Hall & Moura crowned champions
SuperCars: Marmaduke Hall and Gustavo Moura were crowned champions in Jerez
SuperCars: Marmaduke Hall and Gustavo Mourawere crowned champions in Jerez
The British duo Marmaduke Hall/Edward Moore, in the Ginetta G55 of Tockwith Motorsport, triumphed this Sunday, at the Spanish circuit of Jerez de la Frontera, in the closing race of the SuperCars Endurance Series, in a day when Marmaduke Hall (GT4 PRO) and Gustavo Moura (TCR) celebrated the conquest of the championship titles that were still open since the previous day's race.
"It's incredible this moment I'm living. After having won, in 2019, the GT4 South European Series title, Covid came, which also affected me, and I was stopped for a long time and only this year I started racing again. And this was a fantastic weekend. I'm very happy to have won the championship," said an emotional Tockwith Motorsport driver shortly before stepping onto the podium. Teaming up with Edward Moore, the new champion and his team-mate applied the same 'recipe' on Sunday afternoon that had brought them victory in Saturday's race. With the GT4 PRO class title up for grabs, Marmaduke had no trouble overturning a two-point deficit heading into the final race of the season, as rivals Gonzalo de Andrés and Guillermo Aso in the SMC Motorsport McLaren 570 S never had the pace to trouble the Ginetta G55 duo's winning pace.
The title discussion story in the TCR class was a bit different, as although Gustavo Moura, in the Hyundai Elantra, accompanied by Luís Cidade, had the advantage (14 points) over Daniel Teixeira, in the CUPRA León of the JT59 Racing Team, he didn't perform defensively. He was at the front, lost the TCR lead to the same Teixeira even before the mandatory pit-stop, only to regain it at the end. "Luís Cidade and I did an excellent job and I have to thank him for his performance in the six races that he did with me, and I also have to highlight the commitment and competence of the P&B team. And a big thank you to my sponsors, because without them I wouldn't be champion. It was a beautiful farewell and I even gave the gloves to my son Gonçalo, who will debut next year", said a delighted Gustavo Moura with the TCR title.
At the beginning of the race, Manuel Alves/Rafael Lobato, in the Veloso Motorsport CUPRA TCR, tried, as they had done successfully the day before, to impose order in the TCR class, but not everything worked out for the best. "In the second half of the race I tried to recover from the disadvantage to the Hyundai, but after the 'touch' we suffered from his car right at the start, our car got misaligned and the left rear tyre wore out prematurely, which conditioned our race", said, at the end, Rafael Lobato, who still managed to finish in front of Daniel Teixeira, the other candidate to the title.
"Yesterday, after Luís Cidade's touch, when he overtook me, and in a normal race situation, I mentioned that the CUPRA was out of alignment, damaging my performance. And only later we found out that, after all, the rear stabilizer bar was broken. Today, in the first corner, I took another 'touch' and went to the gravel, almost finishing last. I managed to recover, but during the pit-stop I lost two places, to Lobato and Cidade, and then I couldn't reverse the situation. Congratulations to Gustavo for the title achievement", said Daniel Teixeira.