Greystone GT scored another GT Cup podium finish at Donington Park to ensure that Phillip Carter and Michael Broadhurst will go to the final round of the series as contenders for the GTH title.
The result for the Silverstone team, which was the eighth top-three finish for the #14 McLaren 570S GT4, was the highlight a weekend in which a number of unfortunate incidents caused Phillip and Michael valuable points.
York-based racer Phillip arrived at Donington off the back of a maiden race win at Silverstone last time out and he backed that up with fourth place in Saturday morning’s qualifying session at the East Midlands track.
An outstanding start brought him alongside the class leader by the opening corner, but he slipped to third after being forced wide at the entry to the sweeping downhill Craner Curves and finished there too.
He then ran a strong third through the first half of the evening’s Pitstop Race but was denied a shot at victory when the safety car was dispatched while the overall leader was midway through lapping the GTH cars.
That gave the GTH leader almost a full lap’s advantage over the chasing pack and restricted Michael – once aboard – to fighting for second.
Even that looked unlikely as a result of the extra 40 seconds he was forced to spend stationary; 15 of which were a success penalty for finishing second at Silverstone and the rest of which owe to Northampton-based Michael’s status as a professional driver.
Seventh when he resumed, Michael climbed back to fifth by the chequered flag, a result that lifted he and Phillip – for 24 hours – into second spot in the standings; the highest the duo had ever sat in the GT Cup.
Sunday was altogether more challenging; Phillip again qualifying fourth and running there throughout most of the Sprint Race.
Unfortunately damage sustained in a multi-car incident at the Melbourne hairpin eliminated him late on and a persistent misfire caused several pitstops during a wet final race, meaning he and Michael did not complete enough laps to be classified as finishers.
Despite this, the duo maintain third in the Drivers’ points, meaning they head to the Snetterton season finale still with a chance of claiming the GTH crown.
Mark McLoughlin, Team Principal, said: “Naturally I’m very pleased that, for the first time, we’ll go to the final round of the GT Cup with a car in contention for the title. Phillip’s grown in confidence after scoring his first win at Silverstone, but conditions didn’t quite go our way this weekend as the performance of the McLaren was strong, but not quite on a par with some of the other GTH models. The situation with the points means we go to Snetterton with absolutely nothing to lose so we’ll simply give it everything and hope for the best.”
