SHOWS TRUE POTENTIAL IN SPORTS 2000Race car manufacturer Graham Hathaway Racing’s (GHR) new GTS race car, competing in the Sports 2000 Duratec championship this season, showed its true capability at Silverstone over the weekend (7th/8th September) with the cars first pole position and leading race laps in the hands of talented 18-year old Marcus Clutton.
In qualifying on Friday, Clutton secured pole position ahead of the other 43 cars in the field with a commanding lap of 1 minute 57.831 seconds around the full Grand Prix Circuit layout, 0.325 of a second ahead of the Lola B07/90 driven by John Finch. Belief was high in the GHR camp for a positive race after the success of qualifying and Clutton made a quick getaway at the start of the 30 minute race on Saturday, establishing nearly a 2 second lead after just one lap. A small error after encountering lapped traffic let Finch through on lap 4 but Clutton gradually closed the gap. Then, on lap 7, Clutton was hit by a backmarker on the rear offside corner, bending a suspension upright and causing superficial bodywork damage which unfortunately meant Clutton’s storming performance came to an end.
Clutton’s performance was all the more impressive as it was his first ever race meeting at Silverstone as well as it being his first competitive outing in the GTS.
The GTS, launched in January 2007 at the Autosport International exhibition at the NEC, is based loosely on Hathaway’s renowned Global GT Lights cars and has many unique design characteristics that make the car significantly different to the other machines currently racing in Sports 2000. It has a visibly shorter wheelbase resulting in nimble and controlled handling. This, coupled with the cars ergonomic engineering, means setup changes are simple to complete and result in significant performance gains.
Reflecting on the event, Hathaway feels Clutton unearthed the true competitiveness of the GTS. “Marcus was gutted about what happened and he wanted a strong result but we as a team are overjoyed with his performance. He showed he has obvious talent and the car responded. I think we could have still won the race had the damage not occurred so there is genuine reason to be positive about the future for the GTS. We now have real evidence that the car will be the one to beat in the future.”
“We’ve known all along the GTS would develop into a car that would run consistently at the front of the field. We have made design tweaks throughout the year which have always made the car more competitive. After the race we had several people visit us in the paddock about the possibility of running the GTS in the future, which proves that despite being a relatively small manufacturer when you see who the other constructors are on the grid, racers are realising that our car offers a very competitive package. There is even more to come from the car so we will keep on with its development,” concludes Hathaway.
