Shaun Balfe makes a strong start to the the British GT Championship season at Oulton Park

Fulbeck's Shaun Balfe came away with two class wins despite the weather doing its best to put a dampener on the opening rounds of the British GT Championship at Oulton Park

Testing and free practice sessions had been hampered by showers and red flags, so Balfe had very little time in the car before the short sharp qualifying session.

Sharing his Garage 59 McLaren 720 GTS GT3 with Adam Smalley, Balfe was 13th quickest when that session was red flagged too.

"I had one lap preparing and one flying lap before it was stopped raining, then we started again. There was only two laps but I felt the car would do it, it felt strong and I was able to prove it," he said after snatching a superb fifth on the his final qualifying lap, the highest placed McLaren.

It was wet for Easter Monday's warm up and the start of the race, with Balfe taking the opening stint. He started from fourth after another car was withdrawn after damage in the warm-up.

The race started behind the safety car, before going live after one lap. Balfe was fourth into Old Hall corner and chasing Alex Martin’s Lamborghini for third.

The lead trio had started to escape, but Balfe continued to consolidate his hold on fourth, from Mark Radcliffe's similar car.

But, with a car off, the race was under caution after 10 laps and continued until the pitstop window and driver changes.

Balfe explained: "I had some space at the start, which surprised me, so I had reasonable visibility.

"We changed the set up after the warm-up and it felt better. I managed to get a decent gap over the car behind too."

Smalley emerged behind Tom Gamble in the Radcliffe McLaren, after they pitted a lap earlier.

But much of his stint was under caution too, with just a three-lap sprint to the flag, netting fifth overall, but Silver-Am Class winners.

The second race was soon under caution too, with Smalley starting from fifth and running in close formation for sixth overall.

The sun began to shine, but the frontrunners continued to hold station, with the race live again from lap five.

Having made the stops after 15 laps, the Garage 59 crew managed to get Balfe back on track, having made two places.

But hopes of catching Iain Loggie’s Mercedes for third were dashed, when a combination of full course yellow flags and safety car took them right to the flag.

Fourth place still netted a second win in the Silver-Am Class however.

Balfe added: "I think I would have had a good chance of catching Loggie for third, but never got the chance.

"The team were keeping me informed on the radio and I was looking for dry patches in case the green flag came out, but it didn't."

Shaun’s son Tom made his seasonal debut in the Ginetta Academy too.

Qualifying 10th for Saturday’s race, he made two places on consecutive laps at Brittens chicane, before trying for sixth place.

He challenged Amy Tomlinson into the Knickerbrrok chicane, which left them both on the tail of Paul Thomas.

Tomlinson was through into Old Hall Corner, but Thomas lost his line and his pace and came back on line in Balfe’s path, at reduced speed.

"I thought the contact was my fault, but everyone said it wasn’t. The aim was to follow Amy but I needed to be braver on the brakes,” he admitted after taking seventh overall.

A spin of the green flag for race two left him on the back foot, but he had quickly recovered to eighth place by the end of lap four.

Tom said "I was trying to stay out of trouble after taking the flag just inches behind seventh placed Thomas. But he made up an excellent eight places by the flag, in very wet conditions."

It was still wet for the third and final race, where from the start he was chasing Thomas again for sixth. But safety car interventions left little time for racing and eventually lost Tom two places and he finished ninth.

Both Shaun and Tom will be back in action again at Silverstone over the weekend of April 27 and 28.