GT CUP QUARTET DELIVERS THE THRILLS
A near capacity grid of past, present and one-off machinery arrived at Donington Park to herald the start of a season that leaves the GT Cup firmly established on the calendar as both a headliner and driver favourite.
Three race-winning cars from last year’s British GT championship were among those competing in the GT3 group and while two would go on to claim success here too, the drama started early for reigning GT Cup champions Richard and Sam Neary. A brake disc failure in practice forced them to miss qualifying and start at the back.
Solo campaigner Ian Loggie had no such issues. Already race-hardened from warmer climes, he found the extra 0.002s needed to secure pole position, which he masterfully converted into the win.
Fastest lap of race one went to the Nearys and, with it, pole for the afternoon’s endurance feature. Two early safety car periods resulted in a mostly processional affair until the pitstop window opened. As a lone amateur, Loggie had the benefit of a shorter stop but as the race developed, he struggled with traffic, allowing Marcus Clutton to close right in. Loggie tried to hold firm but the McLaren, lights blazing, was there in his mirrors. Then, approaching Coppice, they came across backmarkers and a wrongfooted Loggie headed through the gravel, leaving the Enduro Motorsport car to repeat its success from last year’s Donington Decider.
Sunday’s races were allMcLaren affairs. Simon Orange and Michael O’Brien were rewarded in race three for the pace shown through the weekend, while Greystone GT found something to cheer when Oli Webb was able to hunt-down Loggie in the final encounter while holding-off the Nearys who were also on a charge.
In all four races, the GTH group produced a constant stream of three-wide battles, the Mercedes-AMG of Stephen Walton and Chris Hart winning twice, while in GTO, the McLaren MP4-12C Cam Am of Paul Bailey and Ross Wylie could never quite find the pace to overhaul the Steve Burgess and Ben Dimmack Radical RXC.
The new United Formula Ford series conjured a healthy grid of cars spanning five decades. James Hadfield’s beautifully prepared Van Diemen RF03 claimed pole with Matt Rivett’s RF91 sitting close behind. Heading into Redgate for the first time, Rivett beautifully sold the dummy and took the lead, but further back, an already crippled car was dumping a trail of oil that required an immediate red flag and extensive clean-up.
At the restart, Hadfield went defensive, so Rivett drove around his outside, the Castle Combe champion looking certain of victory, only to coast out of contention a few laps later. With a reversal of fortunes, race two should have been Hadfield’s but a collision at the final corner left fluid on the leader’s line, sending him through the gravel which promoted Rivett into the lead before the race was stopped.
There were some tremendous battles elsewhere on the bill. In Racing Saloons (shared with Z Cars), Chris Boon’s Jaguar XK8 and
Kris Dean’s Clio enjoyed an unlikely in-and-out of every corner ding-dong that saw them separated by just over a tenth at the line.
The Production GTI championship was another that thrilled the crowd from each start to finish.
Saturday’s rain-affected Radical Challenge delivered a blink-of-an-eye climax. Different tyre strategies and changing conditions seeing places won, lost then won back again, ending with the top four cars crossing the line within half a second of each other.