Round three of the 2023 GT Cup season took place from a sweltering Snetterton for the first of two visits to the Norfolk venue.

With three more class wins to his name, Paul Bailey continues to lead the overall title standings despite yet another car swap.

However, it was Topcats Racing who stole the show with an impressive clean sweep across the weekend, thrusting the Lamborghini up into fourth position in the overall standings.

GT3

A boosted entry for Snetterton saw two British GT regulars make a guest appearance in preparation for their next round on the 17/18th of June.

Optimum Motorsport fielded their McLaren 720s GT3 Evo with Mark Radcliffe and Rob Bell, while Century Motorsport brought their BMW M4 GT3 with Darren Leung partnering with BMW factory driver Jesse Krohn in his first visit to Snetterton since 2009.

It would be a familiar face however that stole honours throughout Saturday’s running. After a tricky start to their season, Orange Racing swept Saturday’s races with Tom Roche fending off Hugo Cook in his Audi R8 GT3 EvoII in race one. Race two meanwhile looked set for James Wallis in the Drivetac Mercedes AMG GT3 Evo to clinch yet another victory but a lurid spin in the dying moments cost him the lead to Roche who eased the car home.

Wallis survived the spin to come home second whilst Enduro Motorsport brought their McLaren 720s GT3 home in third.

Sunday meanwhile saw Drivetac take redemption as Sam Maher-Loughnann cruised to victory over Radcliffe and Matt Topham who was making his GT3 debut over the course of the weekend.

The final race of the weekend saw a selection of stunning performances, most notably from youngster, Hugo Cook who was pressuring GT stalwart, Rob Bell in the closing stages of the race.

At the start meanwhile, it was Simon Orange who absolutely stormed away from the competition only for a safety car mid-stint to cost him all the ground he had worked hard to make up.

This cost him dearly as the extra success penalty from winning Saturday’s endurance race meant co-driver Tom Roche dropped well down the order upon rejoining the race.

Radcliffe meanwhile had worked his way past Maher-Loughnann who had become something of a cork in a bottle to hold a comfortable second when he pitted. Rob Bell took over and once the cycle was complete, found himself in the lead of the race.

However, it wouldn’t be plain sailing for Bell as Hugo Cook was on the charge. A difficult weekend for the Audi driver meant he had only one podium to his name thus far and title rival Paul Bailey racking up the group victories, Cook was all the more determined to nab the final victory of the weekend.

He threw everything he could at the McLaren specialist but came home just 0.478 seconds behind in a truly spectacular effort in what is only his first full season in GT3 machinery.

Further back meanwhile, Tom Roche was busy defending from Jesse Krohn who was acclimatising himself to the Snetterton 300 layout of which had not existed when he last raced there back in 2009.

With just minutes to go, Roche made a bold move to put his car on the grass exiting Agostini to lap Chris Murphy in his Group GTO BMW. Roche darted left to pounce on Murphy who meanwhile was also moving left, pushing the McLaren onto the grass and leaving the way clear for Krohn to sweep through and round out the podium placings.

After all the excitement from the four races, Hugo Cook sits atop the group GT3 standings and third overall, just three points adrift of second-placed Feathers Motorsport.

GTO

Group GTO initially started out with six planned entries for Snetterton, however only three made it to the track on Saturday. Richard Chamberlain withdrew his Porsche 935 at the last minute and the National Motorsport Academy suffered a blown engine on their regular full-season entry during Friday practice.

They had initially planned for a second entry to run but unfortunately, the car wasn’t quite ready for action.

This left championship leader, Paul Bailey to return but this time in a Lamborghini Huracan GT3 Evo. This particular car turned out to be one of Alex Malykhin’s spare cars from his 2022 British GT campaign. With regular co-driver Ross Wylie on Carrera Cup GB duties, James Dorlin was subbed in due to his previous experience with the car.

This pairing worked wonders as they claimed three from four group victories to extend Bailey’s overall championship lead to 28 points over the Feathers Motorsport Aston Martin.

The remaining GTO entry came from 7TSIX and their McLaren 720s GT3. Ian Loggie once again piloted the fluorescent orange machine with Logan Hannah set to make her GT3 debut alongside him. Whilst Loggie won from the back in Saturday’s sprint race, a heavy start line accident in Saturday’s endurance race caused damage too severe to be repaired at the track, ending their weekend early.

GTC

A big change for GTC saw Gilbert Yates switch from Blackthorn to Topcats Racing to partner alongside Charlotte Gilbert in what turned out to be a formidable pairing. Four group victories from four races puts them fourth in the overall standings and well clear of the Orange Racing Porsche Cup Car in the GTH standings.

They were partially helped by an incident in Sunday practice when Keith Bush in the Team Parker Racing Porsche 992 Cup Car hit the Woodrow Motorsport Lamborghini of Matty Evans head-on, ending both of their days on the spot. Fortunately, both drivers were unharmed but the same couldn’t be said for the cars.

GTH

MakeHappen Racing was on fine form at Snetterton after a tricky outing last time out at Brands Hatch.

Stephen Walton and Chris Hart dominated Saturday’s sprint race and remained on the podium for the following two races in a display of what the Mercedes-AMG GT4 was capable of around the Norfolk venue.

The sister car meanwhile went one better and took both race victories throughout Sundays running. Jon Currie dominated the sprint race whilst he and British GT superstar Phil Keen pulled off a last-minute pass at the penultimate corner on the Greystone GT McLaren 570s GT4 to round off the clean sweep.

Such a performance even earned Currie the GT Cup Driver of the Day award.

The remaining race victory was claimed once again by the Feathers Motorsport Aston Martin Vantage GT4. James Guess handed the car over to Tom Canning who then went on one of his characteristic late-race charges to pass Walton and prevent a MakeHappen clean sweep.

This performance coupled with three further podium finishes leaves the car second in the overall standings now 28 points back from Paul Bailey in what is set to be a thrilling battle throughout the remainder of the season.

The fourth round of the 2023 GT Cup championship comes from Oulton Park for a special one-day meeting featuring two 50-minute races

 
 

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