Tillbrook Delivers Delightful Donington Double For Enduro On Day One

The penultimate event of the 2022 GT Cup Championship got underway at Donington Park, with Enduro Motorsport clinching a hard-fought double triumph headed by Morgan Tillbrook while Topcats Racing with HEX.com also bagged crucial victories as the group title battles intensified.

After taking a win only a week prior at Brands Hatch, Tillbrook and Clutton had to look both ahead and behind intensely in an endurance race masterclass, after the former earned victory in the first Sprint outing of the weekend following his day-long battle with a rapid Hugo Cook.

Elsewhere, Topcats Racing with HEX.com enjoyed a strong points haul to keep them in title contention in GTC with regular rival Lucky Khera absent, as their Lamborghini bagged both wins alongside a GTA double with their Ginetta. 

It all came on a day to forget for overall title contingents Valluga Racing as their Porsche failed to score a finish on day one in Leicester. Instead, group honours in GTH went to the charging McLarens of Orange Racing with JMH Automotive and Greystone GT, who were forced to come from behind.

David Frankland and Adriano Medeiros returned to the series with a popular GTB group win in their Audi R8 LMS, sharing spoils over the afternoon with Saxon Motorsport's venerable BMW 150 GTR and Tom Barrow.

Qualifying

A tight qualifying session looked on the cards with a vast selection of familiar and returning faces taking on the fight for pole position in the frontrunning GT3 group. Silverstone star Cook was rapid out of the blocks in his Mercedes AMG to initially head the way, but with close company from Tillbrook.

As the clock began to tick down, a late effort from Tillbrook put the Enduro Motorsport 720S onto pole position by just over two tenths of a second, Cook joining him on the front row.

Fastest in the GTC group was the flying Team Webb Lamborghini Huracan, with Saxon Motorsport taking the top spot in GTB. The Topcats Racing with HEX.com Ginetta headed the way in GTA, with the GTH battle chopping and changing throughout before the championship-contending Valluga Racing entry of James Wallis moved to the top of their particular group.

Sprint Race

An incident on the warm-up lap delayed the start of the Sprint race which resulted in the contest being shortened to 15 minutes. From second on the grid, the fast-starting Cook was the one to react fastest as his Mercedes out-gunned Tillbrook's McLaren around the outside under braking for Redgate.

It would be a crucial move, but even more critical would be a decision to follow later in the race as Cook was handed a 10-second time penalty for what was adjudged to have been an out of position start.

The result was that the chasing Tillbrook could keep his man within sight to take advantage of the scenario, sealing win number six in GT3 of his season ahead of Cook who lapped quickly enough to secure second overall ahead of Simon Orange, who snuck his McLaren down the inside of Ian Loggie's RAM Racing Mercedes at the Melbourne Hairpin.

The GTC group went the way of Topcats Racing with HEX.com and the Lamborghini Huracan of Jensen Lunn after getting the better of the Webb Huracan early on, the team earning a double thanks to Charlotte Birch in their GTA group Ginetta G55.

Dramas for the GTH title-leading #50 Valluga Racing Porsche came in the form of a gearbox issue that prevented Wallis from taking the start, with Will Dendy taking the group win in the Orange Racing with JMH Automotive McLaren 570 ahead of Chris Hart's Mercedes which kept him honest - just over a second adrift at the chequered flag. Saxon Motorsport's Tom Barrow dominated GTB in the BMW 1-Series.

Pitstop Race

What followed was a thrilling 50-minute Pit Stop race that kept fans and teams guessing all the way to the chequered flag. Akin to having the fastest lap in race one, Cook started from pole alongside Tillbrook and this time the latter grabbed the lead with a better start on the outside.

The chase was on, with Tillbrook narrowly hanging on from a fighting Cook before pit stops cycled through, Cook grabbing back the lead thanks to a later visit to the pits after a super in-lap. His lead was shortened however by a safety car interruption, Marcus Clutton timing a switch-back move to perfection exiting the Foggy Esses to grab the lead from the Mercedes man.

It would not be a straightforward run to the flag however as Michael O'Brien - now aboard the Simon Orange-started McLaren 720S - found his way by the Loggie/Phil Keen RAM Racing Mercedes on the restart and quickly gobbled up Cook before chasing and catching the sister McLaren up front. Clutton defended his place grimly and hung on to add another win for Enduro Motorsport by a mere car's length in a tense finish.

GTC was another Topcats display as Lunn and Charlotte Gilbert got the job done once more for a Lamborghini double, their Ginetta again taking the GTA win with Sam Randon joining Birch for the success on his return to GT Cup. Saxon Motorsport hit trouble in GTB to deny them a second win, spoils instead heading the way of 24-7 Motorsport's Audi R8 LMS.

The GTH fight would be a thriller also. The key moment came after pit stops cycled through, with the Greystone GT McLaren 570S of Mark Hopton showing flying pace with professional driver Euan Hankey behind the wheel. Hankey cut inside the Parr Motorsport Porsche at McLeans, and beat back the attentions of a flying Sam Neary to take victory over the Mercedes by just over two seconds.

#66 Morgan Tillbrook

"Putting it on pole I just thought ‘Donington is just my circuit’. We have an unbelievable track record here, I don’t know what it is with me and Marcus; I think if there was a Donington championship we’d do it and have a decent chance of winning it! Amazing day. Pole, two wins - can’t ask for more than that. I’m not used to having an 18-year-old up my chuff so that’s an interesting dynamic. He’s fast is Hugo, once we pitted he showed the pace he had. I was holding him up, but I got in front of him at the start and that’s my advantage. He’s a good up-and-coming driver so fair play to him!"

#9 Jensen Lunn

"We had a good battle with the Webbs, just managed to get alongside them in their Lamborghini on the restart. They tried to hold me down Craners but I had the inside line at the bottom of the hill and I just managed to pull away and keep the gap consistent throughout the race really. Pleased with the car, Topcats have done a great job again - it wasn’t our toughest race but it was good to get it."

#3 Charlotte Birch

"There wasn’t too much competition out there, but it was a good race. I got held up a little bit on the start, a car broke down just in front of me and I dropped back so I was really starting on the back foot. I got my best lap times, loads of points for the team in the Teams’ Championship. The Ginetta is a lot different from what I’ve come from; it’s completely different driving styles and I’ve not had long to get used to it but I am getting on quite well with it."

#17 Will Dendy

"It was tough. I said on the radio before the race that the first few laps were going to help decide it and that was all on how to warm the tyres again after that big break. So, it was really hard - Chris [Hart] and I had a good battle at the start and I think he struggled a little more with his tyres than I did with cold graining so that meant I could get a nice gap. He came back at me towards the end so I was quite nervous because Chris is always a great racer."