Race Report for Round Twenty- Pit-Stop
Three different winners over the weekend in GTH as Chris Murphy snaps up pit-stop race win
An exciting weekend’s racing came to an end with more silverware for the Team Abba Racing squad. Richard and Sam Neary claimed victory during Sunday’s pit-stop race after a commanding performance from the father-son pair.
It was a fantastic start for Shamus Jennings, firing his Porsche GT3R off the line, but his efforts to maintain the lead were thwarted by a massively late-braking Richard Neary. Coming out of Graham Hill bend, an equally daring move from Gareth Howell saw the #8 BMW snatch a position from Adam Lucas.
Within a lap, Richard Neary had opened up over 4.5 seconds worth of gap to Shamus Jennings, which set the tone for the rest of the race. Nobody would be able to touch the black and green Mercedes.
After the pit stop window, even with the pros aboard, the gaps across the field mostly stabilised. The exception to the pattern was Adam Carroll who was chasing down Tom Webb for the group GTC lead. An extra lap or two may have given Carroll the edge he needed, but as the chequered flag fell, it was Webb ahead by less than a second.
Winning overall for the third time this weekend was Richard and Sam Neary for Team Abba Racing. Shamus Jennings adds another trophy to the cabinet with a second place for him and co-driver Greg Caton. Third in GTO went to driver of the day Grahame Tilley and teammate Will Tregurtha. Tregurtha also wrung the fastest lap of the race out of Godzilla - a 1:26.497 from the NISMO GT-R.
Another group GTC win for Tom Webb in the #13 Lamborghini, ahead of FF Corse’s Adam Carroll and Laki Christoforou. Graham de Zille started the race well in the second FF Corse Ferrari, but lost out to his teammates during the second half of the race.
Despite a smack to the bodywork, Sander Mortensen piloted the #3 Top Cats Racing Marcos Mantis to a group GTB victory. Team boss Warren Gilbert was on ‘duct tape duty’ as Sander pitted, patching the stricken Mantis as best he could. Mortensen carried on climbing the order to ultimately finish seventh overall. Second in GTB went to Sander’s father Frank in the second Top Cats Marcos, with David Frankland in third.
Chris Murphy took his first win of the weekend in group GTH. After some close battles with sprint race winner Brent Millage, Murphy finally passed the Porsche and managed to stay ahead to take the chequered flag. Elsewhere in GTH it was a torrid race for Team Hard’s Josh Jackson and Simon Orange. Jackson pitted early with a collapsed hub on the Ginetta, but that was the first of several hiccups for the car which led to it grinding to a halt on the side of the track.
After a mixed weekend, Geoff Steel Racing finished on a high with a group GTA win for Richard Marsh and Gareth Howell. Some tough competition came their way from Team Hard’s Kris Prosser and Nick Scott-Dickeson, but the Ginetta duo had to make do with second place. It wasn’t another win, but Adam Lucas comes away from this race with another trophy for third in group.
The GT Cup returns to racing action at Donington Park on the 21st/22nd of September.
