British Ginetta G55 duo Marmaduke Hall/Edward Moore won the first race of the closing round of the SuperCars Endurance Series on Saturday afternoon at Jerez de la Frontera, with the first of those drivers seeing his bid for the GT4 PRO class title strengthened, the decision of which, as with the TCR class, is reserved for the second race on Sunday morning.
“I’m immensely happy and I just have to thank the team for providing us with the conditions to take the win,” said Edward Moore, after completing the shift started by his colleague Marmaduke Hall and taking the Tockwith Motorsport Ginetta to absolute triumph, after overtaking the CUPRA TCR of the duo Rafael Lobato/Manuel Alves, winners of the TCR class, on the last lap of the 45-minute race.
“I tried to give the car to Manuel Alves with the biggest advantage possible and everything went well, at TCR level, it was only a pity we couldn’t win the overall, but GT4s like the Ginetta have an added advantage, which is the possibility of a better tyre management. As a matter of fact, he only passed us when there was one lap to the chequered flag…”, said Lobato and Alves, who led from the start in absolute terms, absolutely dominating the TCR class. The duo Gustavo Moura/Luís Cidade, in the Hyundai Elantra, focused on the race of Daniel Teixeira, Moura’s rival in the title discussion, and fulfilled their goal, as they finished the race ahead of the CUPRA León driver. “It wasn’t the result I was aiming for. When Luís [Cidade] overtook me I inadvertently gave him a slight ‘touch’ and my car was out of alignment. But, apart from that, my opponents were better today. Races are like that…”, said Daniel Teixeira, who climbed the podium in his class and saw Moura increase his advantage in the championship to 14 points. The latter had only reasons to be satisfied: “It was a pity that Luís Cidade was a little late in overtaking Teixeira, but this kind of situations is also part of the game. The important thing, and we did it, was to finish the race and not make mistakes. Now, tomorrow, in the second race, we have to follow the same strategy.
With the maximum score corresponding to the GT4 PRO class victory, and without any opposition from the McLaren 570S that, in the second half of the race, with Gonzalo de Andrés at the wheel, had steering problems and “dragged” until the end, Marmaduke Hall will start Sunday’s race with a 2 points disadvantage against the Spanish double of the British car from SMC Motorsport.
Meanwhile, the Lithuanian-born Spaniard Andrius Zemaitis, in the Porsche 981 Cayman MR, confirmed the GT4 Bronze class title, and for that he didn’t even need to be ahead of Piero dal Maso/José Carvalhosa, in the Porsche 981 Cayman MR of Garagem João Gomes.
Jemma Moore, who had already secured the GTC class title in the previous round at Estoril, and was now paired again with Aubrey Hall, had an afternoon to forget as the engine of the Tockwith Motorsport Ginetta G50 kept failing shortly after the start.
Race 1
1st, Marmaduke Hall/Edward Moore, Tockwith Motorsport, Ginetta G55, 46m43.521s
2nd, Rafael Lobato/Manuel Alves, Veloso Motorsport, CUPRA TCR, 3’253s
3rd, Luís Cidade/Gustavo Moura, P&B Racing, Hyundai Elantra N TCR, 14.075s
4th, Daniel Teixeira, JT59 Racing Team, CUPRA León TCR, 40.808
5º, Pedro Silva/Jorge Silva, Veloso Motorsport, Audi RS3 LMS TCR, 1.01.742
6th, Andrius Zemaitis, Pro-GT, Porsche 981 Cayman MR, 1 lap
7th, Guillermo Aso/Gonzalo de Andrés, SMC Motorsport, McLaren 750S GT4, 1 lap
8th, Aubrey Hall/Jemma Moore, Tockwith Motorsport, Ginetta G50, 1 lap
9th, Piero dal Maso/José Carvalhosa, GJG, Porsche 981 Cayman MR, 1 lap
JEREZ DE LA FRONTERA PROGRAMME
Sunday (November 7th)
12:55/13:40 – Race 2
