The 2010 GT Cup Championship got off to a massive start in brilliant sunshine on the Silverstone GP Circuit this weekend. There were 42 cars on the grid making The GT Cup Championship the best supported GT Championships in the UK.
RACE ONE.
On pole for race one was the #79 Group One Porsche 997 GT3 Cup car of Phil Dryburgh just 1.46 secs ahead of Jim Geddie in his #79 Porsche 997 GT3 Cup car and 1.48 secs behind them was Jeff Leadley in his #34 Ferrari 430 GTC.
In Group Two Marco Pullen in his #13 Ferrari 360 GTC was comfortably clear of Keith Webster in his #10 BMW E36.
In Group Three David Hathaway led the Group in is #19 Ferrari 360 Challenge car with David Botterill and his #8 Porsche 944 Turbo just 1.0 secs behind him with Sarah Bennett- Baggs 0.36 secs behind him in her #72 BMW Z4 Coupe.
All this proved that the equalisation was working well in this ‘multi-marque’ championship.
After a very hectic action packed race the safety car came out because Rupert Martin had gone backwards into the new GP pit wall and it was impossible to move the car. Not helping matters was John Taylor’s Porsche that was stuck in the gravel at Copse after getting ‘tagged’ by the #40 Marcos Mantis.
After several laps behind the safety car the race was ‘Red Flagged’ after 8 laps leaving Jim Geddie with a comfortable overall race win in his #79 Porsche 997 GT3 Cup followed by Jeff Leadley in the #34 Ferrari 430 GTC and the #81 Porsche 997 GT3 Cup car of Phil Dryburgh.
In Group Two Marco Pullen in the #13 Ferrari 360 GTC held off Keith Webster in his #10 BMW M3 E36. Chris Bentley was a distant third in his #35 Porsche 996 GT3 Cup car.
Group Three saw a highly popular win for David Hathaway in his #19 Ferrari 360 GTC. He had ‘seen off’ David Botterill in his #8 Porsche 944 Turbo and Adrian Watt in the #32 BMW M3 E36.
It had been a very hectic race all the way through the field and it was a pity that it ended early with a few battles unresolved.
RACE TWO
This time it was the #81 Porsche 997 GT3 Cup car of John Gaw that was on pole and looking good for a race win with no success ballast on board, unlike Jim Geddie #79 who was beside him on the grid in his Porsche 997 GT3 Cup car with 60 kgs of ballast. Jeff Leadley #34 Ferrari also had 40kgs of success ballast on board. Just behind them was the remarkable 17 year old Danny Winstanley in the wild green TVR Tuscan.
Once again there were some very hectic opening laps with inter-class battles going on all the way through the field. But up front John Gaw #81 Porsche 997 GT3 Cup was reveling in his lack of ballast and was opening up a big lead over the rest of Group One. However as the race progressed he had a challenging journey making his way through the Group Two and Three cars! At one point he lost around five seconds while making his way cautiously through the traffic! Jim Geddie #79 Porsche GT3 Cup and Danny Winstanley #78 TVR Tuscan had a great scrap until Danny spun under the pressure. Next to have to fend off the charging green TVR was Jeff Leadley in the #34 Ferrari 430 GTC . These two spent several laps nose to tail with Winstanley giving Leadley a lot to think about! Eventually it all resolved itself and Leadley eased away and went on to get past Geddie and take 2nd in Group One with Geddie 3rd and ‘young’ Danny a brilliant 4th.
Alex Martin #87 Porsche 997 GT3 Cup car was happy to come home 5th bearing in mind this was the first outing in this newly rebuilt car.
Marco Pullen #13 Ferrari 360 GTC had another good race keeping out of trouble and taking his 2nd win of the weekend.
In Group Three it was ‘all change’ with Adrian Watt bringing his #32 BMW M3 E36 home first followed Tom Andrew giving the KTM XBow a podium finish on it debut out in GT Cup. David Hathaway couldn’t match his Race One pace but still came home a creditable 3rd.
It had been an astounding start for the new GT Cup Championship..
The next Round of The GT Cup Championship is on May 8th at Thruxton.
