Andrew Watson continued his dominance of the opening weekend of the 2014 Michelin Ginetta GT4 Supercup with his first Supercup victory in Round One at Brands Hatch.
Watson had previously topped the timesheets in pre-event testing and qualifying, and while he lost the lead early on to Pepe Massot, a black flag for the erstwhile race leader gave Watson a deserved victory.
Massot started the fifteen lap encounter alongside Watson on the front row. The Spaniard burst into the lead as the lights went out, but his lightning getaway was deemed a jump start, earning him a drive through penalty.
Watson had slotted into second behind, with Jamie Orton quickly working his way into third ahead of Carl Boardley and Charlie Robertson, while making some quick early progress was Carl Breeze, the 2012 Supercup champion working his way from tenth into sixth on lap one.
Despite receiving warnings for his drive-through penalty, Massot continued to lead away at the front, and after failing to take his penalty in time, the JHR Developments racer was awarded a black flag.
Massot eventually pulled into the pits and out of the race at the end of lap thirteen, but not before Watson had dived past for the lead earlier in the lap at Paddock Hill.
The Irishman, who had been challenged a couple of times by Orton during early proceedings, had a comfortable run to the line for victory, with Orton, who won the final race of 2013 at the Kent circuit, took a sixth career Supercup podium with second.
Behind, Boardley’s stint at the front-end came to an end on lap five, with the JHR man forced to slow down and retire with a mechanical problem.
This promoted Robertson into third, with the 2012 Ginetta Junior champion taking a comfortable podium finish on his Supercup debut. Breeze was five seconds further back in fourth, the United Autosports racer just fending off the reigning Junior champion Harry Woodhead.
Woodhead had been embroiled in a close fight with Tom Oliphant and David Pittard, who finished sixth and seventh respectively, while Josh Wakefield, Reece Somerfield and Luke Davenport completing the top ten.
Sean Huyton was eleventh meanwhile, compounding a frustrating day for Academy Motorsport, with his team-mate Will Burns having to retire early on after running through the gravel at Clearways. James Owen completed the finishers in twelfth.
Full race results can be found here: http://tsl-timing.com/toca/2014/141303g50.pdf