just to be a part of it – but to come away with such a strong result was amazing, and it definitely gives me a boost ahead of getting back out there in British GT. Oulton Park is a track I like, and I also like the shorter sprint race format, which I think plays in our favour. It was a shame that we couldn’t show what we could do in either race at Snetterton, but the car is now back to 100% and we’re both ready to go out there and have some fun before the end of the season.”
Scott Malvern added: “I can’t wait to get going at Oulton Park as I have a good feeling about this weekend. I’m completely confident that Team Parker has fixed the issues that plagued us at Snetterton and Nick’s result at Le Mans just goes to show that the car’s back where it should be. Nick’s driving has come on so much across this season, and the extra seat time will only be a benefit. We both enjoy the sprint races in British GT, and I love Oulton Park – it’s a proper old school circuit where driver bravery makes a big difference. It’s bumpy, fast, quite narrow in places and has a few blind corners, so it’s a real racer’s circuit. The balance of the Porsche should suit the circuit well, whereas it’s the sort of track that can be tricky for other models. The aim is to go out there, enjoy it, and aim to get ourselves back into the fight at the front.”
The penultimate round of the Intelligent Money British GT Championship gets underway at Oulton Park with two free practice sessions on Saturday morning before qualifying at 16:15. Sunday’s opening one-hour race will begin at 13:10, with race two following at 16:25. Live timing will be available across the weekend via tsl-timing.com, and the races will be streamed live via British GT’s website and YouTube channel.
