May 8th sees another full grid arriving at Thruxton in Hampshire for Round Two of the 2010 GT Cup Championship. It is the first time that GT Cup has ever visited the Hampshire circuit. This very fast, technically demanding track will be a big challenge for all the teams. Many of the drivers will arrive here with little or no testing or track time under their belts so it is going to be a very steep learning curve.
The cars are split into three ‘Groups’ based mainly on their ultimate lap time performance. The faster more powerful cars are in Group One and the less powerful ones in Group Three. The opening round gave us close racing all the way through the huge field. Without doubt this is one of the major attractions for all the competitors in the GT Cup Championship, there is always somebody to race with. You will see from the progamme that this really is ‘multi-marque’ racing at its very best with Ferrari, Porsche, Lotus, TVR, BMW, Honda, Venturi, Ginetta, KTM, and Marcos all represented.
The opening round on the Grand Prix Circuit at Silverstone saw forty three cars take the start and it was the Porsches that just had the edge in Group One with wins from Jim Geddie and John Gaw. But with both of them racing elsewhere this weekend Jeff Leadley could be a good bet for a win in his Ferrari 430 GTC. But he will need to watch out for Andy Ruhan and Alex Martin in their Porsche 997 GT3 Cup cars. Both of them had a quiet weekend at Silverstone and will be out to redress the points balance at Thruxton. The surprise of this weekend could again be Danny Winstanley. His wild, lurid green TVR Tuscan, could well be at home on the fast open Thruxton circuit. He may only be 17 years old but so far he has given the more established front runners something to think about. Chris Randall will also be back on the pace with his rapid Lotus Europa which faced a few mechanical gremlins at Silverstone.
In Group Two Marco Pullen and his Ferrari 360 GTC seem to have a slight edge with two wins against the BMW M3 E36 of Keith Webster. But this weekend Thruxton may favour the BMW. But do not ignore the other BMWs and those modified Lotus Elise and Exige. New to GT Cup this year are Colin and Sam Mowle in their KTM XBow. Colin brought the KTM home in 3rd place in race two. As at the Silverstone Grand Prix Circuit the incredibly fast Thruxton Circuit may not be ideal for the smaller lighter cars.
In Group Three things are wide open. David Hathaway and Adrian Watt arrive here with equal points. David Hathaway and his Ferrari 360 Challenge were the surprise package at Silverstone, he won his Group in race one and came third in race two, probably his best results in years. But it would still take a brave man to pick between the Ferrari 360 Challenge and Adrian Watt’s BMW M3 E36. But Porsche are not out of the equation here either, Dave Botterill had a 2nd and 4th in his near classic Porsche 944 Turbo, he is currently running 3rd in the Group points. The KTM Xbow of Tom Andrew had a great debut at Silverstone with a 2nd in Group in race two. Sarah Bennett-Baggs has been a regular podium visitor in her BMW Z4 Coupe and Thruxton may well suit her style. An interesting newcomer to GT Cup will be the unusual Honda NSX driven by David and Rob Fern.
Everybody knows that the unusually abrasive surface at Thruxton causes havoc with tyre wear so the winners here could be the drivers who can look after their tyres and then take on this exceptionally demanding track.
Group Points after Round One:-
Group One:-
1st Jim Geddie Porsche 997 GT3Cup 65pts
2nd Jeff Leadley Ferrari 430 GTC 64pts
3rd Danny Winstanley TVR Tuscan 58pts
Group Two:
1st Marco Pullen Ferrari 360 GT 67pts
2nd Keith Webster BMW M3 E36 61pts
3rd James McAllister BMW M3 E36 54pts
Group Three
1st David Hathaway Ferrari 360 CH 55pts
= Adrian Watt BMW M3 E36 55pts
3rd Tom Andrew KTM XBow 51pts
Championship Overall points after Round One:-
1st Marco Pullen Ferrari 360 GTC 67pts
2nd Jim Geddie Porsche 997 GT3Cup 65pts
3rd Jeff Leadley Ferrari 430 GTC 64pts
