Mark Sumpter and co-driver Shaun Balfe have secured third place in the GTO category of this year's Privilege Insurance British GT Championship

The final round of the series was staged at Silverstone and to give the race an added edge, it was held in darkness.

The 13th race of the season started at 9pm on Saturday and fourth place in the race confirmed the Paragon Porsche-backed crew of Sumpter and Balfe in third place in the final points table.

Reigning champion Sumpter and Balfe qualified seventh fastest in GTO during the two sessions on Friday. The first session was run in fading light, while the second was held in full darkness and was the first time that many drivers had driven competitively in the dark.

On Saturday the 27-strong field made a fine sight and Balfe drove first. He was soon battling hard in GTO, racing for fifth place with the Porsche of Geoff Lister and the TVR Tuscan R of Richard Stanton.

Although Stanton squeezed ahead, Balfe managed to work ahead of Lister and they all moved up one place when the Tuscan of Rob Barff stopped on the pit straight.

Just as the pit-stop window approached, the safety car came out while Barff's car was moved. Balfe dived into the pits to hand over to Sumpter and soon after he rejoined there was another safety car period to move the stricken Porsche of Matt Turner.

Turner's retirement gave Balfe and Sumpter a shot at grabbing second in the final championship points table. However, to do that they needed to finish second in GTO in the final race.

Early into Sumpter's stint, and thanks to a fine pit stop, they were running in second place, but the greater speed of the Tuscan R and the Chrysler Viper told and the Porsche was edged into fourth.

The result also meant the Paragon car was the only car in the championship to score points in every race for the second year in a row.

Scott Bourne, a ten-year-old from Mile Oak, Portslade, had a successful meeting in the Junior Mini Group at the Oval Raceway in Angmering a fortnight ago.

Scott, No. 91, won both of his heats and also the final to complete a memorable day.

He only joined the class in April this year and it took him and his dad three months to build the car. He now has four trophies to his name.