Nelson lands a GT Cup hat-trick on Pirelli tyres at Rockingham
Darren Nelson scored a hat-trick of GT Cup Championship wins with an impressive display in his Pirelli-shod Ferrari 458 GT3 at Rockingham last weekend.
After sharing the winning Italian machine with Adam Carroll in Saturday’s 32-lap two-driver race, Nelson went on to take a victory brace in the shorter 16 lap races on Sunday. As well as landing overall honours, Nelson and Carroll dominated the GTO class in all three races.
David Fairbrother/James Greenway (Porsche 997 GT3) claimed GTB honours on two occasions before Tom Webb triumphed in the final race of the weekend in his BMW E46 M3 GTR. Wayne Marrs/Charlie Hollings (Ferrari 458 GTC) topped the GTC category in races one and two although it was left to John Seale/Jamie Stanley to head the class in race three. Steve Fresle/Nathan Freke won GTA in race one in their Ginetta G50 with Rob Gaffney victorious in races two and three in another Pirelli-equipped G50.Harrison and Wakefield enjoy big success in Pirelli-equipped MINIs
Nathan Harrison and Mark Wakefield shared the wins when the Cooper division of the Power Maxed MINI Challenge took place at Rockingham on May 23/24.
Harrison claimed the opening race in his Pirelli-shod MINI Cooper, albeit by a slender margin of 0.320s ahead of Ricky Page. Harrison triumphed again in the second race at the Northamptonshire venue with Wakefield getting the better of Page to take the runner-up laurels, 0.910s behind Harrison.
And it got even better for Wakefield in the final race on the 1.940-mile Rockingham layout as he took the honours ahead of Page by 0.354s to complete a memorable weekend of action-packed MINI racing on Pirelli tyres. But while Wakefield celebrated, Harrison had to make do with ninth place.Silverstone success for Briton Bell on Pirelli tyres
British driver Rob Bell formed part of the trio that claimed victory in the Blancpain Endurance Series at Silverstone last weekend, sharing VonRyan Racing’s new Pirelli-shod McLaren 650S with Shane Van Gisbergen and Kevin Estre.
Crucial to the new McLaren’s victory was a clever tyre strategy that quickly capitalised on the individual circumstances of the race. Bell brought the car in for its first pit stop just 45 minutes into the race, under full course yellow flags. The time gained from this strategy meant that Van Gisbergen had a lead of around 40 seconds once the first pit stops were over. He pitted for the final driver change with one hour to go, managing his tyres perfectly to effectively seal the victory claimed by Estre during the final stint.
Highlighting the competitive diversity of the championship – and the ability of Pirelli’s GT tyres to adapt to a wide range of machinery – there were seven different manufacturers in the top 10: all separated by less than a minute and a half after three hours of racing. These very different cars all used Pirelli’s DHC hard compound slick tyres to cope with the extreme demands of Silverstone: one of the fastest circuits that the Blancpain GT Series visits all year, with high energy loads going through the tyres.Britons out of luck in Pirelli-supported GP2 Series in Monaco
British drivers Alex Lynn and Jordan King were out of luck when the Pirelli-backed GP2 Series supported the Monaco Grand Prix last weekend – but for different reasons.
A frustrating qualifying session meant that Lynn, the 2014 GP3 champion, had to settle for a best result of 11th in race two having come home 13th in race one. Jordan King was ninth in the first race but then crashed out of the second race while battling for position with Lynn’s DAMS team-mate Pierre Gasly.
However, there was some reason for British cheer when Nick Yelloly claimed a brace of top 10 finishes, taking a weekend-high of ninth in the second race.Coming up next time: BRDC Formula 4 from Silverstone plus rallying from the Scottish Borders and the forests of Wales.
