GT Cup Donington: Paddock Motorsport Complete Clean Sweep

After missing the last round at Silverstone, Mark Smith and Paddock Motorsport bounced back in the perfect way, taking all four wins across the action-packed GT Cup weekend at Donington Park.

Saturday

Despite missing a fair amount of track time on Thursday’s test day due to an engine change, PB Racing took pole position for the opening race of the weekend on Saturday, narrowly ahead of Track Focused and Paddock Motorsport.

A dampened sprint race also quickly turned to disappointment for PB Racing, as Peter Erceg was forced off the road after Track Focused’s Darren Kell lost the rear of his car on the kerb, resulting in contact with the leading Audi.

Furthermore, Kell then lost it again on the way down the hill, giving the lead to Smith. Despite the two lead cars on the grid going off the track, both were able to continue, albeit much further down the order.

With 14 minutes to go, the #95 Oselli Motorsport spun around, dropping crucial places. Meanwhile, Kell and Erceg were making up places, with PB Racing third and Track Focused in 11th at the 10-minute mark.

Then while overtaking the #75 Team Parker Racing Porsche, the Oselli Motorsport Aston Martin spun around again on the outside of the corner. They then pitted and retired the car.

From start to finish, Mark Smith held his own out front, going on to win after the first-lap incident by 41 seconds over GTC-classed Topcats Racing in second. PB Racing recovered to round off the overall podium.

Race one results:

Paddock Motorsport (GT3)
Topcats Racing (GTC)
PB Racing (GT3)
G-Cat Racing (GT3)
Team Parker Racing (GT3)
Track Focused (GT3)
Team Parker Racing (GTC)
Triple M Motorsport (GTC)
SVG Motorsport (GTH)
Feathers Motorsport (GTH)
Uber GT Performance (GTC)
JMH Automotive (GTC)
DWG Motorsport (GTC)
Team Parker Racing (GTC)
Jolt Motorsport (GTH)
Triple M Motorsport (GTC)
SVG Motorsport (GTA)
Innovation Racing (GTA)
PMT Motorsport (GTC)
Innovation Racing with Cresta (GTH)
Oselli Motorsport (GTH)

It was then onto the 50-minute pit-stop race in the afternoon, which was packed with action. Kell started on pole and he was joined by Smith on the front row. At turn one, it was like the first race all over again, with the front-row pair colliding, sending both off the track.

In addition, other cars were sliding on the slippery wet track, including leader Erceg, who had inherited the lead after the first corner incident. All this action resulted in a first-lap safety car, with the #15 Team Parker Racing Mercedes now in the lead.

After 20 minutes the safety car was finally brought in, releasing the pack once more. Despite his off-track experience on the first corner, Smith was already back fighting for the lead with G-Cat Racing.

With 26 minutes to go, Paddock Motorsport found themselves in the lead with the pit window on the horizon. Despite losing the place to G-Cat Racing in the pit stops, they quickly regained the position with 15 minutes left on the clock.

Then with just under 10 minutes to go, the safety car was redeployed as the DWG Motorsports went off track. On the restart, PB Racing’s Marcus Clutton made his way up to second place, past G-Cat Racing. Despite a late charge from the Audi, it wasn’t enough to deny Smith his second win of the weekend.

Race two results:

Paddock Motorsport (GT3)
PB Racing (GT3)
Track Focused (GT3)
G-Cat Racing (GT3)
PMT Motorsport (GT3)
Triple M Motorsport (GTC)
Team Parker Racing (GT3)
Oselli Motorsport (GTH)
SVG Motorsport (GTH)
Feathers Motorsport (GTH)
Uber GT Performance (GTC)
Innovation Racing with Cresta (GTH)
SVG Motorsport (GTA)
Team Parker Racing (GTC)
Innovation Racing (GTA)
DWG Motorsport (GTC)

Sunday

Sunday saw the format reversed, with the day opening with the pit-stop race and then closing with the sprint. The first race saw Smith and Erceg line up on the front row and luckily the first corner was without incident on this occasion.

Paddock Motorsport focused on extending their lead while the #9 Audi was occupied defending the G-Cat Racing Porsche behind in third. At the 10-minute mark, the safety car was deployed as a result of the #75 Team Parker Racing car being beached in the gravel.

After 10 minutes, the field was released once more, with Kell all over the back of the G-Cat Racing entry, unable to find an opening.

With 20 minutes left to go, cars headed to the pits, with Smith retaining his lead after all had calmed down. The #99 SVG Motorsport entry then found the gravel, which luckily didn’t result in a second safety car.

Just a few minutes later, the #65 Triple M Motorsport car also went into the gravel, which also didn’t result in a safety car being deployed.

With 10 minutes to go, Clutton pulled off a fantastic move at McLean’s, going round the outside of Kell and the Topcats Racing Lamborghini to go from fourth to second, giving him a clear track to head after Smith.

However, just three minutes later, Clutton was forced to take avoiding action when approaching Harry Yuill in the Triple M Motorsport, forcing him to go off track and therefore losing the time he had been making on the cars behind.

Smith held firm out front to secure his third win of the weekend, with PB Racing finishing just over four seconds behind.

Race three results:

Paddock Motorsport (GT3)
PB Racing (GT3)
Track Focused (GT3)
Topcats Racing (GTC)
Team Parker Racing (GTC)
DWG Motorsport (GTC)
JMH Automotive (GTC)
G-Cat Racing (GT3)
Uber GT Performance (GTC)
Triple M Motorsport (GTC)
Feathers Motorsport (GTH)
Jolt Motorsport (GTH)
SVG Motorsport (GTA)
Innovation Racing (GTA)
Triple M Motorsport (GTC)

The weekend concluded with another sprint race, with Smith and Kell again sharing the front row. Turn one was again filled with action, with the Topcats Racing car spinning around. Meanwhile, PB Racing moved up to second place past Track Focused.

Several minutes into the race, there were off-track adventures for the #63 JMH Automotive entry and the #55 Team Parker Racing car.

With four minutes to go, after pressure from the Track Focused car behind, PB Racing found themselves out of the race and later disqualified after an incident with the #99 SVG Motorsport Ginetta.

Smith then crossed the line for win number four of the weekend, completing a clean sweep at Donington Park.

Race four results: