Race Report for Round Twenty-Four- Pit-Stop
Photo finish in group GTC, Nearys nab overall win
An exciting weekend at Donington Park drew to a close with a fantastically close finish in group GTC. Despite only having two cars competing, the group provided one of the most exciting moments of the race.
With just four minutes to go, Dan de Zille started to charge, demolishing the gap between him and group leader Tom Webb. As the pair rounded the final corner, Webb was still in front, but de Zille threw the car down the straight in a last ditch effort to take the lead. It wasn’t to be for the Ferrari, however, as the pair of Italian stallions crossed the line either side of group GTH’s Chris Murphy, with a mere 0.039 seconds between them.
The overall race win (and third of the weekend) went the way of Team Abba Racing duo Sam and Richard Neary who’ve put in a stellar performance all weekend. John Seale and Jamie Stanley finished second, with Stanley really coming into his own towards the end of the race, equipped with fresh slicks and a drying track. The gap to Neary was just too large, but Stanley comes away with the fastest lap of the race at least. Grahame Tilley and Will Tregurtha were on track for a third place finish in group GTO, but Will had to park the Nissan at Starkeys as Godzilla had shed one of its boots.
Another brilliant source of entertainment during the race was group GTH. Early on, lead changes came thick and fast as the group was led by Josh Jackson off the line, as well as John Whitehouse and Brent Millage later on. Unfortunately for Jackson, the decision to run the cars on slicks from the start backfired, and Ginetta ran well off the pace. Taking the top spot in GTH was the #44 pairing of Steve Ruston and John Whitehouse, their first win of the weekend. Millage put up a good fight early on in the race, but had to settle for second in group. GT Cup debutants Feathers Motorsport finished third.
Group GTB was a hotly contested battle between Topcats Racing and Saxon Motorsport. Teamowner Warren Gilbert started the race in the Marcos Mantis, putting in a great stint to keep ahold of the group lead ahead of Tom Barrow in the BMW 150 GTR. With conditions on a knife edge, tyre choice became a gamble, and Saxon bet on slicks, swapping out their wets during the pit stop. Gilbert pitted to hand over to teammate Jensen Lunn and the team elected to remain on (fresh) wets. Lunn emerged ahead, but the BMW now in the hands of Nick Barrow was closing fast. A decisive move from the Saxon car gave them the lead, and eventually the win.
Gareth Howell put in an immense performance in the group GTA BMW for Geoff Steel Racing. Running as high as fourth overall, the former British Touring Car Driver wrung as much as he could out of the car before handing over to Richard Marsh. Marsh crossed the line in sixth place overall, nabbing the group GTA win.
