Mark Davies emerged victorious in a highly entertaining Round 26 of the Michelin Ginetta GT Supercup at Brands Hatch.
The newly-crowned G50 champion fought his way through to take the win, leaving behind a sensational six car, race-long battle for second which included championship rivals Carl Breeze and Tom Sharp.
Davies started the race from pole and a solid start saw him lead Breeze and Jake Hill into Paddock Hill for the first time, while Tom Ingram was able to recover from a sluggish start to maintain fourth.
Sharp meanwhile started the race seventeenth on the grid after his driveshaft failure in the weekend’s opening race. A sensational opening lap saw the IDL UK star into eleventh after just two corners, before he eventually finished the opening lap in an incredible seventh.
Davies’ lead was short-lived, with Breeze forcing his way past into Hawthorns, while behind, Sharp continued his tremendous run, passing Colin White and Fergus Walkinshaw on consecutive laps to end lap three fifth.
After a brief spell in second, Davies was determined to re-gain the advantage and made a challenge into Paddock on lap six, heading wide at the entry before cutting back superbly to snatch the lead.
In the battle for third, Hill was left to defend from Ingram, with the latters attempts at getting by only ending with him losing a place to Sharp on lap seven, with the former championship leader then passing Hill two laps later with a stunning move around the outside of Graham Hill Bend and then Surtees to secure third.
Joining Sharp in starting towards the back of the grid was Andrew Richardson, who started sixteenth. After a steady start, the 21 year old moved into podium contention on lap ten, joining the rear of the six car train for second.
After passing Walkinshaw for sixth on lap eleven, Richardson pulled off a great move around the outside at Druids to pass Ingram, with unfortunate contact between the two sending Ingram into a spin, dropping him behind Walkinshaw.
As Davies drove away at the front, Breeze was coming under immense pressure from behind, with the orange G55 of Sharp visibly the quicker. Despite his best efforts though, he was unable to find a way past and instead they both lost out to Richardson, who after passing Hill around the outside at Paddock, passed both Sharp and Breeze around the outside at Druids to snatch second.
Ahead, Davies crossed the line to take his second win of the weekend by a considerable 10.7 second margin, with Richardson holding on to second to conclude a stunning drive from sixteenth on the grid and complete a Richardson Racing one-two, the first time a team had done it in the series.
Breeze just held off Sharp for third, with Hill fifth ahead of Ingram, who made last lap contact with Walkinshaw, the latter dropping to tenth at the finish. Marcus Hoggarth took seventh ahead of Hunter Abbott, while a great recovery drive from Max Coates saw him finish ninth after starting from the pitlane when his driveshaft popped out.
Eleventh overall and the G50 class winner was Harry Cockill. Declan Jones had led away from class pole until a mistake at Surtees dropped him to third. As Cockill drove away, Reece Somerfield was spun out of second and into retirement by Jones, the latter finished up in second ahead of returning Irishman Connaire Finn, Rob Gaffney and Dan Norris-Jones.
