A near dead-heat in the GT Cup enduro and fabulous action from the Caterhams and Legends ensured a fine weekend of racing on the Donington Park Grand Prix circuit.
In a new trial format, the GT Cup contenders had two sprint races on Saturday and a 100-minute enduro on Sunday. Saturday sprint victories were shared between the McLaren 720S GT3s of Simon Orange and James Kell and, though Kell was able to pull well clear of the battling pack in race two, it was rather different for Orange as Greg Caton delivered a significant challenge in David Shaw’s Porsche 911 GT3-R.
Despite Caton only collecting the car from Spain a couple of days earlier, he quickly got into the groove and ran Orange close to finish less than half a second adrift. Mark Smith went with them in his McLaren 720S and this trio battled for second in the later race, but Kell was 25s down the road with a supremely impressive performance.
The 65-lap enduro built towards an incredible finish as the McLarens of Smith and Darren and James Kell took the flag side by side, with Smith ahead by 0.024s. James Kell had driven brilliantly after taking over from his father to claw back a 90s deficit in 30 laps but needed another 100 yards to snatch victory after a wonderful pursuit.
The Legends were busy and spectacular with six races across the weekend as the new 900cc Yamaha watercooled engine made its official championship debut. Connor Mills took the first win for the new engine in the opener as a typically huge pack of cars battled for the lead.
Mills was at the head of the Legends pack for first race of new season
Photo by: Ollie Read
However, in the second Saturday heat and then the longer final, it was Tyler Read who wriggled to the head of the squabbling pack. The scale of the battling in the final even allowed Read to sneak a couple of seconds clear but, behind him, it was frenetic stuff as Jack Parker just beat Mills and Oli Schlup to the flag.
Will Gibson bounced back from retiring in Saturday’s final to win both of Sunday’s heats but went out of the final with Read and left Stephen Treherne to take a clear victory.
The sextet of 7 Racing Championship rounds were stunning, with huge packs of Caterhams running neck and neck and winning margins measured in fractions of seconds. Anthony Barnes drew first blood in the 420R pack when he edged Gary Smith over the line by less 0.2s. On Sunday, Barnes and Jamie Winrow shared two more hard-won victories.
It was almost as close in the first 310R and 270R contest as long-time leader Ben Winrow was reeled in and just headed by an inspired Paul Goldstein, with Stuart Bell and Craig Denman tucked in behind. Goldstein and Bell then each took a win on Sunday.
The impressive Focus Cup started with a bumper 27-car grid and reigning champion Lewis Clark was the class of the field on his graduation from the Zetec S category to the quicker ST250 division. Sadly, the second race was lost as a first red flag came after a two-car tangle on the opening lap. When fluid was dropped on the parade lap ahead of the restart, another red flag signalled the end of Focus competition for the weekend.
Clark continued his strong form from last year upon graduating to the Focus ST250 machine
Photo by: Ollie Read
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