GT Cup Rounds 17-20 Report

"As always, it was a pleasure to be part of the racing team that is Valluga" - Nick Phelps

It was time for rounds 17-20 of the GT Cup Championship with a two car line up this weekend competing in the GTH and GTB categories.

We had our regular line-up of Carl Cavers and Nick Phelps with Nick currently leading the sprint challenge standings it was a matter of pushing on to gain more points.

Saturday's free practice was up first with Nick putting in the work from the get go finishing first in class. Carl finished 12th in class ready to push on throughout the weekend.

After the free practice session, it was qualifying time with Nick keeping up a strong performance to qualify first in class for the remainder of the day.

It was time for race 1 which was the 25 minute sprint race and Nick continued to fight for a podium throughout to finish first in class making him a formidable force out on track.

Later on, it was the 50 minute pitstop race which includes a driver change or penalty pit-stop for single drivers. Carl being paired with pro driver Benji Hetherington meant he would swap over once the pitlane had opened and Nick would serve his penalty due to being a single driver.

Nick finished the pitstop race first in class making it a clean sweep for the first day of racing and the driver duo of Carl and Benji finished the day 7th in class making it a positive end to day one.

Sunday had arrived and both drivers were ready to get back out for another day full of racing.

In free practice Nick was off to a great start finishing first in class and it didn't stop there with the same qualifying result later on that morning. Carl went on to qualify 10th in class.

The first race of the day was underway with Nick and Carl getting good starts setting team Valluga up nicely.

Due to a fault with Nick's car he ended up finishing still in a great podium position of second in class. Carl went on to improve one position finishing ninth in class.

the final race of the weekend had arrived with both drivers competing as teams with this time Nick in a pairing with pro driver Dino Zamparelli.

The race got away to a good start and both drivers were in great positions ready for the driver swap. As time got nearer Carl unfortunately was taken out of the race due to a collision with another car ending his race prematurely receiving a DNF result.

Nick continued on until the pitlaned was opened for the GTB category and swapped over with Dino for his stint of the race bringing Nicks overall weekend to a consistent podium finish for the whole weekend.

After the race we caught up with Nick to get his thoughts on this weekends results,

"it was great to return to Donington for round 6 of the championship as this is where it all started back in April.

Saturday was brilliant with a clean sweep of two wins with us having lapped the other GTB class cars in both the sprint and endurance races.

Sunday came and I got my head down from the off and climbed up as far as 8th place overall however, I had a mechanical issue but still managed to finish second in class.

The amazing team at Valluga diagnosed and repaired the car in good time for race 4 and I was determined for another class win and high pace finish.

I pushed possibly the hardest I have ever driven and decided that Dino should do the second stint.

We had some fantastic races and as always, it was a pleasure to be part of the racing team that is the Valluga Racing Team."