GT Cup – Donington Park GP Circuit

GT Cup rolls into Donington Park for the second time this season for the Penultimate rounds of the 2018 season.

Boosted grids with Additional entries see’s a healthy sized field arriving for rounds 17, 18 and 19 of the GT Cup championship.
Top Cats Racing arrive leading the teams series as well as the drivers championship with Jon Harrison, Warren Gilbert and Mick Mercer. Their Marcos Mantis has been a staple piece of this series for a long time, the chassis has been seen in so many liveries and guises over the years in many series but recent times has seen it running very well amongst the top teams in this GT Cup series.

Adam Hatfield and Chris Murphy aren’t far behind in their Aston Martin GT4 of Whitebridge Motorsport, with the usual 3 races over the weekend it could become an important weekend for either squad if any has any troubles it could really effect the outcome of the overall series leaders.

A return to the GT Cup series for Team ABBA Racing after a strong weekend at Oulton Park for team. Running their BMW M3, it’s a proven machine having won 2 Silverstone 24 hours overall the most recent most notably from the back of the grid. The car is a little older but with a an outfit like Team ABBA running the car it’s not a chassis that won’t be left short on it’s setup and preparation for the weekend.
This weekend see’s the BMW driven by Sam Neary and Ian Stinton, a pairing that will be strong together in the 50 minute main race of the weekend.

Beechdean AMR make a return to the series too with 2 cars this weekend in 2 different classes. Their Vantage GT4 runs this weekend with the well known and extremely capable Paul Hollywood driving solo all weekend giving him some extended track time. Their GT3 Machine also making an appearance this weekend which becomes very key for the team as it serves as a perfect race conditions test session before they return in a few weeks for the final race of the British GT championship. Andrew Howard is driving solo but again it serves perfect for him as extended track time and setup tweaking for the squad.

Race 1

The National Motorsport Academy Mosler of Gareth Downing and Kevin Riley sat on pole for the start of race 1, with the Beechdean AMR of Andrew Howard in 2nd position. The Mosler certainly got the drop off the line with a clean lead into turn 1 followed by the Beechdean Aston Martin being challenged by Nigel Hudson of the JMH Automotive Aston Martin GT3. As the cars re approached for lap 2 it saw the Mosler still leading the way with now Nigel Hudson in second and Andrew Howard relegated down to 3rd position.

GTC was being led by Michael Igoe in the WPI Motorsport Porsche 991 GT3 Cup at the end of lap 2, being chased down by the SB Race Engineering Ferrari with Paul Bailey on board. A gap behind meant the leader of the GTO class was next up with Tom Webb in his BMW GTR leading the way over the Marcos Mantis of Top Cats Racing.

The race began to settle into a rhythm very quickly as the weather took a turn to drizzle across the whole circuit. Donington Park is famous for having an already slippery surface but mix that with the drizzle now coming down and the lap times took a tumble before the first incident.
The Fox Motorsport Mercedes AMG GT4 approached the macleans corner, as approaching the corner it seems the back end swapped on him as he touched the brakes and pitched the car off into the left hand side wall but before the tyre barriers begin.
The Mercedes is one tough car but hitting a bare exposed concrete wall wouldn’t end well for any car. The race soon went to safety car then red flag and the cars returned to the pitlane.
The fox motorsport Mercedes was destroyed with the front end completely written off and possible the whole chassis looking at the shape of it as it was lifted onto the back of the flatbed truck.

A short delay to the races as the wall was repaired and tyres placed along the wall but we saw the cars come back to the circuit to restart for a quick 10 minute blast of a race.
The Mosler continued to lead the way but with what lead it had demolished due to the safety car restart the Beechdean Aston Martin of Andrew Howard right on the tail of the Mosler. The Battle continued on for the rest of the race, the Mosler used it’s torque perfectly to pull away but as the tyres came up to pressure for Andrew Howard he began to reel back in the Mosler and was climbing all over the back of the Mosler. Gareth Downing defended perfectly to maintain the lead but not without efforts from Andrew Howard but to no avail.

JMH Automotive took the class win in GTC with SB Race engineering claiming the second position in class for the squad, all important points for the team continuing the string of strong finishes for the outfit. Warren Gilbert once again took a podium finish in class for the Marcos Mantis as he claimed the third and final step of the class podium.

Race 2

Evening light and cooler conditions and rain arriving, all the things that for some drivers make racing fun but for most it’s a hellish combination, well that is what was served up for race 2 of the GT Cup.
Continuing from race 1 the Beechdean Aston carried on it’s dogfight with the Mosler of National Motorsport Academy. Lap after Lap they plunged into the Melbourne hairpin tied together. On Lap 9 of the race the Mosler took the lead before the Beechdean Aston attempted to retake the lead into the Melbourne but as the Mosler closed the door the Aston Martin had no where to go resulting in a enforced spin for the Mosler thanks to the nose of the Aston Martin, as the Aston went around the outside of the spun Mosler, the Beechdean Aston also clipped the rear of the rolling back Mosler resulting in the back bodywork being ripped off and dragging along the circuit.
Both cars made trips to the pits but the Beechdean Aston Martin of Andrew Howard to retire due to damage to the car.
The Mosler continued all be it in pursuit of the Gibson Mclaren and the reliable #12 Aston Martin of Neil Hudson. with only laps to go, the Mosler was putting the effort in but was feeling the lack of rear downforce after losing that big chunk of rear bodywork. Pushing for every second, no more progress was made and brought home the Mosler in 3rd place after a spin and a pit stop.

Neil Hudson took the race win in his Aston Martin followed by the Gibson Mclaren in second place. In third came the Mosler in what was a tough race for the National Motorsport Academy guys. After race 1’s battle with the Beechdean Aston Martin and Race 2’s tussle that ended in both cars coming together and losing time due to the incident I expect some fireworks from the 2 of them tomorrow for the longer race of the three.

Race 3

Dan Gibson took a dominating lights to flag in in race 3. Mixed conditions with a dry start then faded into spots of rain and drizzle around the half way mark that then brightened up towards the end, for bright finish. A strong qualifying snatched Dan Gibson pole position after it looked like another pole position for the Aston Martin of Andrew Howard, but a last ditch effort put the Mclaren 0.2 ahead of the Aston Martin to take pole for the 50 minute race in the afternoon.

GTC group honours was taken by John Seale and Abbie Eaton in the beautifully prepared Ferrari 488 Challenge. Eaton only saw took to the track in practice and the longer race but drove perfectly and pulled away after being handed the car ahead of WPI Motorsports Porsche in the hands of Adam Wilcox. Michael took the start for WPI Motorsport but was kept honest by John Seale and then emerged behind the Ferrari of Eaton to watch the 488 challenge drive away from him.

Group GTH saw an all Aston Martin Battle when Paul Hollywood started the Beechdean Aston Martin keeping solid pace, to hand the car off to Aston Martin Hot shot Ross Gunn who put in the drive of the race to claw back time hand over fist to be within striking distance at the end but not quite close enough for the group win. The Whitebridge Motorsport squad take the GTH title and still very much in the hunt for the overall points win too for the whole cup.

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