Jacob Tofts and Duckhams Yuasa Racing returned to form at the final round at Brands Hatch, taking a maiden overall win and two class victories to secure third in the Pro-Am championship thanks to stellar pace all weekend.
After car issues at Croft, Jacob’s bad luck continued at the penultimate round of the season at Silverstone, where an early crash in race one took him out of contention and left him managing issues for the rest of the weekend.
Remaining positive and confident in the car’s pace, Jacob and the team saw their perseverance pay off at Brands Hatch, with the distinctive yellow Porsche 911 GT3 Cup car running at the front of the pack all weekend.
In a close fight for pole with Callum Voisin and Isaac Phelps, Jacob narrowly missed out on the top spot and qualified third overall. He was comfortably ahead of his class rivals, with Jonathan Moore the nearest Pro-Am competitor in sixth, three tenths slower.
Despite an initial struggle off the line in race one, Jacob held onto his starting position on the opening lap before beginning to challenge Phelps and Voisin ahead. His progress was halted when the Safety Car was deployed after Jack Sherwood ended up in the barriers at the top of Paddock Hill.
When racing resumed, Jacob was caught off guard by Voisin’s restart and lost touch with the front two. He then focused on managing his own race, leading the Pro-Am field to the line to take a class win.
Starting second behind Will Jenkins for race two, Jacob set his sights on the overall victory and took the lead on the opening lap. While Jenkins stayed within half a second of Jacob, his attention soon turned from attacking to defending as Voisin began to challenge him for second.
Their battle gave Jacob breathing room to control his own pace. Voisin eventually moved into second with a move up the inside at Stirling after Jenkins left the door open, before setting off in pursuit of the Duckhams Yuasa Racing machine.
Despite mounting pressure in the final laps, Jacob remained composed and crossed the line to take his first overall win in the final race of the season. The victory brought his tally to four Pro-Am class wins, alongside a further eight class podium finishes, rounding out a strong debut campaign for the youngster.
“I’m so happy! It’s such a good end to the season. We’ve had a really tough last few rounds, so to end it like this with two overall podiums, including a win, is so good. We had a really good start, and I knew after the first lap that it was my race to manage. I was just making sure I stayed on track, avoided any track limits penalties and brought it home. I’m so happy and so grateful to the team, Graves Motorsport, and Duckhams Yuasa Racing for giving me this opportunity and preparing such a good car. It was perfect.
“In the second half of the season, this has been the only round where we haven’t had something go against us, so I’m happy to put the weekend together like I felt we could’ve done since round two, when we were last here.
“Winning an overall race was my goal at the start of the year, so I’m very happy to get it done. It’s a bit late, but we still did it! It’s a great reward for myself, the team around me and my family. Thank you to Duckhams Yuasa Racing for putting this together.”