Back to School – GT Cup heads to Donington Park following summer break

After a very quiet August, the GT Cup returns to Donington for the penultimate round of the 2024 season.

Topcats Racing has maintained the overall title lead thanks to a quartet of wins for Charlotte Gilbert and Tom Rawlings. An identical feat from Abba Racing’s Ian Loggie and Richard Neary see the pair going into the weekend just 14 points adrift. Unsurprisingly, both pairs top their respective groups – Topcats in Group GTC, Abba in Group GTO.

Abba this weekend face competition from Richard Chamberlain, whose iconic orange Porsche put in some solid results last time out at Silverstone, and from Kendall Developments Paul Bailey and David Brabham. The team have elected to swap to the Lamborghini Huracan GT3 as opposed to the Brabham BT62.

The two Topcats Lamborghinis are joined as usual by Keith ‘Doc’ Bush in his Team Parker Racing run Porsche 911, and Woodrow Motorsport’s Chris Murphy in his BMW. Nathan Wells joins the Woodrow Motorsport stable this weekend, adding his own BMW back to Group GTC.

Group GTH is still topped by the #9 Forsetti Motorsport duo of Mikey Porter and Matthew Higgins, who have also managed to keep hold of their third-place spot in the overall points tables. The pair almost ran away with their own four wins from Silverstone, but were thwarted by the sister car.

Forsetti remain the team to beat in their group, but Paddock Motorsport’s Michael Orant, whose form has improved immensely over the season, will be joined this weekend by team boss, Martin Plowman, so expect some especially quick times from the McLaren Artura during the Endurance Races.

GTA is firmly in the hands of rookies Jolt Racing in their McLaren 570s, after a 100 per cent record thus far for both Rupert Williams and John Ingram. It’s a similar story in Group GT3 as G-Racing’s Shamus Jennings and Greg Caton have an almost blemish-free win record this season.

This weekend marks the second trip to Donington Park this year for the GT Cup – the Derbyshire circuit hosted the championship’s opening round on its National layout back in April. September’s event sees the teams competing on the full GP layout of the track.

A few new faces join the grid this weekend as well. Jumping into Group GTC is Chester-based team Track Focused. The team last raced with the GT Cup in 2022 with Darren and James Kell aboard a Mercedes AMG GT4. Quite the change in machinery for this entry as Tom Walpole brings a KTM Xbow to the fray. In Group GTH, Simpson Motorsport has added a BMW M4 GT4 to the grid in the hands of James Kaye and Darren Ridge.

Racing this weekend follows the standard two-day format with practise and a pair of qualifying sessions in the morning, and a Sprint and Pit Stop race later in the day. Track action kicks off on Saturday with free practise at 10.05am, and all four races will be broadcast across the GT Cup Facebook and YouTube channels.