Friend of Racecar Sarah Bennett Baggs - gets on the podium at Donington
Sarah B-'Baggs' another two podiums in the GT Cup at Donington Grand Prix circuit.
The GT Cup visited Donington Grand Prix Circuit this weekend supporting the FIA Formula 2 Championship. The event was played out to a packed venue where Sarah secured trophies for 2nd in class in both races.
The weekend started with some fun and games for the team with the transporter breaking down just outside the circuit. Fortunately one of the benefits of racing a production car is that it is registered to drive on the road so problems were quickly sorted by unloading the Aston at the roadside and driving it rally style (on slicks) the short distance into the circuit for it to be scruntineered ready for free practice.
A number of set-up changes had been made to the car since Oulton, so the two 20 min practice sessions were extremely valuable for trying out the changes. The threatening rain stayed off for qualifying as Sarah chased the class 4 Aston pack led by the clear class leader Will Goff. Sarah and Chris Scragg having had similar times all day in free practice qualified just 100th of a second apart, unfortunately with Sarah behind in p4.
Race 1 was at midday on the Sunday. With the track temperature warming up Sarah got off to a good start but after a few laps found herself battling major understeer and lack of grip due to the tyres overheating. With the Porsche 944 Turbo of David Botterill in her sights she was battling to reel him in, when David experienced mechanical problems. This left him lacking in boost power allowing Sarah an easy pass and on the next lap she came across the Aston of Chris Scragg pulling up due to gearbox problems gifting her a 2nd place reward for reliability.
Race 2 was an altogether different affair. With grid positions once again determined from Qualifying, Sarah was back in 4th position in class and both David Botterill and Chris Scragg had repaired their various mechanical faults and were back out on the grid. During the first few laps Chris Scragg pulled away, followed by David with Sarah in hot pursuit. After about the 3rd lap Sarah made a lunge for the 944 Turbo on one of the hairpins and managed to make it stick. She then set about chasing down the Aston of Chris Scragg. After another lap or so an opportunity presented itself as Scragg entered the hairpin slightly wide and Sarah found a space to sneak past him. It was about this point the brake pedal suddenly went long and she had to change tactic to keep them both behind her; a few laps hardly touching the brakes allowed the pedal to return somewhat and Sarah managed to maintain her lead to the end for another excellent 2nd in class.
Sarah will be back out in the GT Cup at Silverstone on the 10th October. The Aston Martin will be back out at Snetterton in two weeks time for the Britcar 4hr race.
Sarah helps out with Rupert Lewin Racing:
Click here for Rupert Lewin Racing web site - designed and built by Racecar
