Loggie and Neary Score GT Cup Clean Sweep At Silverstone
Ian Loggie and Richard Neary ensured Team Abba Racing completed a clean sweep of GT Cup Championship victories at Silverstone over the 27/28 July, keeping the pressure on Topcats Racing who also added four more wins to their title challenge.
The #6 Mercedes-AMG pairing of Loggie and Neary bagged pole position and two race wins on a scorching Sunday at the British Grand Prix circuit, matching their perfect performance from Snetterton earlier in the season. It meant they kept up the chase on Topcats Racing in the overall championship hunt, Charlotte Gilbert and Tom Rawlings completing their own perfect weekend in GTC.
Andrew Howard was victorious twice again to confirm his own dominant weekend along with Darren Turner for Beechdean Motorsport in GT3, while the Forsetti Motorsport pairing of Mikey Porter and Matthew Higgins did a Sunday sweep themselves in GTH (Aston Martin Vantage). Jolt Racing's Rupert Williams and John Ingram took two GTA wins for their McLaren 570s.
Qualifying
Scotsman Loggie took the wheel of the Abba Racing Mercedes-AMG entry for the weekend's second Qualifying session, and repeated the work done by co-driver Neary the previous day by snatching pole position for the Endurance Race later in the afternoon.
Closest to him was the best GT3 crew, as Beechdean Motorsport's Howard put the #97 Aston Martin Vantage on the front row. GTC honours again went to the title-chasing #2 Lamborghini Huracan Super Trofeo of Topcats Racing, beating the sister car in a closely-fought tussle between both.
GTH was again a case of team-mates going into combat. The Forsetti Motorsport Aston Martins of Sam Neser and Higgins battled for group pole, which was won by the #10 car of Neser ahead of the #9. Jolt Racing continued their GTA dominance with another group pole.
Endurance Race
With momentum on their side, the Abba Racing duo started strongly with Neary this time behind the wheel. Leading the way, the Mercedes-AMG gapped its rivals in the early laps to enter the mandatory pit stops with a comfortable lead in hand.
Loggie took over the duties in the second stint, and made it three wins from three at Silverstone by a cushion of just over 30 seconds by the time he reached the chequered flag.
Second place overall continued the stunning weekend of Beechdean Motorsport, Howard and Turner leading the GT3 group from lights-to-flag to also make it three first-place trophies from three in Northampton.
Third overall went to the Tim Gray Motorsport Radical of Steve Burgess (second in GTO), ahead of Shamus Jennings and Greg Caton of G-Cat Racing who charged up into fourth overall - second in the GT3 category. Richard Chamberlain collected the final place on the GTO group podium in his Porsche 935 after coming home a fine fifth for CTR Developments.
The GTH race was again hotly-contested under sunny skies at Silverstone. Neser grabbed the early advantage but he and Will Orton would eventually be overturned by their team-mates Porter and Higgins in the second Forsetti Motorsport Aston Martin Vantage. Third went to SVG Motorsport's Ginetta G56, Liona Theobald and Owen Hizzey starring with the former passing Paddock Motorsport's McLaren Artura around the outside at Stowe. Jolt Racing added their third win in GTA.
Sprint Race
After the sterling effort from Qualifying, Loggie was fired up to repeat the feat in the shorter Sprint race later in the afternoon. He achieved the feat with a controlled drive from the head of the field, confirming the clean sweep for he and Neary in the process.
It would also be a quadruple of victories in GT3 for the next car in line, driven by Howard who steered Beechdean Motorsport to another emphatic group win. Behind him, the top four was completed by the GTO podium finishers with Burgess and Chamberlain giving chase.
The Gilberts swept the top two in GTC meanwhile for Topcats Racing. Charlotte Gilbert took the spoils to again keep the edge in the overall title fight, Warren Gilbert less than three seconds adrift.
The GTH group was again all about the #9 Forsetti Motorsport car, with Higgins getting the job done to allow the Aston Martin driver (sharing with Porter) to bag crucial group points and keep the pressure on in the overall battle. Jolt Racing also made it four wins from four in their McLaren 570s.
#97 Andrew Howard
“It’s been fabulous, it’s been a great atmosphere and it’s a great championship. It would be nice to have more cars, a few more GT3s, if we can get some in. It’s really cool racing, and fairly knackering if I’m honest - I’m used to doing my stint and going home!”
#9 Matthew Higgins
“It’s been a tricky day, still struggling slightly but all come together at the end. Tough weekend, good points, good results and points make prizes. Definitely new experience racing the GT cars, also hard racing on the grid. With mixed ability it’s hard to judge what is going to happen. We’ve had good battles with an equal playing field against our own car.”
#86 Liona Theobald
“It’s been amazing, I mean just racing around the Silverstone GP circuit itself is just an amazing experience. A third and a second, which is my best result, and finishing with driver of the weekend. Mainly, it’s been very hot in there! It’s been super hot in the Ginetta but no the car has been amazing I’ve just been pushing more and more. From Friday afternoon after testing to qualifying this morning I’ve taken five seconds off my time so I’m getting more confidence by the lap.”
#80 James Caley
“I’ve really enjoyed it. We weren’t really sure what to expect and how we’d get on in our first weekend with GT Cup but we thought maybe a Group podium would be nice and we came home with three so really pleased! It’s been a step up for us, it’s our first race in the car and Friday testing was our third day out in it so it’s new to us so we just need some time to build up to it but it’s a step up with learning a bit of aero and the extra bit of speed we’ve got from what we’ve raced in the past is a steep learning curve but I think we’ve been fairly respectable!”
