Michael Igoe and Phil Keen, sharing the driving duties in the #18 WPI Motorsport Lamborghini Huracan GT3, took victory in Race Two, the pit-stop race, of the four-race opening weekend of the 2021 GT Cup Championship, factory driver Keen crossing the line 16.433 seconds ahead of Lewis proctor in the #36 Balfe Motorsport McLaren 750S Gt3 he shared with his father Stewart.
Completing the overall podium positions was the #55 JMH Automotive Lamborghini in which Abbie Eaton drove the second stint after taking over from John Seale. Seale and Eaton were also the winners of the GTO category.
Victory in the GTC class went to the #96 Stanbridge Motorsport Lamborghini Super Trofeo piloted by Chris Kemp and Stuart Hall while the #1 Orange Racing Powered by JMH McLaren 570S GT4 took class honours in the GTH category.
Orange racing made double class honours by winning the GTA category with its #67 Ginetta G55 Supercup entry.
Richard Neary led the field away at the front of grid in the #88 Abba Racing Mercedes-AMG GT3 followed by Michael Igoe in the #18 Lamborghini. There was drama almost immediately after Richard Chamberlain had an off-track excursion in the #5 CTR Developments Porsche 935 at Turn One, brining out the Safety Car to be sent out to allow for safe recovery.
Racing resumed with just under 45 minutes remaining with Igoe pushing Richard Neary for the lead and Lucky Khera, having enjoyed a trouble-free start, less than half a second behind. After five laps, Igoe had set the fastest lap and was looking to pass Neary on the outside as the #88 Mercedes and the #18 Lamborghini approached Turn One.
With eight laps run, Igoe had passed Neary and had started to pull out a small lead. John Dhillon spun his #61 Scott Sport Lamborghini but managed to recover without the need for any cautions.
Neary stayed on the tail of the #18 Lamborghini and, with 35 minutes remaining, was less than half a second behind. Traffic, however, delayed Neary’s attack and the gap had widened out to nearly four seconds after 12 laps.
The safety car was called with 26 minutes remaining to allow for the recovery of Charlotte Gilbert’s #3 Topcats Racing Marcos Mantis from Redgates. The incident occurred as the pit window opened for Group One cars (GTO, GT3 and GTC). Due to radio failure, Neary was unaware of the race neutralisation and stayed out. The radio failure was to cost the #88 Mercedes the opportunity to repate its Race One victory.
After the driver changes had cycled through, Lewis Proctor, at the wheel of the #36 McLaren 750S GT3 he shared with his father Stewart, appeared to hpld a lead of just under 6.5 seconds ahead of Abbie Eaton in the #55 JMH Automotive Lamborghini. A transponder glitch, however, had mistakenly lost a lap from Phil Keen’s #18 Lamborghini and when the error was rectified the WPI Motorsport was shown in the lead.
At the chequered flag, keen had a lead of over 15 seconds from Proctor’s McLaren with Abbie Eaton in the third.
Race Four of the weekend gets underway at 130pm on Sunday April 11.