Team Abba with Rollcentre Racing warmed up for its British GT Championship return by winning the Silverstone 24 Hours on Sunday.
Richard Neary and Martin Short, who will drive a BMW Z4 GT3 this season, teamed up with Richard Roberts and Charles Lamb aboard the Bavarian firm’s M3 V8 - liveried in similar fashion to its British GT counterpart - at the annual event, which was contested solely by touring cars for the first time.
A broken driveshaft in qualifying saw the quartet start from the very back of the field, but by Sunday morning the car was in prime position to capitalise when the long-time leading Team Bleekemolen Seat Leon Cup Racer blew its engine. From there it was a relatively straightforward run to the chequered flag and three-lap winning margin.
It was both Short’s and Rollcentre’s second Silverstone 24 Hours victory, albeit coming 11 years after their first at the inaugural event in 2005 with a Mosler MT900.
There was also a class victory and sixth place overall finish for a cast of British GT faces past and present. Barwell Motorsport boss and occasional racing driver Mark Lemmer teamed up with former British GT team-mates Mark Poole and Richard Abra to win the CUP1 class by 13 laps aboard their BMW M235i Racing Cup machine.
Elsewhere, Morten Dons - who finished fifth overall in the 2014 British GT4 standings - was one place further back in seventh but second of the A3 category contenders in his Danish Scangrip Racing BMW E92 335i.
The opening round of this season’s British GT Championship at Brands Hatch takes place on April 16/17.