Jamie Orton brought the 2013 Michelin Ginetta GT Supercup season to a close with a dominant maiden win in the final round of the year at Brands Hatch.
The Century Motorsport ace was given pole position thanks to the reverse grid format for the final race, and he fully utilised the advantage to lead from lights-to-flag in the Kent rain, successfully negotiating a safety car period in the process.
A quiet start to the race saw the top four run in formation through Paddock Hill bend for the first time, with the first early change seeing Reece Somerfield and Carl Breeze swap third place behind Andrew Watson.
A man on a mission in the early stages was double winner earlier in the weekend Rob Boston, who would have to battle through from sixth on the grid if he were to complete his hat-trick.
The JHR Developments ace dived past team-mate Pepe Massot for fifth at Paddock Hill bend on lap two, and a near perfect replica of the move gave him fourth from Somerfield a lap later.
Massot meanwhile was left defending from a gaggle of G55’s behind as he struggled with a broken windscreen wiper, a three abreast move into Paddock ending with the Spaniard losing ground to Mark Davies, Matt Nicoll-Jones and Sean Huyton.
Nicoll-Jones was the driver on the move, the Academy Motorsport ace having to start at the back of the grid after an early retirement in race two.
The team boss produced a sensational opening lap to get from seventeenth to eighth, and after passing Massot, he was quickly chasing down an unlikely podium finish.
His efforts were hampered by the introduction of the safety car though, caused by a spin into the Clearways gravel trap for Carl Boardley.
A great restart for Orton saw him maintain his lead as Watson bunched up the pack behind, with Boston capitalising to grab third from Breeze, Nicoll-Jones taking fifth from Davies.
Two laps later Nicoll-Jones was past Breeze with a decisive move at Paddock Hill, with Davies following through with a robust effort on his TCR team-mate at Druids, though the contact between them ended Davies’ race.
Orton was facing no such challenges though, the second-year driver crossing the line for a three second victory over Watson.
The battle for the final podium place went down to the final lap, with Nicoll-Jones nipping past Boston at Druids to cap off a superb drive through the field.
G50 champion Huyton and Breeze completed the top six ahead of Somerfield, while Alex MacDowall headed the unfortunate Massot behind.
In the G50 class, Louise Richardson led from lights-to-flag once again for her fourth win in her five-race stint in the championship. Will Burns grabbed second from Rob Gaffney, securing him third in the final G50 standings in the process, with Richardson fourth and fifth respectively.
Full race results can be found here: http://tsl-timing.com/toca/2013/134103g50.pdf
