Winstanley and Ruhan win at Oulton

The TVR Sagaris of Danny Winstanley and Porsche 997 GT3 of Andy Ruhan both scored wins in the second round of the GT Cup Championship at Oulton Park as Alex Martin suffered disappointment after threatening to dominate the weekend.

Despite missing pole position for the opening race to the Ferrari 430 of Dave Tomlin, Martin’s Porsche 997 was quickly into the lead and had opened up a big lead with just a couple of laps remaining when his pace suddenly slowed.

Winstanley had, by now, picked his way through the field from sixth place to run second, and when Martin went off on the final lap, the youngster clinched his first win of the season.

Tomlin came home in second place having held off the similar Ferrari 430 GTC of Toby Tarrant-Willis, while Ruhan and Michael Saunders (TVR Cerbera) were within a couple of seconds of the podium places in fourth and fifth at the flag.

Group 2 honours went to the Colin Broster in his Porsche 996 after early leader Tom Andrew slowed in the latter stages of the race with a fuel pressure issue in his Morgan Aero 8. Andrew still held on for second place ahead of the Marcos Mantis of Colin Simpson.

Group 3 was won by Andy Yool who started on the back row in his Chevron GR8 to finish tenth overall. BMW E46s filled the other podium places with Barclay Dougall in second and Adam Hayes third.

With pole man Martin unable to take the grid for the second race after his earlier accident, Tomlin and Ruhan started on the front row and it was championship leader Ruhan who raced into an early lead before a Safety Car was called after Simpson went off.

Ruhan controlled the pack on the restart and began to rebuild his lead while behind Winstanley once again began a charge through the field.

Having started tenth, the TVR driver was up to fourth by the end of lap seventh and then climbed into second place to begin the chase of Ruhan. However, while Winstanley closed in to within 1.467 seconds at the finish, Ruhan was able to cruise home to this third win of the season.

Tarrant-Willis collected his second podium of the day when Michael Saunders spun his TVR Cerbera into the gravel near the end.

Benjamin Harvey finished a fine fifth overall in his KTM Xbow to win Class 2 ahead of Andrew, with the Porsche 996 of Francis Galashan third, while Class three went to the BMW M3 of Mark Radcliffe. Dougal and Hayes again finished in second and third.

GT Cup Championship results - Round 2, Oulton Park

Race 1

Group 1
1 #78 Danny Winstanley TVR Sagaris 15 laps (26:17.749)
2 #66 David Tomlin Ferrari 430 +20.551
3 #28 Toby Tarrant-Willis Ferrari 430 GTC +20.750

Group 2
1 #15 Colin Broster Porsche 996 GT3 15 laps (27:18.992)
2 #7 Tom Andrew Morgan Aero 8 GT +14.476
3 #16 Colin Simpson Marcos Mantis +17.141

Group 3
1 #53 Andy Yool Chevron GR8 15 laps (27:36.133)
2 #37 Barclay Dougall BMW E46 +0.884
3 #9 Adam Hayes BMW E46 M3 +24.080

Race 2

Group 1
1 #6 Andy Ruhan Porsche 997 GT3 13 laps (26:26.739)
2 #78 Danny Winstanley TVR Sagaris +1.467
3 #28 Toby Tarrant-Willis Ferrari 430 GTC +13.284

Group 2
1 #45 Benjamin Harvey KTM X-Bow GT4 13 laps (26:42.515)
2 #7 Tom Andrew Morgan Aero 8 GT +1.172
3 #57 Francis Galashan Porsche 996 GT3 +41.290

Group 3
1 #19 Mark Radcliffe BMW M3 13 laps (27:12.690)
2 #37 Barclay Dougall BMW E46 +12.083
3 #9 Adam Hayes BMW E46 M3 +27.919

Next round: 4-5 June, Brands Hatch GP

Watch GT Cup Championship highlights from Oulton Park on Friday 27 May at 7:25pm (BST) on Motors TV.


Andy Wilkinson

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