Hawkin Takes His First THR Victory at Paramount Ranch
Brandon Hawkin's Chevrolet Corvette 1967 came through a late change of leadership to defeat SDH-M ~ HappyKojot by 4.169 seconds, while Adam Celárek recovered from an early fall to tenth to complete the podium.
A new name at the front
Paramount Ranch produced a first recorded THR victory for Brandon Hawkin, the Canadian bringing his Chevrolet Corvette 1967 home at the head of a varied GT field after 41 laps. It was also Hawkin's first win in this Championship, and it came only after the race had remained unsettled well into its last quarter.
SDH-M ~ HappyKojot's Shelby Cobra 289 Hardtop had held the advantage through the greater part of the afternoon. Hawkin, however, was never allowed to become a distant observer. From lap 26 onwards the Corvette and Cobra were repeatedly close, and by the end of lap 39 Hawkin had moved ahead for the second and final change of lead. HappyKojot remained a presence in the closing phase, but Hawkin completed the full distance to win by 4.169 seconds.
It was a composed conclusion to a race which had asked rather more than a simple run at the front. Hawkin's success is a notable one in the THR record, not merely another addition to the winners' list but his first such entry in it.
The Cobra and the Corvette
The decisive contest was conducted without the security of a settled order. HappyKojot had inherited the lead at the end of lap two and looked well placed to repeat the victory achieved in the preceding Championship race. Yet the final dozen laps brought Hawkin increasingly into the picture, the Corvette and Cobra remaining in close company through a sustained late duel.
There was no need for ornament at the finish. Hawkin had won the place before the end, and he preserved it to the chequered flag. HappyKojot finished second, his 41-lap run sufficient to retain first place in the final Championship table on 114 points. The result leaves Nat Stevenson second on 108, with Adam Celárek third on 102.
For Hawkin, the immediate reward was the race itself. For HappyKojot, second place had the larger seasonal significance. The Polish driver had begun the event level at the head of the standings and leaves Paramount Ranch at the summit of the completed Championship.
Celárek's return
Celárek's third place was perhaps the most energetic piece of salvage in the leading group. The Czech driver had led at the close of the opening lap, only to be tenth after lap two, a lap in which his TVR Griffith Series 200 was involved in incidents at T2 and T6. From there he worked steadily back into contention.
By the finish Celárek had recovered seven positions from that low point and reached the flag third, only 1.359 seconds behind HappyKojot. His fastest lap of 1:28.018 underlined the pace still available to him after the early setback. It was an unusually complete recovery: one which restored him not merely to the front of the field, but to the podium and to third in the Championship standings.
The podium therefore told the whole shape of the race. Hawkin had seized the late opportunity; HappyKojot had carried the Championship burden to second; and Celárek had transformed a bleak early position into a result of consequence.
The crowded middle distance
Behind the leaders, the race acquired a different but no less persistent character. From laps 15 to 25, FMG, Rolf Biber, Kasperi Sirén, DriK and Felix789 formed a compact group covered by less than five seconds. The order was not fixed for long, and the contest between FMG's Ferrari 250 GTO and Felix789's Corvette was especially changeable.
Felix789 moved ahead of FMG early, but FMG reclaimed the place before half-distance. Felix789 was again in front by lap 23, only for FMG to move back ahead two laps later; by the end of lap 28 Felix789 had regained the advantage once more. Felix789 ultimately finished sixth after completing all 41 laps.
Sirén was classified seventh after 40 laps, with Biber classified eighth after 40 laps. Their own long contest repeatedly brought them together, and the order changed twice in the closing stages: Biber ahead at the end of lap 33, Sirén back in front one lap later. It was the sort of close-running middle distance which gave Paramount Ranch its constant movement, even while the chief question remained who would emerge at the head of it all.
Hawkin's first victory supplies the race with its natural headline, but Paramount Ranch also confirmed the firmness of HappyKojot's Championship campaign and Celárek's capacity to recover from adversity. The final table has its order; the race that settled it had rather more changes of fortune than that order alone suggests.