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Saunders makes sweet return to GT Cup as Hudson tops the times
Apr 21 2018

Saunders makes sweet return to GT Cup as Hudson tops the times

Mike Saunders made a strong start on his GT Cup return as he put his TVR Cerbera GT on pole position in Group GTB for the first race of the season. Having brought his V8 beast out of retirement this winter he lapped 0.4s quicker than Nick Barrow and Richard Corbett’s V10 BMW.
 
“We had some problems testing on Thursday and didn’t get the running we wanted to,” said Saunders. “We have a whole new suspension set-up and it’s not really dialled in so were suffering with really bad understeer. Aside from that everything is good. It’s great to be back and in the paddock racing with these cars. I’m amazed how fast the cars in GTO are compared to when we ran in GTO!”
 
Topping the overall times was a delighted Nigel Hudson in the HUD Motorsports / JMH Automotive Aston Martin Vantage GT3. Adopting a moniker for the season of ‘In it to win it’ Hudson was a cool 0.8s faster than the National Motorsport Academy Mosler MT900.
 
“There was a bit more time to find but it was good enough!” said Hudson. “JMH has done a great job as usual. Last year was a big learning curve with the car and hopefully now we are on it and we’re going to go for it this year.”
 
Newcomers Sam Randon and Freddy Nordstrom proved too quick to handle in the brand-new Group GTH. The Ebor 23 Maserati GT4 heads Chris Murphy and Adam Hatfield’s Whitebridge Motorsport Aston Martin GT4.
 
“It’s a bit of a mix of emotions really,” said Randon. “I’m over the moon with the pace and being first in GTH but the bitter moment is that the car cut out at the end, so we have a bit of work to do. We’re really happy with the pace. We’ve had no testing, I’ve only driven the car once this winter and Freddy only drove it yesterday around Blyton which is no Donington! It’s a bit of a baptism of fire this weekend.”
 
Second overall for much of the session, Michael Igoe finished up fourth on the grid and fastest in Group GTC in the JMH Automotive Porsche 911 GT3 Cup. Behind him were the duelling Ferrari 488 Challenges of John Seale and Paul Bailey, with just 0.083s between the pair.
 
Tom Webb left it late to take the pole in his BMW M3 GTR in GTA, just 0.091s ahead of Topcats Racing’s Ginetta G55 of Gary Smith and James Reveler. “It’s a nice start to the season for us,” said Webb. “We’ve had a few issues and it’s the first time we’ve done a bunch of laps together, but the car is going well and I’m happy with the changes we’ve made to get into GTA. There’s still a few issues we need to address but it’s probably because we haven’t done enough pre-season testing.”

 

 

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