Danny Gower claimed a clean sweep during the opening round of this year’s TORA British GT Winter Series at Brands Hatch on Sunday after twice emerging on top of the 50-car, three-lobby scrap in the new Forza Motorsport-based championship.
Gower maintained his form from TORA’s regular Project CARS British GT Championship by claiming pole position in the LimitlessRacingTeam McLaren, which featured a suitably apt 'Super Sonic' character on the bonnet. He was nearly 0.2s clear of TORA newcomer Matt Marshal’s Alien Motorsport 12C GT3, while the first non-McLaren on the grid - a Viper run by real-world British GT team Lanan Racing - started fourth in the hands of Kaido Allstars’ James Brown.
In GT4, the McLaren show of force continued with the new-for-2016 570S model taking first and second spots on the grid in the hands of LMR’s drivers, eSports+CARS ace David Hoch leading the way from team-mate Josh Sampoll.
Back at the front there was no stopping Gower whose lights-to-flag masterclass helped him to comfortably claim race one’s spoils. With the warring Alien McLarens behind, Gower quickly built up a significant lead that he would never look like losing.
Marshal won the substantial tussle for the remaining podium spots to finish second on his TORA British GT debut ahead of a jubilant Brown in the first of Lanan's Vipers.
Gower once again led from the front in race two en route to his second win of the day. Second on this occasion was the recovering Bentley of Tyler Jones who had fought past the two Alien McLarens and Lanan Viper, while third place went to Gower’s team-mate Gavin Chinery to end a strong opening weekend for the LimitlessRacingTeam.
Production GT Champion Scott McCrakken also showed promise by bringing his HCR Ecosse-entered Lamborghini home fourth.
McLaren was also the dominant force in GT4 thanks to Hoch and Sampoll in the striking orange, white and black 570Ss. The pair finished one-two in both races despite the best efforts of Adam Watson who fought hard to stay in touch aboard his Generation AMR-backed Aston Martin V8 Vantage during the opener. Meanwhile, Ricardo Corroneo’s Wolf Racing Lotus Evora claimed the final step on the class podium during race two.
TORA’s Winter Series, which features real-life British GT branding, liveries and teams, now moves on to Silverstone for the second of three race weekends on November 13.