On a cloudy dry morning at Snetterton the Moore Racing prepared Dodge Competition Coupe driven by Mike Gardiner secured pole position for the GT Cup double header. A strong field of 28 GT and saloon cars followed Mike home at a track where he is rarely beaten. Of particular note the progress of the the Corvette C5R of Mitch Millett, that car having recently been upgraded with an LS7 engine held a solid second on the grid ahead of the Whight family Aston Martin DBRS9.

In the first race Mike made his customary quick start from the front, using his years of experience to build a near two second lead on the first lap. From there relentless pace and consistent lap times steadily increased the margin. At the flag after 22 laps the lead had been extended to 36 seconds, with the Aston leading home the Corvette and a gaggle of Ferrari 430 GT3 and Challenge cars.

The near identical Sunday morning warm up times, both below Saturday's pole, of the Moore Racing Viper and Xero Competition C5R warned of a more concerted effort from the Yellow corvette in the second race. Mike maintained the lead at the rolling start, but unlike the first race the Corvette shadowed the Viper for the first 5 laps, with the lead never exceeding 2 seconds. On lap 5 the Corvette slipped past into the lead. The #51 car was then able to slowly edge out a small lead of three seconds, with Mike working hard to maintain the Vipers pace. The relentless pace of the Viper and Corvette saw them well clear of the field when on lap 11 an engine problem for Mitch Millett sigelined the Chevrolet. With the Whight Aston also sidelined by a tyre failure this left the way clear for Mike to finish comfortably 44 seconds ahead of the BMW GTR of Peter Seldon.

All photos by Mick Herring