Waltham Abbey’s Ben Green agonisingly missed out on being crowned British GT4 Champion, as a fifth place finish in the final round at Donington Park meant he fell one point short.

Going into the weekend, Green knew he needed a strong showing to challenge leader and Century Motorsport team mate Jack Mitchell, who went into the final round at Donington with a slender 10 point advantage.

But with Mitchell only able to cross the line in eighth, a stop/go penalty for Green proved to be costly and despite finishing ahead of his championship rival in fifth, it wasn’t enough for him to claim the GT4 title in his first season in the series.

Green, who finished in second place in the Ginetta GT4 Super Cup last season, gave himself a chance of closing down leader Mitchell when he qualified on pole for the race at Donington but the 20-year-old would slip down to second early on after being overtaken by Daniel McKay.

The Waltham Abbey racer would regain the lead when McKay’s McLaren entered the gravel after hitting oil at Redgate, leading to the introduction of the safety car, but the duo would swap places once again following the restart.

Green’s title hopes were very much alive when he handed the car over to team-mate Ben Tuck in second place, but the duo’s championship bid would suffer a huge blow when they were handed a 10 second stop/go penalty after the Waltham Abbey racer was accused of overtaking a backmarker when the safety car was out.

That penalty saw the duo slip down the order and with rival Mitchell running in fourth, it seemed like their title hopes were over.

But the pendulum would swing back in their favour when Mitchell was handed a penalty of his own, promoting Green and Tuck to fifth, meaning they would be crowned champions by half a point if the positions remained the same.

With 15 minutes to go, the title looked set to be heading back to Waltham Abbey with Green, but his championship hopes were handed a cruel blow once again when Mitchell overtook Jason Wolfe to move up to eighth.

That ultimately would hand the Century Motorsport driver the title, meaning Green, alongside partner Tuck, agonisingly missed out on a maiden victory by one point.

Green said: “It’s gutting to miss out on the British GT4 Championship, but we have had a very successful year and this is something I am proud of. Century Motorsport, BMW Motorsport and Ben Tuck have been fantastic to work with and I look forward to furthering all of these connections in the future.”