Post matching 'G56 GT4 SuperCup'
In a weekend of wildly changing weather conditions, King (Elite Motorsport) benefitted from the newly resurfaced Croft circuit to smash the existing GT4 SuperCup lap record by over two seconds on his way to his third and fourth victories of the season so far.
Tom Hibbert (Triple M Motorsport) set the pace in qualifying on Saturday afternoon for a long-awaited first GT4 SuperCup pole position. King and Mike Epps (Team HARD) were next up, while Carlito Miracco (Privateer) qualified a great fourth on his second outing in the series.
In the Am Class, James Kell (Rob Boston Racing) picked up his maiden pole position in the championship, while Colin White (CWS Motorsport) was impressively second quickest despite missing free practice on Friday to celebrate his daughter’s wedding.
While qualifying ran in dry conditions, a dramatic change for that afternoon’s opening race saw the field greeted by torrential rain. After the initial start was red flagged due to an unfortunate incident, the action restarted with King making an immediate charge for the race lead.
Seizing the advantage into the chicane for the first time, the Ginetta Junior graduate proved to be the rain master as scintillating pace saw him win by over 13 seconds after just five racing laps. Hibbert ran second throughout, while Miracco starred with a maiden podium finish.
After not being able to set a lap-time in qualifying, Will Burns (Rob Boston Racing) climbed from the back of the Pro Class grid to fourth place ahead of Nathan Heathcote (Century Motorsport), who used his car control learnt in rallycross to tame the rain and take a third Am Class win.
Darron Lewis (Team HARD) and White followed him home to complete the class podium, while behind Reece Somerfield came from a pitlane start to eighth. Unfortunately for the erstwhile points leader, that was the best result of an otherwise difficult first weekend with Elite Motorsport.
Epps joined him in storming through the field from the pitlane to ninth, with Kell completing the top ten ahead of fellow Am Class contenders Dan Kirby (Rob Boston Racing), Carl Garnett (AK Motorsport) and Lucky Khera (Declan Jones Racing).
The ever-changing weather landscape over North Yorkshire meant that race two on Sunday took place in glorious sunshine. In front of a bumper trackside crowd and the live ITV4 television cameras, King put in another fantastic drive from pole position to lead from start-to-finish.
Unfortunately a ten second time penalty for a false start dropped him down the order however, with Hibbert therefore inheriting a second win of the season and a fifth of his GT4 SuperCup career so far after running second throughout.
Miracco held third on the road in the early stages, but Burns and Epps worked their way ahead to complete the overall podium. King slotted into fourth with his penalty applied, while Miracco rounded out the top five ahead of Simon Rudd (Rob Boston Racing).
Heathcote held the advantage in the Am Class for a long portion of the race, but White nipped ahead late on to record his milestone 50th class victory in the championship. Next up was Fin Green (Total Control Racing), who made a welcome return to the grid and secured a best finish of ninth.
The reverse grid for the final race of the weekend placed Rudd on pole position. He led the field through the first sequence of corners, but an opportunistic move from King got him the lead through Tower for the first time and he stormed clear to a ten second victory.
Epps overtook Rudd at mid-distance for second place and his fifth podium finish of the campaign, while the latter notched his maiden top three – a nice celebration after getting married since his last appearance at Brands Hatch in April.
Miracco completed a superb weekend in fourth ahead of Hibbert, while White picked up his second Am Class victory of the weekend at the only circuit on the calendar that he hadn’t previously won at. Garnett came home second meanwhile to take a maiden class podium at his home event.
Third for Heathcote ensures he leaves Croft as the new Am Class points leader, with Khera, Lewis and Kirby close behind. Jack Oliphant (Century Motorsport) took his best class finish of the weekend in seventh ahead of Lee Frost (Declan Jones Racing) and Peter Bassill (Century Motorsport).
The 2019 Millers Oils Ginetta GT4 SuperCup is next in action at Oulton Park in Cheshire later this month (29/30 June).
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