The first round of the GT Cup saw a class field of 33 GT cars assembled at Silverstone, including 7 Class 1 GT3s. With so many cars on the National circuit qualifying was always going to be a lottery. A good call by the team lead to the Viper joining the track in space for three clear laps. By lap 3 Mike Gardiner had the tyres at their best and set a lap of 57.390 seconds. As other teams looked to respond and improve on their times oil and safety flags intervened. Mike's third lap would stand as the pole mark for the first race.

The first race saw Mike use his experience to get away cleanly and lead into the first corner with the Lamborghini Galardo and Porsche 997 GT3S of Paul Hogarth and Mike Donovan respectively in close attendance. Mike kept a consistent pace with the wide track suiting the Viper, this lead to the Gallardo and Porsche slowly dropping back. Once lapped traffic was encountered Mike's years of experience told, with the Viper lap times remaining more consistent through the battling cars of other classes. This lead to an emphatic first victory of the season for the team and the first with the Viper after 3 years of trying.

Race 2 started with Mike also on pole and the Gallardo missing due to suspension problems. At the start the Porsche of Michael Donovan used the Porsche's ability to lap down power effectively to narrowly lead into the first corner. By the end of lap 1 Mike had reversed the situation and lead the Porsche narrowly followed by the Corvette of Mitch Millett. Mike slowly eked out a lead through traffic and a second victory looked likely even with the 60KG of success ballast on board. Unfortunately a minor oil leak started to spread to the windscreen reducing Mike's visibility. The Porsche rapidly caight up, having never been that far adrift and with braking points becoming difficult to find slipped passed. The Corvette followed a lap later, but fortunately on the last lap Mike held off the rapidly approaching Aston DBRS9 of Paul Whight to the line.

All photos by Mick Herring