GT Cup: Drivetac And Optimum Win While Currie Makes It Happen At Snetterton
A spectacular Sunday of GT Cup Championship action at Snetterton was headlined by overall wins for Optimum Motorsport and Drivetac powered by Track Focused, while GTH honours went down to the wire.
While both aforementioned GT3 crews shared wins in the Endurance and Sprint races respectively, further back a superb double win in Group GTH went the way of Makehappen Racing and their duo of Jon Currie and Phil Keen - the latter in a last-lap smash and grab.
The GTC and GTO Groups were dominated by the crews of Topcats Racing and Kendall Developments, on a weekend where the former won in all four contests.
Qualifying
Another warm day greeted the field and Sunday's first session was a repeat of Saturday's pair of 15-minute Qualifying sessions as the scrap for pole was frenetic across all the Groups.
Overall pole went the way of the guesting Mark Radcliffe in the Optimum Motorsport McLaren 720S GT3, who is making his return to Snetterton for the first time in eight years. He didn't have any signs of rust, as he prevailed in a head-to-head battle with the Drivetac Powered By Track Focused Mercedes-AMG GT3 by more than three tenths. Matt Topham could count himself unlucky not to be on the front-row as he fell short by just 0.006s in the Enduro Motorsport entry.
GTH went the way of Currie, continuing what had been a strong weekend for the Makehappen Racing driver. The same can be said for Topcats, Gilbert Yates replicating team-mate Charlotte Gilbert's efforts 24 hours earlier to take pole in GTC.
Paul Bailey rounded out the polesitters by putting his new Lamborghini Huracan onto the top spot in GTO.
Sprint Race
Round 11 was another tense contest from start to finish. The pole-sitting McLaren of Radcliffe was bested in a tight squabble for the lead on the opening tour of the Norfolk circuit, with Sam Maher-Loughan the charger as he swept into first place.
The race became a six-car breakaway train initially but, as Maher-Loughan put the hammer down, it left an all-McLaren fight for second spot in his wake as Simon Orange - moving up to third place with a rocketship getaway - hounded the Optimum Motorsport car.
A Nigel Mansell-esque dummy on the front straight would crown a fine overtaking move up the inside to gift Orange second place, but a time penalty would later demote yesterday's winner to an unlucky fourth spot . Maher-Loughan put no foot wrong to win the race by over five seconds, Radcliffe and Topham rounding out the GT3 podium.
The Topcats Racing Lamborghini again dominated the GTC Group with Yates, while Bailey added a third win from three in his similar - but unrestricted - Italian GTO machine.
GTH entertained throughout the field, with James Guess charging from last on the grid to second for Feathers Motorsport, but unable to usurp the in-form Currie, who took Group honours, with the second Makehappen Racing Mercedes in third after a wonderful scrap with the Greystone GT McLaren of Phillip Carter.
Pit Stop Race
The 50-minute Endurance race was equally tough to make predictions for, in a contest that chopped and changed throughout.
From pole position, an incredible opening stint from the in-form Orange put his McLaren 720S GT3 into a comfortable lead, but in the knowledge he would be losing time through pit stop success seconds.
With a pack lining up behind, it would be the Drivetac/Track Focused Mercedes that had a queue forming behind it, only for the J&S Racing Audi to send itself up the inside at Riches and take to the grass, allowing an opportunistic Radcliffe to sneak by both with a move inside the Mercedes at Wilson's.
That Optimum Motorsport McLaren would then find itself in the lead of the race with a rapid turnaround in the pits when the mandatory stops filtered through, leading the Hugo Cook/Sacha Kakad Audi R8 GT3 Evo2 which gained back lost time as Orange handed his car to Tom Roche in fourth place.
Rob Bell took the wheel of the leading car and confirmed a narrow victory for Optimum Motorsport ahead of J&S Motorsport, with third going to the Century Motorsport BMW M4 GT3 of Darren Leung and Jesse Krohn.
Topcats Racing took Team of the Weekend spoils alongside a perfect weekend with four GTC Group victories, GTO again going the way of Bailey who shared the Lamborghini with former British GT racer James Dorlin.
GTH ended with an exceptional fight for success. Greystone GT started brightest by jumping into the lead with Carter driving the wheels off the McLaren 570S, leading the two Makehappen Racing Mercedes chasers. Experienced racer Phil Keen took over car #96 and clawed back the time, looking for a way around the lead car before grabbing the Group win on the penultimate corner from a valiant Mikey Broadhurst.
The championship next heads to Oulton Park circuit for one day of action, with two races taking place on Saturday 1 July.
#50 Sam Maher-Loughnan
“Mark was really fair, he gave me a lot of room so it was good racing. I was lucky to get ahead and I think traffic helped me and all the back-markers were battling so got a gap. Had a big lock up into turn two on the third lap so they caught back up again and I had to put my head down and go. But it was a good clean race so good fun! Traffic is tough, but they were all excellent and they were all fair and gave me room.”
“Mark was really fair, he gave me a lot of room so it was good racing. I was lucky to get ahead and I think traffic helped me and all the back-markers were battling so got a gap. Had a big lock up into turn two on the third lap so they caught back up again and I had to put my head down and go. But it was a good clean race so good fun! Traffic is tough, but they were all excellent and they were all fair and gave me room.”
#96 Jon Currie
“I was really chuffed with my start, managed to find some space - it’s always a bit tight into turn two. I think once I got out in front I could get my head down and get into a rhythm it was alright. Podium in every race so far so can’t complain! Well chuffed, since the first morning of practice on Friday we’ve been straight out on the pace - me, Steve, Chris, all of us.”
“I was really chuffed with my start, managed to find some space - it’s always a bit tight into turn two. I think once I got out in front I could get my head down and get into a rhythm it was alright. Podium in every race so far so can’t complain! Well chuffed, since the first morning of practice on Friday we’ve been straight out on the pace - me, Steve, Chris, all of us.”
#27 Mark Radcliffe
“We got a good gap to the cars behind and I was just trying to chase Simon down but we were equal on performance there, if anything I think I got done again by some traffic but it was a really clean stint actually. I know we had the safety car, but we got a good restart and me and Simon went with that and we gapped again and it was a reasonably straight-forward race. It’s my first GT3 win I think, so we’ll take that! It was a good weekend, good experience, I’ve not been here for eight years!”
#2 Gilbert Yates
“It was good. The car was good and the team was good so it was really exciting. We were on it and in the last race we beat three GT3s so that made it even sweeter!”
“We got a good gap to the cars behind and I was just trying to chase Simon down but we were equal on performance there, if anything I think I got done again by some traffic but it was a really clean stint actually. I know we had the safety car, but we got a good restart and me and Simon went with that and we gapped again and it was a reasonably straight-forward race. It’s my first GT3 win I think, so we’ll take that! It was a good weekend, good experience, I’ve not been here for eight years!”
#2 Gilbert Yates
“It was good. The car was good and the team was good so it was really exciting. We were on it and in the last race we beat three GT3s so that made it even sweeter!”
