Rob Boston scythed through the rain to take a sensational second victory of the weekend in the Michelin Ginetta GT Supercup at Brands Hatch.
Boston slipped back from pole to fifth early on, but the KX Akademy racer fought back through the field in extremely wet conditions to take his second consecutive success.
A monster start for front-row starter Pepe Massot saw the teenage Spaniard storm past Boston into the lead, with the pole-sitter losing further ground to a quick-staring Carl Breeze and Jamie Orton through Druids.
Orton’s run at the front of the field didn’t last long, the Century Motorsport driver amongst those to lose out on a chaotic opening lap, dropping to eleventh. Fellow early front-runner Carl Boardley also dropped back, pitting at the end of the lap with problems before retiring a couple of laps later following a trip through the Paddock Hill gravel trap.
The opening lap also proved to be a nightmare for Academy Motorsport, a spin for Sean Huyton on the Cooper straight leading to contact from unfortunate team-mate Matt Nicoll-Jones. Both retired into the pits, as did their G50 newcomer Oliver Basey-Fisher after a spin on the GP loop.
When the order settled, Massot led Breeze and Boston at the front, with Reece Somerfield benefitting from the various incident to move up from eighth to fourth ahead of Mark Davies, the latter managing to lose his driver’s door on the opening lap.
Davies briefly got ahead of Somerfield on lap five after a move at Paddock Hill bend, however it was short-lived as he ran wide at Surtees, dropping him to sixth behind Andrew Watson, despite the Irishman having an off-track moment of his own at Sheene.
Ahead, Breeze pressured Massot for the lead early on, but was soon focusing on a determined Boston in his mirrors. A great move into Paddock Hill bend for the JHR Developments ace gave him second on lap seven, and a lap later the lead was his, a great cutback coming out of Graham Hill bend letting him pass Massot into Surtees.
Boston managed to make the move stick just before the safety car emerged on track, the interlude caused by a collision with the tyres at Paddock Hill bend for Colin White.
A textbook restart for Boston gave him breathing room at the front of the field and he maintained the advantage for the final four laps to take victory. Massot fended off late pressure from Breeze to take second, with the out-going champion completing the podium.
Somerfield matched his best result of the season in fourth, while a late battle for fifth between Watson and Davies went the way of the former, with Davies slipping to seventh at the finish behind a recovering Orton.
Louise Richardson started the fourteen-lap encounter on G50 class pole, however the Richardson Racing slipped back to third on the opening lap behind Rob Gaffney and Will Burns. Richardson grabbed second back early on, before embarking on a race-long battle with Gaffney.
Despite her best efforts to get ahead for her fourth consecutive G50 win, a sterling effort for Gaffney gave him his first win of the campaign, with Richardson left to settle for second ahead of Burns.
Full race results can be found here: http://tsl-timing.com/toca/2013/134103g50.pdf