UIM GT30 World Championship

In the race to become the 2018 UIM GT30 World Champion Britain’s Thomas Mantripp holds the top spot on the over-night leader board but has four hard charging Estonians breathing down the back of his neck.

Having dominated the morning qualifying session Stefan Arand looked almost unstoppable and quickly showed the other racers that he wasn’t planning on relinquishing his world title just yet when he won the first heat by over twenty seconds.

Mantripp knew that coming home in second place to a driver of Arand’s calibre was acceptable, especially given the amount of time that the Estonian racer spends testing his craft.

UIM GT30 World Championship – Heat 1 Results

1st) Stefan Arand EST
2nd) Thomas Mantripp GBR 0:23:41
3rd) Aivar Kommisaar EST 0:30:44
4th) Karol Soodla EST 0:37:06
5th) Viktoria Soodla EST 0:38:22
6th) Jack Pickles GBR 0:53:27
7th) Elliot Fleet GBR L1
8th) Astra London GBR L1
9th) Tony Judge GBR L3

So, as the GT30 racers lined up for the second heat the British racer knew that his battle would be with those behind him:

I knew that if I went after Arand and challenged him for the race lead it would leave me vulnerable from those behind, so I decided to drive defensively and also make sure I didn’t make any mistakes with the backmarkers.

Arand though did make a mistake when on lap six he misjudged turn three and went inside the buoy earning him a one lap penalty and dropping him down to sixth place in the results.

The young Estonian racer was inconsolable because although he can drop one heat from the final scores, he knows that starting from the middle of the jetty will hinder his chances of taking another heat win.

The advantage now lies with Mantripp who will relish the opportunity of getting to the first turn from pole position:

Hopefully it will get rough and make Arand life hard.
Yes, I know he’s the world champion but lets just see how good he is at overtaking.

UIM GT30 World Championship – Heat 2 Results

1st) Thomas Mantripp GBR
2nd) Karol Soodla EST 0:05:11
3rd) Viktoria Soodla EST 0:09:70
4th) Aivar Kommisaar EST 0:13:02
5th) Jack Pickles GBR 0:25:95
6th) Stefan Arand EST L1
7th) Astra London GBR L1
8th) Kimi Eskelinen FIN L1
9th) Tony Judge GBR L2

Racing starts again on Sunday morning with the third heat of the GT30 World Championship at 11:15.

Prize giving for all classes will then follow at 17:45.