Shaun Balfe and Adam Smalley top the Silver Am section after the latest round of the British GT Championship at Snetterton

Shaun Balfe took the first step towards championship glory after clinching his class crown at a British GT Sprint double-header over the weekend.

The Fulbeck driver and team-mate Adam Smalley have topped the Silver Am section after the latest round at Snetterton.

They are now 28 points off top spot in the overall competition and 16 away from second place with a maximum of 75 points available from the final rounds.

Balfe said: "It was good to win the class title early so now we can go full on for the overall at Donington and Brands Hatch."

Balfe and Smalley had arrived at Snetterton in a strong second place for the championship and unbeaten in the Silver Am Class.

However, in the pre-race testing, their McLaren 720S GT3 Evo had been unable to match the pace of some of their rivals.

Balfe was first out in the qualifying for Sunday's races and, despite some changes made by the Garage 59 crew, it was a struggle. By his third lap he was up to fifth quickest but dropped to seventh on the final tour.

He explained: "We struggled for overall grip and the car wasn't working strongly in any area.

"We couldn't push as we were lacking front end grip and rear traction and it was predictable too."

Smalley echoed Balfe's comments in the following session too, qualifying 10th for race two.

There was some optimism after Sunday morning’s warm-up, but both drivers knew it was going to be tough, as the title rivalling Lamborghini's led the way.

In race one, Balfe took the start and was side-by-side with John Ferguson's BMW through Palmer and was ahead into Agostini to retain seventh place.

Over the next couple of laps he was unable to shake-off Ferguson, but on lap six the fourth placed duel between Neary and Loggie allowed them all to close up again and Balfe was on the tail of Sacha Kakad's Audi for sixth.

He commented: "It didn't go in our favour though as Ferguson got me back as we came into the Esses and Tse's BMW closed too."

A couple of laps later Tse was through for eighth too in exactly the same place, the end of the Bentley Straight, where straightline speed was critical.

Balfe pitted ninth after 12 laps, handing to Smalley. With the addition of a seven seconds success penalty at the stop, he rejoined in 13th and the battle was on to reach the top 10 to score championship points.

Progress was almost impossible and at the flag they came in 11th on the road, but were promoted to 10th after the Blackthorn Aston Martin was given a post-race penalty.

Balfe said: "The problem seemed to be a combination of small things, but overall it restricted our straightline speed and balance, and that was critical.

"It was really hard work and not enjoyable,” he added, as they suffered their first-class defeat of the season, finishing fourth.

It was Smalley's turn to start race two and from 10th he quickly made two places on the opening lap, before exiting Agostini Hairpin in seventh.

Hesse’s BMW was back in front by the end of lap two, but Smalley had begun to lose ground with his rivals within a couple of laps.

He was chasing hard to try and catch Collard’s Lamborghini and had a little wiggle through Hamilton, forcing him to back off slightly.

He held station over the remainder of his stint and handed the car over to Balfe still in eighth after 17 laps.

With various cars ahead subject to pit success penalties at their stops, Balfe had rejoined sixth and was hanging on to Ferguson’s fifth-placed BMW.

After a brief look at challenging through Hamilton, both moved up when Loggie was given a drive through penalty, losing him the lead.

So Balfe was now fifth with Kakad’s Audi chasing him, before Collard got them both just before a 23rd lap safety car intervention.

From the green flag there was just a couple of laps before the chequered flag. He held onto strong sixth overall, but it was win number six in the Silver Am Class and enough to seal the title with two rounds remaining.

Post-race penalties were added to two cars ahead, including the winning Lamborghini of championship leaders Mitchell and Martin, promoting Balfe and Smalley to fourth.