Red-Hot PB Racing Snatch Thrilling Donington Victory At The Death

PB Racing by JMH left it late to snatch a nail-biting GT Cup Championship victory on day one of the third round at Donington Park on Saturday (27 June), Team BRIT also victorious on a scorching day in East Midlands.

Summer temperatures shot up to heatwave territory for the first of two days of action at the Leicestershire venue, but it did not deter Marcus Clutton and Peter Erceg as they fought back to win an intense Pitstop Race with two corners to go. Team BRIT's Jamie Falvey was also successful in the Sprint Race, with Mark Smith bagging two podiums on his return to the series.

Qualifying

The morning Qualifying session produced an intensely close contest for overall pole position bragging rights. Jamie Falvey was the man to beat in the opening gambits, slotting himself to the top of the timesheets with 1m28.059s effort.

It would not be without pressure, however, as returnee Mark Smith closed in with a strong lap of his own to move within a mere 0.2s of the Team BRIT entry. Peter Erceg was next to threaten the BMW man, coming even closer with a mighty lap to finish just 0.094s from the pole-sitting car of Falvey.

The on-form Lamborghini Huracan ST of Triple M Motorsport’s Charlie Digby and Felix Livesey were the ones to beat in GTC as they took the group pole in fourth overall, narrowly ahead of Innovation Racing’s Ginetta and the Lamborghini of Topcats Racing’s Jack Gadd.

The all-new KTM X-BOW GT2 of Walpole was unstoppable in GTO, while a late flyer from James Wareing was enough to take Group GTH top spot in the Innovation Racing Ginetta - beating the similar car of Alex Toth-Jones from SVG Motorsport. The latter’s squad were also pipped to GTA pole despite the best efforts of Ian Astley, who challenged Kyle Wells of Innovation Racing hard, but not enough to stop the Ginetta man going fastest of the pair.

Sprint Race

The first 25-minute race of the weekend beckoned that afternoon under sweltering conditions. Falvey kept up to superlative form from his morning Qualifying efforts to surge into the early lead from the rolling start, whilst Smith was the man on the move behind him as the Paddock Motorsport car slotted past Erceg into second position.

No sooner had that order shuffled, the safety car made an appearance for a spinning Frank Morris who was part of a three-car incident heading towards McLeans. Falvey got his foot down on the restart and powered clear, hopeful of adding a second Donington win of his debut GT Cup campaign.

The BMW driver did exactly what was required, and strolled home for a brilliant fourth victory of the year for the Team BRIT squad. His run was aided late on by a second safety car period, Falvey leading home an all-Group GT3 podium with Smith’s McLaren and Erceg’s Audi in tow.

The lap one incident impacted both the races of Jack Gadd (Topcats Racing) and Bertie Bream (Innovation Racing) in their quest for Group GTC honours, which left Triple M Motorsport’s Livesey in a class of his own near the sharp end. The #4 machine chased Erceg’s Audi hard on the initial restart, but fourth overall was enough for a fifth GTC triumph of the car’s season. A recovering Gadd and the Parker Porsche of Michael McInerney round out that podium.

Walpole’s comeback enjoyed further success as he brought the Truemix Racing KTM X-BOW home for a strong Group GTO win in fifth outright.

GTH was tight all the way until the chequered flag meanwhile. It would come down to a Ginetta showdown for the win, initially headed by Toth-Jones who leapt into the lead in the #888 SVG Motorsport G56. As the race drew to a close, a determined Wareing made his move in the similar #25 Ginetta of Innovation Racing, snatching the win from their rivals with Triple M’s entry of Harry Yuill rounding out the group top three.

SVG Motorsport got their revenge in GTA, however. Astley started the BMW, and made his way around the #11 Ginetta that started on the group pole to keep their title challenges soaring in the right direction.

Pitstop Race

What followed was an unbelievable second race. The 50-minute Pitstop outing looked to be going the way of Smith on this occasion, as he soared around the outside of the Team BRIT BMW of Paul Fullick at Redgate to take the lead for the first time.

Erceg quickly followed, and gave chase in the Audi R8 LMS GT3 all the way up until the mandatory pitstops, handing the car over to the rapid Marcus Clutton for the final stint.

The gap went from over 20 seconds to almost nothing after 20 minutes of pure hot pursuit from car #9, and with one lap remaining it looked set up for a grandstand finish. With two corners to go, the Audi driver launched his attack up the inside at the Melbourne hairpin, usurping Smith right at the death to confirm a fourth victory of the season for the PB Racing by JMH squad.

It was an equally intense throughout the groups. Walpole made it a GTO double in the KTM, as did Triple M Motorsport's Lamborghini duo of Livesey and Digby who kept their noses clean to the chequered flag ahead of Bertie Bream and Luke Bennett for Innovation Racing (Ginetta G56). Doc Bush enjoyed a brilliant third place in GTC to end the day in style for the Parker Porsche driver.

GTH was another showdown between Ginettas, and once more it would be the Innovation #25 of Wareing and Sam Branston that took the honours from SVG Motorsport's Toth-Jones and returning Marc Elman, with third going to Jolt Racing's Rupert Williams and Michael Broadhurst.

GTA honours this time went to Wells and Bryn Calder in the #11 Innovation Racing machine, taking the fight back to SVG Motorsport's BMW to end the day with both on a win apiece.

#9 Peter Erceg

“We had a plan for the start, followed the McLaren around the outside, which we thought was going to happen, and that happened exactly. And the BMW tried to squeeze us on the start, but we weren't really having that, so that got us through and that got us into 2nd and then they really pressurised Mark to see if they could make him make a mistake, which he didn't really. We knew our race would come alive when we came in and put Marcus in the car. So my job was just to bring as close as it was to Mark, which we did. And then, obviously, with the penalties, we had a bit of a race on, but only with the two corners to spare. No contact or anything. It was really good, a really good result. So really happy for the team for myself and Marcus and then for JMH, it's been brilliant.”

#68 Jamie Falvey

“Yeah it was good, obviously exactly the result we wanted, but yeah tricky day for everyone, really hot and all the mechanics have done an awesome job so a credit really to the team, i've just had to sit in the car and drive round really and do what i could with what they gave me so you know its lovely to be here, the team brit car is always a pleasure to drive and GT Cup running a great event as usual so yeah happy days.”

#25 James Wareing

"Pace was unreal, the car is just on point, it did everything I wanted it to do. I can't thank Innovation enough for the package they've given me and Sam this weekend. The championship is looking good now, so looking forward to seeinbg how it plays out for the rest of the season. Round One was a bit sketchy but since then we've been clawing back the points and I think it's looking a lot prettier now."