Pepe Massot took his second win of the 2013 Michelin Ginetta GT Supercup season during an action-packed Round Six at Donington Park.
The reverse grid element to the final race put Massot on pole for the encounter, with the weekend’s double winner so far Carl Breeze set to line-up down in sixth, however the reigning champion was unable to take his place on the grid after a driveshaft failure on the green flag lap.
Having no such drama was Massot and a great start for the Hillspeed driver saw him lead into Redgate for the first time, while behind, a slow getaway for fellow front-row starter Jamie Orton bunched the field up behind, with Rob Boston and Tom Ingram both getting forced onto the grass as they squeezed around the first corner.
Orton emerged in second ahead of Matt Nicoll-Jones, but a mistake at the Old Hairpin a lap later for the second placed man saw him run wide across the grass, the Total Control Racing driver managing to safely return to the track down in eleventh.
Orton’s error promoted Boston to third, while behind, a fiercely fought battle emerged for fourth, with James Birch leading a long train of cars. Birch’s mirrors were soon filled with the image of Ingram’s car, the KX Akademy star fighting back after losing ground to Birch and Andrew Watson early on.
As the front three ran closely ahead, Birch managed to hold off the advances of Ingram until lap ten, when the JHR Developments driver worked his way past coming out of Redgate and down the Craner Curves.
Lapping over half a second a lap quicker than his rivals, Ingram was soon right on the tail of the leaders, passing Boston coming out of the final chicane on lap twelve. As he went on to pressure Nicoll-Jones, Massot was able to edge clear, crossing the line for victory to continue his impressive start to only his second season of car racing.
Nicoll-Jones managed to fend off Ingram until the final lap, the former G50 champion squeezing past down the Craner Curves to take second, ensuring he finishes the weekend as the championship leader.
Third secured Nicoll-Jones his fifth podium in the opening races, with Boston completing a great weekend with his third top four finish. Birch took his best result of the season so far with fifth ahead of Carl Boardley, the former Hot Rod world champion enjoying his strongest performance of the season so far.
Orton took seventh ahead of G55 newcomer Reece Somerfield, with series returnee Colin White and Marcus Hoggarth completing the top ten. Sean Huyton completed a hat-trick of G50 class wins in eleventh overall, the Academy Motorsport driver having a comfortable run to the win, with Dan Norris-Jones finishing second in class a lap down, their class rival for the weekend Mike Simpson missing the final race.
Joining Breeze on the retirement list were Fergus Walkinshaw, Mark Davies and Watson. Walkinshaw and Davies separately span into the McLeans gravel trap during the race, while Watson’s weekend to forget ended with a frustrating retirement, adding to his broken driveshaft in qualifying and fire in race one.
Provisional Ginetta GT Supercup Championship Standings (After Rd.6):
- Tom Ingram – 166pts
- Matt Nicoll-Jones – 151pts
- Pepe Massot – 144pts
- Rob Boston – 126pts
- Carl Breeze – 124pts
- Jamie Orton – 101pts
- Mark Davies – 94pts
- James Birch – 88pts
Provisional Ginetta GT Supercup ‘G50’ Class Championship Standings (After Rd.6):
- Sean Huyton – 200pts
- Dan Norris-Jones – 146pts
- Reece Somerfield – 100pts
- Simon Green – 48pts
