Going into the second round of GT4 SuperCup at Donington Park, Century Motorsport were feeling confident and excited after having a successful season opener. Despite challenging weather conditions, the team still managed to take home three trophies from the Leicestershire based circuit to add to their collection.
Going into a very wet qualifying session on Saturday, Angus Fender qualified in a superb second position (Pro class), just under half a second away from taking pole. Andrew Gordon-Colebrooke qualified in seventh position (Pro class), improving from his eighth at Brands Hatch and Michael Crees impressed and qualified in first position (Am class).
Race 1 got underway later that afternoon in slightly damper conditions than the earlier qualifying session. Fender lost one position in the first lap leaving him in third position. He fought hard to get his second place back but remained in third position where he finished the race, achieving his first ever podium finish in car racing. Gordon-Colebrooke did not finish the race sadly due to an excursion into the gravel after nine laps. Crees topped the board taking Am class victory and after leading the race throughout, he also achieved Fastest Lap (Am class).
Sunday morning just after 10:40, Race 2 got underway on a dry track. After starting from an impressive third on the grid, a small mistake caused Fender to come off the track and resulted in him having to retire from the race after having completed ten laps. Meanwhile Crees had been fighting a close battle with his competitor for Am class lead after it was taken from him in the third lap. By lap 8 after some excellent driving, Crees had claimed the lead back. Following Fender’s mishap, the safety car was deployed for two laps and it was on the restart that Crees lost gear selection in the number 77 car, dropping him right down the field, eventually forcing him into race retirement on the final lap. Despite not finishing the race, Crees’ efforts saw him set the Fastest Lap (Am class) for the race. After getting stuck behind traffic, Gordon-Colebrooke finished the race in what would have been eighth position however he was given a five second time penalty for exceeding track limits, dropping his position down to ninth (Pro class).
Sunday afternoon just after 16:30, race 3 began. Fender started from row 6 and he managed to gain three positions by the end of the third lap however 12 laps in, another small mistake caused Fender to come off the track, sadly resulting in another DNF. Gordon-Colebrooke showed some good pace, finishing in seventh place again, after starting from row 5. Crees started the race from dead last and managed to battle his way through the traffic with some incredible overtaking moves to get right upfront and he crossed the finish line in an astonishing second place with only 0.163 seconds between him and the race winner. During Crees’ fight to the front of the pack, he managed to also achieve Fastest Lap (Am class) again.
All three drivers had some bad luck this time around however all three drivers also made significant improvements from the previous round. The team still had a very successful weekend, with the achievement of three fastest laps and three trophies. The next round will be held at Oulton Park on 9th – 10th June.
Fender:
“Overall, there are a lot of positives to be taken from Donington. A stellar Saturday saw me second in qualifying for the second time this year and getting third position in race 1 topped things off – it was the highlight of the weekend.
Unfortunately though, Sunday wouldn’t go to plan with two very small mistakes yielding an unfair amount of damage to my car and forcing me to have to retire from both race 2 and 3. However I got stuck in and I had some fun in the process and I can’t wait for the next round at Oulton Park!”
Gordon-Colebrooke:
“Donington was a mixed weekend where I initially struggled for pace in both practice and qualifying. Race 1 was going well until a mistake at Coppice led to me
getting beached on the gravel and posting a DNF, which was hugely frustrating.
Race 2 was equally frustrating but for different reasons, a mistake on lap 2 left me stuck behind slower traffic for the majority of the race. Race 3 though was the best I drove all weekend, I was much closer to the overall pace, which I was very happy with and left me leaving the circuit on a high.
Huge thanks must once again go to all the guys at Century Motorsport who, as always, were fantastic and didn’t put a foot wrong all weekend.”
Crees:
“It’s been an incredible weekend – fastest in practice and qualifying, two podium finishes including a win and the fastest lap in all three races, which all in all is a pretty great weekend considering it’s only the second meeting in the championship.
Unfortunately it didn’t all go to plan with the retirement in race two, especially when we were on course for another win, but that’s motorsport and these unpredictable incidents can always happen so I can’t complain that much at all.
I am looking forward to the next round at Oulton Park in June with the focus firmly on getting some more silverware!”
Nathan Freke, Owner of Century Motorsport:
“Quite the up and down weekend for us! Starting with Michael, he really is getting to grips with the G55 so well, and showed some great racecraft this weekend. Race 2 was a real shame to have a mechanical issue, especially when it is something so simple as a small electrical cable, but what that did was provide us with a really entertaining drive from Michael in the 3rd race!
Angus once again excelled in qualifying, and it was quite a special moment to see him claim his first podium in his car-racing career. The 2 races on Sunday were ones to forget unfortunately, a couple of small errors ended in major damage, which was a real shame as he had some great dry pace.
Andrew had a fairly trouble free weekend apart from one small error in the wet race on Saturday. He is improving all the time, and is hungry to achieve better results, and I don’t believe it’ll be long before they come.”