Rockingham hosted the third round of the 2017 AMOC Intermarque Championship last weekend in a combined race with the Aston Martin GT Challenge. Gavan Kershaw took the overall race honours in the Stratton Motor Company entered Lotus Evora GT4, winning nearly a minute ahead of the field, even after two time penalties. The Aston Martin Vantage GT4s of Chris Kemp finished second with Tom Black in third place.

In the AMOC Intermarque Championship, Rob Hollyman opened his Championship scoring account with full points for a race win in his Porsche 964. Andrew Peck was second after the Championship leaders Hilliard and Guess ended their race in the gravel feeling the pressure chasing down Hollyman.

In Saturday morning’s qualifying it was that clear Gavan Kershaw was in a class of his own as he qualified a clear second ahead of the rest of the field (1.26.5) in the Stratton-owned development Lotus Evora GT4. Chris Kemp put up the closest competition, recording a time of 1.27 followed by David Tinn, the third fastest on 1.28.1 posted on the very last lap. More Aston Martin GT4s followed; Tom Black in fourth and Robin Marriot rounded out the top five.

In the AMOC Intermarque battle reigning Champions James Hilliard and James Guess picked up pole position in their Porsche 968 CS qualifying on a 1.32.3. Rob Hollyman returned to the Championship for the first time this year in his refreshed and rapid blue Porsche 964 and qualified 2nd fastest (1.32.5) just 2 tenths of a second behind Hilliard and Guess. Andrew Peck was third fastest in his Porsche 968 CS followed by Bob Searles & Steve Atkinson (standing in for regular co-driver Tony Jardine) in the Porsche 944 Turbo. David Norton and Matthew Dietz in their Porsche 968 CS were fifth and Laurence Squires in a BMW E36 323 completed the line-up.

In the race, Gavan Kershaw stormed away at the start posting some supersonic times in the early laps to pull out a lead lapping almost the entire field before taking his compulsory pit stop on lap 22. Chris Kemp didn’t give up on his chase to the Lotus and lucky he did, because Gavin picked up a penalty for missing the pit-window forcing him to stop again 2 laps later, reducing his lead to just 36 seconds. Unfortunately it wasn’t enough to slow down the flying Kershaw who won with a clear 55-second lead.

Chris Kemp had to settle for second place in his Aston Martin GT4.

The Ginetta G50 of Ross and Chris Everill was running comfortably in third place in the early part of the race until the car dropped back with clutch problems before retiring on lap 15. Behind the Ginetta, Tom Black enjoyed a great battle with David Tinn taking his position on lap 5 and moving up to third place overall after the Ginetta retired. Tinn had to settle for fourth place at the end of the 45 minute race with Robin Marriott completing the top five.

In the same race the AMOC Intermarque battle was raging, James Hilliard got away cleanly at the start only for Rob Hollyman to nip past him on the opening lap, then the battle of the front and rear engined Porsches commenced as the duo swapped places several times in the early stages of the race. After the pit stops Rob Hollyman came out in front and a hard-chasing James Guess – who had taken over the car from Hilliard – over-cooked it just after Pif-Paf sending the Porsche 968 CS off into the gravel where it stayed for the remainder of the race. This left Hollyman to clock up his first win of the season in his Porsche 964. Andrew Peck picked up second in his Porsche 968 CS, and Bob Seales and Steve Atkinson were third in the Porsche 944 Turbo.

Porsche 964 racer Rob Hollyman commented “It was a great race, really hard work but I enjoyed it.” After an unbroken record of wins in the previous two rounds of the 2017 Championship James Hilliard commented “The Porsche 968 is pretty nimble through the corners, but we simply cannot match the speed of Hollyman’s Porsche 964, we are going just have to try and go for the best position we can take.” With final results at the end of the season all taking in a dropped round, there is still everything to play for. But what is certain is 2017 looks to be another win for the Porsche marque team.

Round three of the AMOC Intermarque Championship and Aston Martin GT Challenge will be held as separate races on the Snetterton 300 circuit in a full AMOC Racing event on Saturday, 8th July. If you’d like to enter visit: www.amocracing.com or email: enquiries@amocracing.com.