No Bubbles For Morris After Disappointing Spa Treatment

By Paul Evans

The bad luck that has impeded Seb Morris in this year’s British GT Championship continued at Spa-Francorchamps in Belgium on Sunday, when two penalties and a tyre blow-out on his Bentley Continental GT3 ruined any hopes of a champagne-spraying podium finish.

With his JRM team-mate Rick Parfitt Jnr having to serve a stop/go penalty early in the 120-minute race following contact with a Lamborghini, a second penalty had to be served during hour two after officials deemed the mid-race pit-stop to have been fractionally too short.

Incredibly, a puncture with around 20 minutes to run added real insult to injury and necessitated a third unscheduled stop. Wrexham-born Morris eventually went on to take the chequered flag in an exasperating 12th position.

“We qualified out of place and everything went wrong from there really,” said 23-year old Morris. “Rick got into a tangle on the first lap, which gave us the first penalty, and then we were a fraction of a second too fast in the pit-stop. When I had the blow-out, it just rubbed salt in the wound.

“In terms of my performance I was happy, after all of the penalties and issues there was no chance of a result so I just used the race as a test session really ahead of the 24 hour race next weekend. I can’t wait for that, racing as a factory driver with Bentley is the biggest opportunity of my career so far. From the point of view of British GT, though, I just hope we can have some better luck soon.”

The result drops the 2017 British GT title champion down to 10th in both the overall and Pro-Am standings.

Brands Hatch Grand Prix Circuit in Kent will host the penultimate round of the British GT season two weeks from now on Sunday 4 August. In the meantime, Morris will remain at Spa-Francorchamps for the fourth round of the Blancpain Endurance Cup – the prestigious Total 24 Hours of Spa, which takes place on Saturday. Marking his maiden race as an official ‘works’ driver for Bentley, the Welshman joins the M-Sport team to partner Rodrigo Baptista and Callum MacLeod in the No.109 Bentley Continental GT3.