Racing fans at Brands Hatch were treated to a dramatic finale in the latest round of the Intelligent Money British GT Championship on Sunday.

After almost two hours Team Abba Mercedes AMG father-and-son pairing Richard and Sam Neary were within sight of victory - but, as the proverb goes, to finish first, first you have to finish, and the lead car slowed on the Brabham Straight allowing Morgan Tillbrook and Marcus Clutton in their Enduro Motorsport McLaren 720s to pick up the pieces.

The race was initially led by the 2 Seas Motorsport Mercedes-AMG GT3 of James Cottingham and Lewis Williamson, however a series of safety-car periods threatened to harm the progress of the leading runners, including one triggered by a collision between championship leader Ian Loggie in the RAM Racing Mercedes-AMG he shares with Callum Macleod and Adam Balon's Lamborghini Huracan. This resulted in a trip to the gravel trap for Nick Halstead in the Fox Motorsport McLaren as he attempted evasive action.

Despite the stoppages, Cottingham retained the lead into the pit stop period but with the field bunched up closely, pit-stop success penalties were always likely to play a key role in how the pack shuffled into the second half of the race. The leading car duly ceded the lead and crucially the Nearys emerged at the head of the field with Clutton just behind having taken over from Tillbrook.

From here, the leading duo engaged in a tense battle of cat and mouse, with Sam Neary always seemingly just able to keep himself out of Clutton's clutches. Even with slower GT4 class traffic to negotiate, the Mercedes-AMG was always able to just maintain enough of an advantage to avoid presenting a clear overtaking oppurtunity - before disaster struck three minutes from the flag.

Disappointingly for the Nearys, their Mercedes-AMG was unable to complete the race at all, coming to a devastating halt in the pit lane and classified ninth. This allowed Sandy Mitchell to move up to second in the Barwell Motorsport Lamborghini after recovering from co-driver Balon's earlier drama.

Mitchell attempted to pressure the leading Clutton in the closing moments of the contest, but there wasn't enough time remaining on the clock for any serious inroads to be made. The upsetting end to the Nearys' chase also enabled Alexander Sims to step onto the podium after returning to British GT for the first time since 2016. The former Formula E driver completed the rostrum with Henry Dawes after joining the Century Motorsport line-up this weekend.

Behind the GT3 contenders, there was a victory in the GT4 class for Darren Turner and Matt Topham in the Newbridge Motorsport Aston Martin Vantage. Sennan Fielding and Richard Williams were second in GT4 in the Steller Motorsport Audi, just ahead of Jamie Orton and Sep Hopkins in Team Parker Racing's Porsche 718 Cayman.

The final round of the championship is at Donington Park on October 15-16.