Tomlin and Witt share GT Cup wins at Brands

The GT Cup Championship’s visit to Brands Hatch’s Indy circuit provided plenty of action, as one wet and one dry race shook up the order.

David Tomlin netted his maiden GT Cup victory in race one, leading from lights to flag aboard the #66 Ferrari 430. Championship leader Andy Ruhan (#6 Porsche 997 GT3) came home second, though he was pushed hard all the way to the finish by the #30 997 of Simon Blankley.

Poleman Peter Bramford's hopes of victory slipped away during the opening lap, as a poor getaway and a subsequent spin at Paddock Hill Bend dropped him to the rear of the pack. The Ferrari 430 GTC driver would not recover from this early setback.

Paul Cope ended the race fourth overall in the Venturi to take Group 2 honours with Francis Galashan runner-up. The battle for Group 3 went down to the final lap, with Russell Foster holding off Mark Radcliffe to take the win by 1.7s. Adam Hayes completed the podium in third.

Heavy rain hit the circuit before the second race of the day, and after his probelms in the opening run Bamford - who was again starting from pole - took it easy on the dash to the first corner, allowing Tomlin to once again surge past.

But getting an even better launch was Jordan Witt, who after battling the two Ferraris assumed the lead around the outside of Druids. The Cevron was working perfectly in the wet conditions, and eventually carved out an advantage in excess of ten seconds to claim the victory.

Joining him on the podium were Ruhan and Tomlin. The race one victor did his all to try and overhaul the points leader but the 60kg of success ballast aboard his Ferrari made the task extremely difficult. Meanwhile poleman Bamford enjoyed a better result than in race one - albeit not the one he'd hoped for - coming home in P4.

Cope crossed the line in sixth to take his second Group 2 win of the day with Galashan was just 2.5s behind, again second in Group 2 and eighth overall. In between the two was the Group 3-winning BMW of Radcliffe.

Ruhan continues to lead the championship, now holding a 22-point advantage over Tomlin as the series travels to its next round at Donington Park (August 13-14).
 
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James Weeks