GT Cup’s annual visit to the fast and flowing Silverstone Circuit was one of heat, intensity and another strong weekend for the all-dominant Team Abba.
Ian Loggie and Richard Neary worked well together in the green Mercedes AMG GT3 Evo to claim a clean sweep of race victories across the weekend. However, they weren’t the only ones to achieve this feat.
Meanwhile, Andrew Howard made his return to GT Cup in his Beechdean Aston Martin GT3 Evo with none other than former Le Mans winner, Darren Turner joining him for the weekend.
Race 1
Despite the presence of fellow British GT rival, Andrew Howard, Neary stormed to pole position by a mighty 2-seconds from the rest of the field.
This advantage was assisted by the team choosing to run an unrestricted GT3 car for the meeting rather than comply with the usual BOP that surrounds GT3 machinery.
The increase in power saw Neary get the jump at the start and never look back. Total domination followed as he built a 33-second lead to win the first race of the weekend and claim group GTO honours in the process.
Meanwhile, further back, things were much closer. Howard was running close behind the Tim Gray Motorsport Radical RXC of Steve Burgess when he looped his car at The Loop on the first lap.
What followed was a chargeback in typical Andrew Howard fashion and he found himself glued to the back of the Topcats Motorsport Lamborghini Huracan Super Trofeo Evo of Tom Rawlings. He managed to fight his way through the stubborn Lamborghini and finished second overall and first in GT3.
Despite the overtake, Rawlings maintained the lead of GTC and would take victory to keep his lead in the overall standings. It could have been a different story as the sister car of Fraser Fenwick was turned around by Andrey Borodin at the race start dropping him to the very back of the field.
Fenwick however fought back lapping 3 seconds faster than his closest rivals to reclaim second in GTC with Kevin Clarke just 5 seconds further back in the returning Woodrow Motorsport Lamborghini Huracan Super Trofeo.
GTH meanwhile was once again a Forsetti affair but not in the usual formation flying approach.
The #9 Aston Martin Vantage GT4 of Mikey Porter and Matthew Higgins suffered a coolant issue in practice and therefore missed qualifying forcing them to start from the very back of the grid.
This didn’t seem to phase Porter as he scythed his way through the pack and was soon back in his familiar position at the head of the GTH field. Meanwhile Will Orton in the sister #10 car held onto the back of the rapid Porter to bring home a Forsetti one-two despite the odds being stacked against them.
Race 2
The first pit-stop race of the weekend saw Team Abba put on a truly dominant display, albeit with a touch of confusion thrown in.
A transponder error meant the Mercedes was shown as being in third place once the race had been completed. However, this wasn’t the case and after some quick work by TSL Timing, they were officially declared as the overall winners for the second time on Saturday.
This did mean Andrew Howard initially thought he had won with Turner crossing the line in what at the time was the lead. They were relegated back to second position but did still claim GT3 and overhauled the Radical in the late stages of the race.
The reason for the overtake was Steve Burgess suffering a late-race issue in the Radical. A pitstop managed to sort it enough to see the chequered flag and keep second in GTO with third overall being a strong result for a car that’s seen its fair share of trouble in 2024.
GTC saw an uneventful race for Charlotte Gilbert and Rawlings who also made it two from two at Silverstone. And as with race one, it was a Topcats one-two as Warren Gilbert and Fenwick brought the second car home in second despite a rear wing failure in the last 5-minutes.
As with the sprint race, Forsetti dominated proceedings to claim another one-two but this time it was the #10 car of Sam Neser and Will Orton who put to bed the stranglehold the #9 car has held throughout 2024.
SVG secured another podium finish for Liona Theobald and series debutant, Owen Hizzey as they both continue to adapt to the Ginetta G56 GT4.
Race 3
With Neary starting the Abba Mercedes for Sunday’s pit-stop race, the rest of the field had their work cut out trying to keep the chrome green machine in touching distance before the mandatory pit window opened.
Neary meanwhile clearly wasn’t bothered about that and stormed away to a huge margin before the pitstops took place. Loggie took over and brought the car home 30 seconds clear of the second-placed Darren Turner who himself claimed a third GT3 victory of the weekend for the Beechdean Aston Martin.
It wasn’t a quiet race for the Aston Martin pairing however, a great early battle with Steve Burgess led to a fired-up Howard getting his elbows out to get past. However, their longer pitstop time for having a pro driver meant Turner rejoined behind the Radical and had to repeat his co-drivers efforts in the earlier stages.
Lapping up to 5 seconds per lap quicker, Turner managed to claw back the lost time and leapfrog the Radical before storming after the cruising Loggie.
Burgess would come home third overall and second in GTO once again with Richard Chamberlain rounding out the top three after mechanical issues ruled him out of Saturday’s running.
Just behind Chamberlain was the #2 Topcats Lamborghini as Gilbert and Rawlings once again took honours in GTC to maintain their championship advantage. Gilbert and Fenwick meanwhile made it yet another Topcats one-two just 1.2 seconds further back.
GTH once again saw Forsetti do battle with each other. The #10 car of Neser held the advantage in the opening phase of the race before Porter in the #9 managed to overhaul the #10 in the latter stages of the race for another victory over the sister car.
The SVG pairing of Theobald and Hizzey once again showed off their pace to finish just 10 seconds behind the group winners despite a race-long battle with the Paddock Motorsport McLaren Artura GT4.
Race 4
Sunday’s final race was a straightforward one with Loggie blitzing the field to cap off a perfect weekend for the Abba squad.
Andrew Howard started second behind the Mercedes and collected his fourth GT3 victory of the weekend with an uneventful run to second overall.
Burgess in the Radical clinched another GTO podium for the Radical in a successful weekend for the troublesome car with Chamberlain rounding out the GTO top three in his monstrous Porsche 935.
Charlotte Gilbert kept her husband at bay to claim GTC honours in another clean sweep. This leaves them at the head of the overall championship standings from the Abba Mercedes by just 14 points with 8 races still to run.
Forsetti Motorsport’s #9 car is also still in the overall title hunt and three GTH victories across the weekend mean they sit just 46 points behind the Topcats Lamborghini. A third GTH victory coming in the final race of the weekend.
GT Cup returns on the 14/15th of September at Donington Park for the penultimate meeting of the 2024 season.
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