Hugo Bosses Snetterton Sunday With Double GT Cup Victory

Young charger Hugo Cook was the star of the show on the final day of the 2022 GT Cup Championship at Snetterton, taking two wins in Norfolk.

The Cook Motorsport driver drove solo for the final weekend of the championship and looked unstoppable at times on the final day in his Mercedes AMG GT3, putting the car on pole position and dominating both races in Norfolk.

With championships decided the day before, pride was very much on the line for the final two races of the season and it would be Topcats Racing with HEX.com that could once more celebrate a double victory in GTC and GTA.

They would ultimately miss out on the Teams' Championship to Orange Racing Powered by JMH Automotive, who had sealed the overall title on Saturday with Simon Orange and Michael O'Brien.

GTB success again went to Whitebridge Motorsport on both occasions, with the GTH battles being entertaining throughout the final day as Paddock Motorsport and Orange Racing with JMH Auto shared the spoils.

Qualifying

Sunny skies were once again the backdrop as Sunday began with the GT Cup field battling the clock in order to start the final Sprint race of the season as high up the grid as possible.

As it did yesterday, group GT3 turned into a two-way slog between Hugo Cook in his Mercedes and Morgan Tillbrook in the Enduro-run McLaren 720S. The pair swapped times throughout as they continued to find those extra crucial tenths around the three-mile circuit.

Despite Tillbrook's best efforts, Cook was too quick and scooped a pair of poles to end the season. GTH was also a barn-stormer with pole switching hands between a number of drivers, before James Kell struck the decisive blow in his Track Focused Mercedes-AMG GT4 less than two-tenths ahead of Will Dendy in the Orange Racing McLaren.

Charlotte Gilbert added more points to Topcats Racing's Teams' title aspirations with pole in GTC, with the team doing the same in GTA. GTB meanwhile went to Chris Murphy's fire-spitting BMW. 

Sprint Race

The final Sprint race of the season was action-packed from lights-to-flag, with Cook very much taking the starring role throughout after costing himself an early lead by out-braking himself into the hairpin for the first time and falling behind Tillbrook to second place.

The Mercedes man spent the remainder of the 25-minute contest chasing the McLaren 720s in his quest for a first win of the weekend, but had to wait until the final minutes of the race as he pounced on Tillbrook at Murray's with a tighter line heading through the left-hander joining the main straight to grab the lead - securing victory in the process.

Ian Loggie sealed third on the road for RAM Racing in his own Mercedes GT3 machine, fending off newly-crowned champion Simon Orange who did still clinch the Sprint Championship crown to add to his other spoils in Norwich despite a minor off at Murrays late on.

Track Focused were untouchable in GTH as they lead home the flying Tom Roche in the Paddock Motorsport McLaren 570s. Ex-Mazda and Ginetta frontrunner Roche lunged by the #17 Orange Racing with JMH Automotive McLaren in the infield section and later surpassed the Parr Motorsport Porsche of Tim Creswick to seal second in the group.

GTC and GTA honours again went to Topcats Racing with HEX.com, with Charlotte Gilbert racing the team's Lamborghini Huracan. Murphy continued with clean sweep of GTB meanwhile in the Whitebridge Motorsport E46 M3 GTR.

Pitstop Race

Cook was quick to jump into the early lead from pole position in the 50-minute second race of the day, and would be ultimately unchallenged throughout the contest as he romped to a second victory of the afternoon.

His closest challengers would be the McLaren of Orange and O'Brien by the chequered flag, with the podium rounded out by Enduro Motorsport who clinched the Endurance race victory the day before. Loggie would be victim to ABS problems that dropped him out of a podium slot early on.

GTC was again won by Topcats as Charlotte Gilbert brilliantly completed the entire race solo, while the team's Ginetta again won GTA with Sam Randon and Charlotte Birch. Whitebridge Motorsport's BMW again took GTB for a clean sweep.

GTH would take the centre of attention for much of the race, with Paddock Motorsport and Valluga Racing trading places early on. The latter's Porsche took the lead prior to stops, leaving the Parr Motorsport Porsche in the group lead before Creswick finally succumbed to pressure from Orange Racing with JMH Auto's McLaren of Will Dendy in the final stages. Paddock Motorsport fought over third, Roche getting the better of team-mate Adam Hatfield after surviving a moment at Riches.

#36 Hugo Cook

"The car was really in the window this weekend, I’ve not felt like that before. We’ve done four rounds this season and it’s been really good this weekend. Yesterday we were unlucky, and had a few mistakes but it was great to finish today with a clean sweep. The first race was difficult, I just couldn’t get past Morgan - I had to put the pressure on him until he made a mistake and then the next race was a bit more straightforward, I could get my head down and build the lead. It was a warm race! Best way to end the season, I’m looking forward to figuring out what the plan is for next season."

#9 Charlotte Gilbert

"I pushed hard and had cars in front to catch. I was emotional at the end because what a year it's been. With what happened at Silverstone we didn't know what would happen and then here without Jensen today, I haven't got words to say how thankful I am for everybody for the day I've had. I'm over the moon."

#72 Chris Murphy

"I’ve had a very enjoyable weekend. It’s been a difficult year getting this car ready to race with lots of delays with one thing and another, so to finally get here and get four races completed with no problems was a great achievement and we’re very happy. Just beginning to learn the car now and there’s a lot more to come from it, there’s a few tweaks we need to do now that we’ve got it running OK. We’ll do some winter testing and things and come back next year and have another go - hopefully the full season. Ed and Ash at Woodrow Motorsport have had a challenge on their hands building the car through the pandemic trying to get the parts to build a bespoke vehicle but they’ve done a great job and here we are, done!"

#26 Tom Roche

"It was good, it was just a bit gutting in the endurance race. We had the pace to win it and trying to get past the Porsche for the lead there was some contact which put me off and had to come back to third. But always nice to get on the podium but feel we could have won it really. The car felt really good, I was comfortable in it today, it’s been a bit up and down until then but today it felt really good. I think it would have been nice to get on the top step in the last one but nice to be on the podium."