GT Cup Marks Historic End of an Era for Donington
Sun 16 Aug 2009
The rolling thunder of no less than thirty one GT cars approaching the start line at Donington in two by two formation made an awe inspiring sight. With the second GT Cup race being last of the day and this being probably the last race meeting to be held on Donington's traditional GP layout, it was a fitting finale, drawing to a close an historic era ahead of the famous Leicestershire circuit's reconfiguration to host the 2010 Formula 1 Grand Prix.
In Group One at the front of the field the Detroit metal of Mitch Millett ( #51 Corvette) and Mike Gardiner (#57 Viper) had a bumper to bumper battle throughout the weekend and in both races laid on a spectacular display of close, contact free racing which ended up in the end ‘one all'. Mike Gardiner took race one honours after Mitch Millett spun coming out of the Melbourne Hairpin and then Mitch Millett evened the score with a comprehensive win in race two and entered into the history books as the last driver to take overall honours on the Donington GP circuit in its current layout.
During Race One, an excellent battle built up between Paul Whight (#18 Aston Martin DBRS9) Mike Donovan (#49 Porsche 997 GT3 S) and Peter Seldon (#23 BMW M3 GTR). This resolved itself when the BMW's brakes failed and Seldon went off leaving Donovan and Whight to battle it out. Whight was closing in on Gardiner's overheating Viper by 2 seconds a lap towards the end of the race and came in 2nd ahead of Donovan in 3rd.
In Group Two Jeff Leadley (#34 Ferrari 340 Challenge GT) successfully kept ahead of team mate Leon Price (#88) in his Ferrari with Andy Ruhan came in 3rd (#6 Porsche 997 GT3 Cup) to uphold Stuttgart's honour after gearbox problems sidelined Ray Dias in his Porsche 997. Ian Hartley (#5 Ferrari 340 Challenge GT) who as usual was part of the action spun out of contention coming out of the Melbourne Hairpin.
In Group Three the remarkable supercharged Lotus Exige of Steve Taylor took on all-comers in some style and had such a comfortable win that the organisers, Bute Motorsport, took the decision to move him into Group Two for the second race! Behind him Gary Eastwood (#55 Porsche 996 GT3 Cup) made a welcome return to the GT Cup with his revitalised car and showed the ever improving Alex Martin (#87 Porsche GT3 Cup) the way it should be done.
Group Four saw Will Goff (#59 Aston Martin GT4) showing no signs of relinquishing his impressive 100% record winning streak. Chris Scragg (#47 Aston Martin GT4) went out of contention when his gear linkage failed, leaving Sarah Bennet-Baggs (#72 Aston Martin GT4) in a comfortable 2nd place ahead of David Botterill (#8 Porsche 944 Turbo).
Race Two gave us some of the best racing all season. The opening laps saw Gardiner and Millett swapping places on a regular basis with some brilliant driving and very brave overtaking moves. Of particular note was Mitch Millet's brave overtaking manoeuvre in the middle of the Craner Curves which ultimately came to naught as Gardiner found his way in front of Millett later in the lap. However now carrying the maximum 60kg success ballast the brakes on the big Viper began to suffer on the demanding Donington GP Circuit and eventually Mitch Millett, with no success ballast to worry about, took a surprisingly easy victory.
In Group Two Jeff Leadley (#34 Ferrari 340 Challenge GT) was on tremendous form and took the first ‘double win' in Group Two this year. Having been moved up into Group Two Steve Taylor still continued to baffle everybody in his little Exige. Broster in his Group 3 Ferrari kept Taylor at bay for a long time but once loose Taylor closed quickly on Andy Ruhan (#6 Porsche 997 GT3 Cup) and then Price (#88 Ferrari Challenge GT) to come home 2nd breaking up the Ferraris of Hartley in 1st place and Price in 3rd.
In Group 3 Colin Broster (#26 Ferrari 360 GTC) was right back on the pace picking up 1st place ahead of Alex Martin (#87 Porsche 996 GT3) in a well deserved 2nd. Marco Pullen (#13 Ferrari 360 GTC) was 3rd nursing a temperamental gearbox. Gary Eastwood, after a great Race One, spun himself out of contention in Race Two.
Group Four went to Will Goff but Sarah Bennett-Baggs( #72 Aston Martin GT4) and Chris Scragg (#47 Aston Martin GT4) had a very close race with Sarah Bennet-Baggs fending off the attentions of Chris Scragg until they both wanted the same bit of track on lap ten and this sidelined Scragg.
Once again the GT Cup proved why it is so popular... large grids of impressive GT cars, close racing and an excellent atmosphere on and off the track. The next round is at Knockhill on September 5th/6th .... Bute Motorsport tell us that they only have a couple of spaces left on the grid!
