Cheshire’s 2.69mile track, Oulton Park, was fairly new to David Holloway when he arrived there for rounds 12 and 13 of the GT Cup Championship with his teammate Piers Johnson. Nevertheless he gained some great experience with a few lengthy battles and came away with a pair of third place trophies.
The format of these two rounds is slightly different to the other rounds as all of the action takes place on Saturday as opposed to it being spread across the two days.
Qualifying got underway on a very warm Saturday morning, with Holloway and Johnson posting the second quickest time (GTH class), just under half a second slower than the top spot.
The first race was a sprint race; just 15 laps to give it all you can to get the best result possible. The race commenced just before 13:00 with Holloway at the wheel in the sweltering heat. Unable to catch up with the race leader who was over ten seconds ahead, Holloway remained in a solid second position, right up until the sixth lap, where his competitor behind him had closed the gap and was only one third of a second behind the number 15 Ginetta. This was when the real battle started as both drivers were fighting for the title of second place. The number 22 car found an opportunity to make a pass on lap 10 and despite Holloway’s best efforts across the final few laps; it wasn’t enough to reclaim the second place spot.
The second and final race of the day was a pit-stop race, lasting 50 minutes. Holloway went out for the first stint and by lap 5, he had closed the gap between him and the number 22 car ahead, with a gap of just over half a second between them. By lap 6, Holloway was promoted to second place due to the race leader falling behind. He was now on a mission to take the lead. During lap 14, Holloway dived into the pits and handed the car over to Johnson to complete the remainder of the race. During his second lap, a minor detour caused Johnson to fall far behind his competitors. He showed good driving skills and an improvement in his pace during the rest of the race however it was not enough to catch up with the second place car and Johnson had to settle with third place at the chequered flag.
The next round of GT Cup will be held at Snetterton for the second time this season on 11th – 12th August, where Phil Ingram will be joining Holloway.
Holloway:
“Great weekend at an epic track, considering my experience there I was happy with my pace and enjoyed the racing. Results weren’t what he had hoped for but learnt a lot ready for next assault on this epic racetrack. Team century were world class as always, thanks lads. We move to Snetterton determined and positive.”
Nathan Freke, Owner of Century Motorsport:
“The results definitely don’t show the pace we had this weekend. Once again David has upped his pace and is closing the gap to the guys at the front. Piers did a great job in qualifying and it was just a shame about the race, but these things happen when we are pushing things to the limit in pursuit of a win. We are now looking forward to Snetterton where hopefully we can get back to the top step of the podium.”