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Testing had not gone well in preparation for this event. Bad weather and a series of electrical issues had hampered track time – meaning Mark Havers had not even had a run on slicks to familiarise himself with all of the technical aspects of this complicated new car.

Friday 31st March – Testing

We arrived at Donington for a test day on the Friday before the race weekend. Again, the weather was not on our side and a few electrical issues still remained to be resolved.

The team set about working through these issues (and solving them) as we continued to test on the wet track. All testing is important. We focused on gaining a good wet set-up with Mark and Max offering valuable input from their test sessions.

The afternoon offered little improvement in the weather so the wet tyres were extensively used – with Mark finishing the day on a drying track as the times started to tumble. But still, Mark had not run the car on slick tyres. This was going to be interesting!

A frustrating day but a great wet set-up was achieved and valuable seat time achieved.

The team set about prepping for the race weekend – with a promise of improving weather adding to the excitement.

Saturday 1st April – Race Day 1

The day offered us a 15 minute Free Practice Session, followed by a 15 minute Qualifying Session, a 25 minute Sprint Race and a 50 minute Pit-Stop Race. A busy day with lots of track time – one of the many appealing aspects of the GT Cup Championship. We were competing in the highly competitive GTH class with other GT4 cars including Aston Martin, Mercedes and other McLarens.

The day started with a Driver’s Briefing and Admin work to be completed – during this time the track was drying out. It was going to be a “slicks” day – at last.

Mark completed the Free Practice – his first time on slicks – brand new on a drying track. He rose to the challenge and completed the practice without incident.

Max was next in to complete the Qualifying Session for this afternoon’s Sprint Race. Initially we were quickest and then remained 2nd for most of the session – however, as the track evolved the quickest times were set and we were bumped to 6th. We had hoped for better but happy to be in the thick of the GTH Class grid for the first race.

Changes were made on set-up as Max was not happy with the set-up – this, we think, will be an ongoing season long occurrence so we worked to improve the car for him!

The anticipation built as we approached the start of the Sprint Race. The Team Manager was ensuring he did not miss the pit opening window (those of you who follow us will know what happened in an Endurance Race last year). The team bolted on the hot slicks and Max was sent to form up on the grid. Our first GT Cup race was ready to go.

Race 1 – Sprint Race

The lights went out and Max did what he does best – race!

With a great start Max moved from 6th in class to 2nd in the first lap – chasing down the class leader in the Mercedes. Check out the onboard from that first lap below.

A race long battle ensued with the number 82 Aston Martin with positions aggressively fought for. It is a short race and a short lap so any mistake or issue is immediately punished. Max used all his experience to stay ahead of the Aston while dealing with the fast leaders in their GT3 machinery coming through.

A Safety Car was deployed to deal with an accident at the entrance to the pit lane involving two GT3 cars – allowing the field to bunch up. This brought us closer to the class leader but also bunched up the rest of the class behind us. The last couple of laps were going to be a tense affair.

The safety car pulled in and Max set about trying to catch the leader to defend his 2nd position. The last few laps would make a good movie – as Max did his best to defend against a much stronger car. Track positioning was key to ensure Max had the best line – his attention was more in the mirrors than anywhere else. A sterling effort saw Max come across the line in 2nd place in our debut race – and Max’s reaction in the car certainly indicated just how tough that race was. Well done Max! Silverware for the team.

The result was made even more incredible as, after Parc Fermé had finished, it was found that the Left Rear Wheel Hub had failed a few laps before the end of the race. This leads us to our next challenge!

Race 2 – Pit-Stop Race

The team set to work replacing the damaged components – made more difficult by the heat the failure had caused. Despite our best efforts we were unable to have the car repaired and set-up for Race 2. We missed it by a small margin and the whole team felt the disappointment of missing the race. This is never a good thing. Missing additional seat time and experience for both drivers made the situation worse. However, spirits were not dampened, the car was ready for tomorrow and we get set to go again.