Great results for TF Sport in GT Cup
Sunday, April 26, 2015
Having competed admirably in the British GT Championship last year Horsepower Racing's Paul Bailey and co driver Andy Schulz have this year taken their Aston Martin V12 Vantage GT3 into the GTO class of the 2015 GT Cup Championship which held their first three rounds at Donington Park this weekend.
With their car being again prepared by Tom Ferrier's TF Sport team the #28 turned up in a similar livery to that used by TF Sport's Andrew Jarman and Jody Fannin in the British GT Championship as the car is leased to those from Paul Bailey's HPR organisation.
Obviously, their experience of the British GT and Dutch Supercar series paid dividends all weekend being at up at or about the top all weekend long in the 32 car entry including cars with more experienced driving talent. Having been caught up in traffic in qualifying the duo were kept down to 9th for the first race but had climbed up to 3rd by the second lap.
By the time the pit stops had finished and a safety car had been withdrawn Shulz was at the front with a lead of over 27 seconds that he was to maintain till the chequered flag. First win in the bag.
For race 2 on Sunday the duo were to qualify a lot better in second place with the race also having a safety car intervention period. Despite this Race 2 took a similar guise to the one from yesterday with Bailey bringing his car home in P1 for the second time in the weekend but with a winning margin of just 3.13seconds this time over the chasing FF Corse Ferrari in second.
In the last GT Cup race of the weekend the HPR Vantage qualified in P3 but this time 'only' managed a P2 finish behind the JMH Ferrari of Aaron Scott. All in all two P1 finishes with a P2 isn't a bad start to their GT Cup Championship.
The TF Sport GT Cup sister car to the HPR V12 Vantage GT3 was series returnee Martin Johnston in the teams V8 Vantage GTA (GT4) #77 car. Being a single driver and new to the characteristics of an Aston Martin this weekend was to be very much of a learning curve for him. Finishing P19 in the longer race on Saturday was a very respectable effort, showing some good consistency in lap times.
Further finishes in P17 and P20 for races 2 and 3 respectively completed a very good weekend for Johnston with plenty of competitive mileage now under his belt since that early test at a very wet Snetterton circuit back in February.
The teams now prepare themselves for rounds 4,5 and 6 at Brands Hatch on the second weekend in May.
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