Giltrap demonstrated great aggression and race craft in the closely fought battle for the podium positions.
Driving the Giltrap Group motorsport Porsche 991 Cup car Marco Giltrap was on a mission at the open round of the Golden Homes New Zealand GT Championship. Among many experienced and capable veteran drivers, the young Giltrap showed a new level of maturity and aggression in his driving to secure a P2 for the round.
Right out of the gate Giltrap stormed the field during Race 1’s rolling start to take a commanding lead on the challenging Highlands circuit. The race was fraught with incidents as tyres struggled with load in the baking temperatures but Giltrap maintained strong track speed and defended valiantly against a charging Jono Lester, before ultimately conceding the win to seasoned international GT driver.
Another flying start by Marco saw the field chasing him early with veteran Porsche dealer/racer Rick Armstrong applying pressure on Giltrap from the get go. Giltrap was one of the earlier drivers to pitstop and sacrificed some track position but remained on the pace throughout. With just 20 minutes left another car industry veteran, Wane Leach, narrowly avoided the wall in a spectactular spin in his Ferrari and forcing a safety car. This turned up the heat and pressure for all, but Giltrap got away well from the restart fighting with Armstrong for the remainder of the race. Both drivers showing excellent awareness and respect for each other in an exciting display from the Porsches.
Armstrong and Giltrap pushing each other forward throughout the field, Armstrong made a spectacular three-wide overtake stick to make two positions entering the bridge but with just minutes to go and Giltrap pounced, claiming third from Armstrong and finishing P2 for the round.
In the very strong field of drivers and machinery, Giltrap demonstrated moments of brilliance, executing some bold overtakes and defending well. We’ll be looking forward to round 2 at Hampton Downs on the 3rd-5th February.
