Race Report for Round Twenty-Two- Pit Stop
Two for two for the Nearys despite rivals’ best efforts
A far more straightforward race Saturday afternoon at Donington, with Team Abba Racing’s Sam and Richard Neary claiming the pit stop race win. An early incident involving the Neary Mercedes and John Seale’s Lamborghini saw Richard Neary drop down to eighth and gifted James Webb the lead.
Webb ran a hugely impressive but fairly lonely first stint, running over ten seconds clear of the rest of the field. Though the threat from the Mercedes was never far away as Richard Neary, and then Sam following their pit stop steadily climbed back up the order. By the time James Webb pitted, Sam Neary had done enough to secure the win, crossing the line over twenty seconds ahead of Jamie Stanley.
Stanley was locked in a fantastic battle during the final few laps with Glynne Geddie in the ABG Motorsport Lamborghini. Geddie tried his best to fend off the JMH Automotive machine, but super Stanley found his way through. Fourth overall (and in GTO) was the ‘Godzilla’ Nissan GT-R of Grahame Tilley and Will Tregurtha.
Upon finally pitting, James Webb rejoined in second, but was no match for the pro drivers aboard GTO machinery. Webb took the GTC group win, finishing fifth overall. It was a quiet race for FF Corse, but a second place finish in group GTC for Graham and Dan de Zille. A good points haul nevertheless for the father-son pair.
Once again, Saxon Motorsport looked to be the GTB team to beat going into this race. Starting ahead of their rivals Top Cats Racing, Tom Barrow put in a great stint and led the group for a good portion of the race. However, unlike the sprint race, the Marcos had an extra weapon up its sleeve in the form of Warren Gilbert. Following the pit stops, Gilbert snatched the group lead from Barrow and piloted the car home to a group win.
The group GTH winner split the two GTB runners, as Josh Jackson crossed the line in eighth overall. The Team Hard driver running the race alone, put in a fantastic run to beat Steve Ruston and John Whitehouse to the group win. Third in GTH went the way of Spy Motorsport’s Brent Millage, ahead of the combination of James Guess and James Hilliard, and Chris Murphy. The Speedworks Aston Martin managed to complete race distance this time out, and finished sixth in the group.
Geoff Steel Racing end today with another trophy for the cabinet as Richard Marsh and Gareth Howell romped away to victory. The BMW appeared untroubled by its GTA rivals James Simons and Fraser Smart who ended second in group.
