Brabham Takes Emotional Win Before Abba Sprints to Success
On the 10th anniversary of father Jack's passing, David Brabham took an emotional win, as he partnered with Paul Bailey to take their Kendall Developments Brabham BT62 to Pitstop Race glory.
In the closing Sprint Race, Richard Neary ensured the overall and GTO wins were shared as he stormed to the top in his Team Abba Racing Mercedes-AMG GT3.
It was a family affair in GTC as first Charlotte Gilbert - partnered with Tom Rawlings - and then Warren Gilbert ensured Topcats Racing swept the Group wins in their pair of Lamborghini Super Trofeos.
Forsetti Motorsport proved imperious in GTH as the team took a 1-2 in the Pitstop Race - Matthew Higgins & Mikey Porter pipping Jodie Sloss & Rianna O'Meara Hunt - before Higgins bested a hard-charging Charles Dawson to take Sprint success.
G-Cat Racing took a brace of overall third places and GT3 wins, while Jolt Racing also swept the GTA top spot in its McLaren 570S.
Qualifying
Richard Neary stormed to pole in a sun-soaked morning qualifying session in a Mercedes-AMG that was flying.
From the very start of the session, Neary was on a charge and his time of 1m24.660sec was more than enough to shut out the pole position and top spot in Group GTO ahead of Paul Bailey in the Brabham BT62.
Topcats continued its dominant run in Kent with Charlotte Gilbert besting Miles Rudman to take the top spot in GTC in the Lamborghini Super Trofeo and start the opening Pitstop Race in the best position take another victory.
GTH proved a close-run battle with Forsetti Motorsport's Matthew Higgins prevailing ahead of Charles Dawson in the Team Parker Racing Mercedes-AMG GT4. Despite getting stuck in the gravel, Jodie Sloss ensured an Aston Martin 1-3 in the second Vantage.
GT3 was another display of Shamus Jennings' increasing pace as he took the Group pole and third overall. Jolt Racing completed the pole-sitters with the top spot in GTA for the McLaren 570S.
Endurance Race
First up for Sunday was the 50-minute Endurance Race and under blue skies, the GT Cup field.
From the start Ian Loggie, starting the Abba Mercedes, kept it clean through the roller coaster-like first few corners to hold off a charging Paul Bailey - increasingly confident in pushing the Kendall Developments Brabham to its limit.
The pair were nose-to-tail with Bailey's superior straight line speed drawing him closer to the back of Loggie's green machine, but the latter's grip on the Grand Prix Loop kept him ahead - for a time.
That's because an unforced error from Loggie, running through the gravel at Clearways, dropped him down behind Shamus Jennings. Chasing after the G-Cat Racing Porsche, the Scot reclaimed the position as he held his nerve in a drag race down the Brabham Straight into Paddock Hill Bend.
Now running second, he tried to close the gap but Bailey was flying and handed over to Brabham with a lead that topped 15 seconds.
Pitstop success penalties allowed Richard Neary to vault into the lead but Brabham wasn't to be denied an emotionally significant victory, 10 years on from the sad passing of father Jack.
Pressuring Neary, Brabham made the decisive move down his name-sake Straight and was untroubled in the final 10 minutes.
Despite a rapid start from Miles Rudman, who snatched away the GTC lead heading through Paddock Hill Bend on the opening lap, the Topcats crew weren't to be denied a quartet of Pitstop Race victories so far this season as Charlotte Gilbert and Tom Rawlings maintained their winning run.
Rudman took second with Ray Harris, who was moved to GTC overnight following a technical decision, picking up more silverware in his Ginetta G55.
Forsetti Motorsport continued its strong run in GTH as the Aston Martin squad took a 1-2, with Matthew Higgins & Mikey Porter prevailing over Jodie Sloss & Rianna O'Meara Hunt. Jon Currie & Marcus Clutton - the latter a super-sub for Phil Keen this weekend - rounded out the podium after a thrilling opening stint from Currie to put the Morpheus Racing crew in trophy contention.
Trouble-free runs secured third overall and GT3 honours for G-Cat Racing, while Jolt Racing picked up the GTA top spot.
Sprint Race
It was all change again come the final race of the weekend, as Neary strapped himself into the three-pointed star and blitzed the field as he ensured the Brabham crew didn't have it all their own way both overall and in GTO.
Starting on pole, thanks to Loggie's fastest lap in the first half of the Pitstop Race, the Abba car was seemingly on rails and pulled away from Bailey, still enjoying getting as much as possible out of the BT62.
Such was Neary's dominance, he could afford to be patient as he picked his way through bunches of squabbling cars without affecting his margin of victory. He took the chequered flag to pick up his third GTO success of the weekend.
GTC went to a Gilbert, but this time it was Warren and not Charlotte who prevailed in the Topcats Lamborghini. He was sitting quite happily behind wife Charlotte for the majority of the race, but a late spin for the latter coming out of Druids promoted Warren to the win, ahead of Ray Harris who completed a sweep of podiums on his debut weekend for Driven Performance Engineers.
A strong start for Charles Dawson allowed the Team Parker driver to assume the lead in the early laps, but that was seemingly a red rag to a bull for Matthew Higgins. The Forsetti driver tried inside and out as he looked to pass Dawson, and it was only a canny move at Sheene Curve that allowed Higgins through to claim a Sunday double.
Shamus Jennings put in another measured performance to take another overall podium and GT3 success. Jolt Racing swept the weekend in GTA, with Rupert Williams taking another win.
#9 Mikey Porter
“A really good race [in the Pitstop Race], Matty did an amazing job at the start and pulled the gap. After the pits I came out in P1 with the sister car behind us which was a great result for the team - you can't ask for much better, it gives the team really good morale for the next race. The team does such an amazing job setting the car up, I say it at every race - they're flawless, I couldn't ask for a better team around me."
#6 Richard Neary
“It was a great fight with the Brabham, I tried my best. I was mega-committed from the first second past the pit speed limiter. I was absolutely committed and I think I managed six laps before he got me. I'm a sitting duck in a straight line, through the twisty bits I can compete but I just can't compete on the straight bits. The car's been good, we're quick and we're running good lap times for a GT3, albeit we're in GTO but we're running in GT3 spec and we're happy with what we're achieving."
#33 Shamus Jennings
“It was a really good weekend. The car went really well, I drove moderately and my partner Greg drove exceptionally well so we had a really good weekend. The car was straight, honest, and on it!"
#31 Charles Dawson
“Another great scrap with Matthew Higgins, I got him off the start but I struggled to hold him off. But it was really good fun. A couple of podiums yesterday, and then in the race this morning I got tagged, but that happens. It was another fun day in GT Cup. Pace was great, after the tag we got back up there but then we lost a bit of time with success penalties, it was tough work but really good fun."
