Leung-Busting Show By Darren Gives Century A Donington Double
Darren Leung continued his strong form by scoring a double victory with Dan Harper in Sunday's GT Cup Championship races at Donington Park for Century Motorsport.
After two podiums on Saturday, the pair completed a superb sweep of the top spot with pole position, victory in the Sprint and then a controlled performance in a rain-affected Endurance contest to round off a successful visit to the Leicester circuit.
Elsewhere, two dramatic encounters netted victories in GTC for Orange Racing with JMH and Topcats Racing, the latter not quite completing a clean sweep in the group but enjoying a strong points haul in their championship quest.
Richard Chamberlain charged from the rear of the field to take a hard-earned GTO victory in the Sprint race, before Paul Bailey and Ross Wylie did their championship credentials no harm by winning the second race of the weekend.
GTH honours went to Racelab after a sterling display from Ginetta youngster Callum Davies, who shared the longer second outing with Jon Lancaster to make it three wins from four on a fine weekend for the McLaren Artura outfit.
Qualifying
Day two's excitement got underway with a double-header Qualifying to set the grid for the third race of the weekend, and it was the eye-catching BMW M4 GT3 of Leung who powered his way to the top after a rapid run of laps to pull clear of the competition.
It was a close run thing, as Iain Campbell continued his speedy return to the GT Cup Championship with a front-row start in his Racelab McLaren 720S GT3 - just 0.014sec slower than Leung's benchmark.
GTC spoils went once again to Topcats Racing, but it was Gilbert Yates who continued the sparkling form in the Lamborghini Huracan as he took over duties from Charlotte Gilbert. Bailey scored GTO honours, but he was kept honest by Jay Shepherd as the National Motorsport Academy Lotus Evora continued to demonstrate its increasing pace.
16-year-old Callum Davies belied his lack of GT experience and stormed his second pole in as many sessions, powering his McLaren Artura almost three-tenths clear of Morpheus Racing's Chris Hart. The Mercedes team took a two-three as Jon Currie slotted his AMG onto the second row.
Sprint Race
Starting from the front of the grid, Leung proved his GT credentials as he perfectly paced the second 25-minute race of the weekend to take a comfortable maiden GT Cup victory.
The Century racer made an early break, and benefitted from a squabble for second involving the McLarens of Campbell and Simon Orange which allowed him to open up some breathing space at the head of the field.
Contact between the McLarens meant a brief safety car intervention was needed but even after the race resumed, Leung controlled the restart and won by more than seven seconds. Behind them, Sacha Kakad picked up the pieces to bag second overall, with the podium rounded out by a familiar face who charged through the field.
It would go to Richard Chamberlain who put on a perfect display in his ever-popular Porsche 935, also taking a well-deserved victory in Group GTO, after catching and passing both the Lamborghini of Bailey and then the Evora of Shepherd to secure the spoils.
There was a rare blip in the otherwise faultless weekend of Topcats Racing in this third Donington contest. A dominant drive by Yates up front kept their Lamborghini Huracan in the fight with GTO competitors, until an incident with two GTH cars at the Melbourne hairpin on the restart. As a result, the Orange Racing with JMH car of Patrick Collins slipped through to pick up the spoils and a GTC Group triumph.
Away from the dramas around and ahead of him, teenage sensation Davies drove a mature race to add a second GTH victory of his weekend for Racelab. Morpheus Racing gave chase, finishing second and third with Jon Currie ahead of Stephen Walton.
Pit Stop Race
An additional element was thrown into the mix for the 50-minute Endurance Race later in the afternoon, as Mother Nature closed in and threatened to stir up the order.
From pole position, Leung made his break and by the time the downpours hit, the Century Motorsport BMW M4 GT3 had crept into a lead of over 14 seconds over a charging Orange who carved through from the back of the field into the top three after a flurry of dramas early on.
Kakad's Audi was forced to start from the pits after a gearbox issue on the grid, while Racelab's Campbell retired after slowing on the first lap. Chamberlain found himself up to second place, only to be disposed of by Orange at the Old Hairpin.
After the mandatory pit stops, almost all cars switched onto wet tyres, with Leung handing the lead car over to Harper to take to the chequered flag. A controlled drive was enough bring the car home for a second victory of the day, Leung and Harper leading home Orange and Tom Roche with the overall podium completed by Saturday's winners, G-Cat Racing.
After taking an early crucial trip to the pits for wet tyres, the Kendall Developments Lamborghini of Bailey and Wylie climbed their way up to fourth overall, winning the GTO group to add to their growing points tally. Another to take an additional stop during the rain-affected phase was Topcats Racing, adding a third GTC group win of the weekend with Yates and Charlotte Gilbert.
GTH was dominated by Racelab's McLaren Artura thanks to a strong stint by Davies once again, with Lancaster finishing the job at hand to make it three wins from four at Donington Park. Currie and Phil Keen surged up to second in the group for Morpheus Racing, while their second Mercedes was bumped from third late on by the flying Paddock Motorsport McLaren Artura of Tim Docker and Alex Walker.
#9 Darren Leung
“I don’t know if comfortable is the right word when you’re in these cars! But I got my head down and drove as hard as I could really and put in a really neat stint which was my priority. I did make a couple of mistakes with traffic I found myself caught at the apex a couple of times and had to go down a gear but I thought the rest of it went alright.”
#28 Ross Wylie
“It’s been a great weekend, I’ve really enjoyed my laps here with GT Cup and yesterday was nice - nice to have a time of day where the sun is going down! I really enjoyed a bit of a hard charge there, and today was fun in the wet the contrast was good. I think we’ve done all we needed to do really. I can’t thank the team enough and of course my team-mate Paul Bailey for having me here. It’s been good to mix it up and see some fierce competitors - thoroughly enjoyed it!”
#13 Jon Lancaster
“Callum’s first weekend, he’s done all the legwork and I’ve just had the pleasure of finishing it off really for the two Pitstop races. Every weekend, and every session this weekend, he’s improved every time with the small things we’ve been working on. He’s been knocking it out the park, the better he does the easier my life is! Mistakes are the things in endurance racing, you have to be quick, consistent, and be good in the traffic without making mistakes and he’s been faultless. I can’t fault him, the pace has been there so we’re just working on the finesse side of things now and gaining those last few tenths. That’ll come in time, he’s only 16 and hopefully we can keep this trajectory of improvement going and who knows where he’ll end up in the years to come!”
#2 Charlotte Gilbert
“We got our fastest laps this weekend. It hasn’t been completely incident-free but this afternoon’s race was great, with what happened in the earlier race we had to start at the back of the grid so I had to get through the traffic and overtake the Group car and take it from there. Otherwise, it’s been a really good weekend. I think we both feel very, very confident in the car, the boys have got it set up beautifully, it handles really well and it’s just a great car to drive so we both drive it with great confidence.”
