Erceg and Clutton master the conditions to take GT Cup 100 glory
A day of mixed weather was no challenge for PB Racing with JMH's Peter Erceg and Marcus Clutton, as they prevailed in a thrilling 100-minute battle at Donington Park over GT3 debutants Team BRIT.
Qualifying on pole, it looked as though BRIT's Jamie Falvey and Peter Fullick had put themselves in prime position for a brace of victories in their BMW M4 GT3. But pre-race rain threw a spanner in the works and changing strategies opened the door for experienced hands Erceg and Clutton to power ahead to Group GT3 and Overall glory.
GTC was a thriller from the start, and it was JMH who walked away from the East Midlands with two wins for the team as Frank Morris and James Pickford powered to the Group win. SVG Motorsport took a double as Marc Elman and Cameron Pratt-Thompson snatched GTH, whilst a gamble to go on slicks before the competition gave Neil Wallace and Ian Astley the foundation to take GTA honours. Paul Bailey and David Brabham did a GTO double in their new Mercedes-AMG whip with SB Rce Engineering.
Qualifying
Compared to Saturday's greasy conditions, Sunday's sunshine-soaked qualifying session was an opportunity for drivers to bolt on a set of Pirelli slick tyres and go flat out for 15 minutes.
The first session resulted in a comprehensive GTH/GTA double for SVG Motorsport - but only just. In GTH, it appeared as though 24-7 Motorsport's Charlie Benson had got the Group pole in his Ginetta G56 but Cameron Pratt-Thompson - in his own G56 - was on a charge, and reducing the deficit lap-on-lap. As the chequered flag came out, Pratt-Thompson reached his zenith - snatching pole by 0.031sec with a 1m33.509s effort.
In GTA, Ian Astley got behind the wheel of the #24 BMW M4 and put his foot down. His first lap put him to the top of the group and he improved from there, finally settling on a 1m35.266sec to put himself ahead of the Raceworks Motorsport Ginetta of Daniel Quintero on the grid.
Come the second session, there was no change in the intensity with GT3 and GTC machines mixing it at the top for the overall pole. The GT3s of Falvey and Erceg took turns swapping the top spot with the GTC Lamborghini Super Trofeo of Mike Taylor, every time logged resulting in a different car in the hot seat.
But Round One winner Falvey continued his hot streak in the BMW M4 GT3 to take GT3 and Overall pole with a 1m26.950sec, two-tenths ahead of Taylor's Triple M Motorsport Lamborghini which took GTC honours. Erceg took third, and a strong spot on the second row for the afternoon's 100-minute encounter.
Bailey rounded out the pole-sitters, as he continues to get to grips with his eye-catching Mercedes-AMG GT in Group GTO.
GT Cup 100
The first 100-minute extravaganza of the season proved thrilling in more ways than one, as lunch-time rain drenched the circuit and meant wet tyres were the name of the game. On the start, Falvey converted pole into an early lead, fending off pressure initially from Taylor - who made a lightning start in the Super Trofeo - and then Erceg, who quickly made the most of the changeable conditions in his Audi R8 LMS.
Also making quick work of gaining places was Triple M Motorsport's Rob Garofall who moved up from third to the lead of GTH as the race went green after starting under the safety car. With Erceg looking to pounce on any opportunities, Taylor couldn't take too many risks or he'd risk losing his second overall.
As the leaders started to pass traffic, the benefits of an increasingly dry line were negated by having to be careful getting themselves past. Come the stops, teams opted to play it safe except for SVG Motorsport, as Ian Astley elected to give it a go and as Neil Wallace brought the GTA BMW M4 GT4 in from second, wets were swapped for slicks and Astley went out to hunt down erstwhile leaders Raceworks Motorsport.
For others, the choice to stick with what they had looked like it might go against them as the additional forecasted rain failed to materialise. Thankfully for them, a late safety car to recover a stranded car gave them the perfect opportunity to take a free stop and change onto the dry rubber.
Taking over from Erceg, Marcus Clutton initially set blistering pace on increasingly overheating wets to overhaul the Team Brit crew, and once the safety car came back in he sprinted to the flag to take a first Group and Overall win of the season for the PB Racing with JMH team.
GTC proved thrilling to the end, as positions kept changing throughout. Making the most of trials and tribulations for their competition, JMH scored a double Group victory as Frank Morris and James Pickford bested fellow Lamborghini duo Taylor and Charlie Digby. Jack Gadd and Dan Brown kept up their strong start to the season for DWG Motorsport with Topcats as they completed an all-Super Trofeo podium.
Sticking to the plan benefitted SVG Motorsport as the team picked up a pair of wins in both GTH and GTA. The former proved captivating throughout, with Marc Elman and Cameron Pratt-Thompson ending in the hot seat as the music stopped. The Ginetta racers finished ahead of Jolt Racing, John Ingram and Rupert Williams picking up another podium finish on their return to GT Cup. 24-7 Motorsport's Ben Taylor and Charlie Benson rounded out the GTH top three.
In GTA, Astley's call to go onto slick at the mandatory pitstop proved race-winning. Getting up to speed quickly, they pipped Raceworks' Andrew Perry and Daniel Quintero to take the win. GTO honours went the way of Paul Bailey and David Brabham - the latter extracting every ounce of speed possible out of their Mercedes-AMG GT to finish fourth overall.
After a thrilling weekend of endurance racing to start the year, the GT Cup Championship brings Sprint racing back into the mix for the next round of the year at Snetterton on 16/17 May.
#9 Peter Erceg
"Yeah, really good. Yesterday was a bit disappointing to be fair, we were further behind Team Brit than what we sort of expected to be. We worked out what went wrong overnight and then today we executed perfectly. Qualifying was good, we made a big step and then in the race my job was really just to be as close as I could to Team Brit because we knew that the delta between Marcus and the second driver was going to be in our favour but we had the success penalty and the pro penalty so I was really pleased with the result. The car felt great in those tricky conditions, so for me it was just a well executed race and Marcus is always really good to see."
#37 John Ingram
“It’s been a great weekend, especially today when the conditions were at their trickiest! It was unpredictable, it was tough out there to be honest because it could all go wrong very quickly. Or, in the case of the safety car when Rupert was out, things can turn your way. It was an eventful race which was really exciting. We’ve come a long way so really proud of Rupert’s drive today, it was a good team effort. Looking forward to the rest of the season, we’ve had a second today and P3 yesterday in the pitstop race so hopefully good championship points!”
#888 Cameron Pratt-Thompson
“I didn’t really expect much coming from this weekend, I only stepped into the GTH at media day and I’ve been learning every time I came out so to reward the team with the effort they’ve put into me this year and the effort Marc has put into me since the start of the year has been great. Thanks to everyone for making this result possible. In quali I set my best lap at the end, and in the shorter races we can set the car up nicely, and in the longer races I think one of my strengths is tyre management. I think GT Cup suits me.”
