Donington double for FF Corse at GT Cup opener

FF Corse kicked off the GT Cup season with a magnificent double win and eight podium finishes at Donington Park.
 
Laki Christoforou and Adam Carroll won the GTC class in both of the weekend’s 50-minute endurance races while Laki added a pair of solo second-place finishes in the shorter sprint events in a Ferrari 488 Challenge.
 
A dramatic conclusion to Sunday’s pitstop race was the highlight of the weekend.
 
Laki started second and held his position throughout the opening stint, but with a 20-second success penalty applied to his car after its Saturday victory, Adam emerged from the mandatory driver change 21 seconds off the lead with half the race to go.
 
The former IndyCar and Formula E racer’s relentless charged paid off as he set the fastest lap and snatched the top spot with four minutes left to complete the double victory; one that put the pair second in the GTC points table for the Silverstone-based team.
 
Graham de Zille, making his racing comeback after a 26-year layoff, claimed a perfect sweep of third-place finishes; often battling with cars from faster categories.
 
With son Dan, his full-season co-driver, unavailable to race, 2015 Le Mans 24 Hours LMP2 winner Matt Howson was drafted in at short notice to share the 458 Challenge car in the pitstop races; with four visits to the podium the result.

Richard Guy began the weekend in the GTO category in his Ferrari 458 GT3; qualifying seventh and advancing to sixth in Saturday’s sprint, but an engine issue stopped him before the end of the pitstop race and left him classified eighth.

He switched to a GTC-class 488 Challenge for Sunday and finished fourth in both races.
 
The next round of the GT Cup takes place at Snetterton, Norfolk, on May 11-12.
 
Laki Christoforou said: “It’s been a pretty perfect weekend. Two wins, two seconds and the car didn’t miss a beat all weekend. Although I have a lot of experience in historic racing, I’d never raced a modern car before last year and I’m still learning the style of driving more aggressively, but together with Adam, I think we made a very strong team. My laptimes were getting faster as the weekend progressed and I definitely felt the most comfortable by the last race. It’s a great way to start the season and lay the foundations for a championship challenge.”
 
Adam Carroll said: “It’s always good to get a couple of wins under your belt to start the season and this weekend we definitely had a strong package to help us achieve this. The second enduro was tough because of the success time we had to spend in the pits after winning on Saturday, and that meant I had to really knuckle down to catch the Lamborghini ahead of me, but we did it and it’s a fantastic start to the season. Laki did a great job and you could see how much more comfortable and confident he was by the end of Sunday. I think we can have a very good season.”
 
Graham de Zille said: “I really couldn’t have asked for more. This was my first race since 1993, so to come home with four podiums makes me very happy. Unfortunately Dan [de Zille] wasn’t available this weekend to share the car with me so we had to call Matt in at short notice, but together we worked well as a pair. Neither of us had raced this car before so we had to play with the set-up to get it how we wanted it and by the end I was able to get my laptimes down to somewhere around 1.5 seconds off him, which I’m more than happy with. I can’t wait for the next event now.”
 
Matt Howson said: “It’s been nice to race a Ferrari for the first time as it’s one of those cars you always want to race when you’re a kid, and brilliant to have the chance to race with Graham. I’ve known him for almost 10 years, having coached his son, Dan, and when it became clear Dan couldn’t race this weekend, I was happy to step in. FF Corse provide an extremely professional environment for a driver like Graham and together we worked to bring his laptimes down to about 1.5 seconds off mine, which was half what it had been on Saturday morning. To end up with two trophies for myself and four for Graham was absolutely a case of mission accomplished.”
 
Richard Guy said: “The weekend’s been absolutely fantastic, and FF Corse have been wonderful, as usual. I’d never raced the GT3 before, so I was hugely looking forward to getting to grips with it, and I definitely felt more comfortable as Saturday went on. Unfortunately we had a technical issue, so I switched to the 488 for Sunday and I certainly felt more comfortable with it because I’d had previous experience last year, and I was pretty happy with my laptimes in the longer race. I’m certainly planning some more rounds with the GT3 for the remainder of the year.”
 
Tim Mullen, Sporting Manager, said: “I’m delighted with the way we’ve started the season. Two wins, eight podiums and not a scratch on any of the cars from four races is a terrific return for the drivers and team, who have all worked so hard over the winter across our various race programmes. Seeing the way Laki, Graham and Richard really grew in confidence over the weekend was brilliant and is exactly what we aim to do by bringing in professional drivers like Adam and Matt. You could see how the laptimes improved for everyone that they’re going to give it their all this year. Unfortunately Richard had a technical issue with the GT3, but the guys were quick on the case, went back to HQ to get his Challenge car and he finished fourth in both races on Sunday. A great effort from everyone.”