Mike Robinson delivered Total Control Racing the team’s first ever race victories in the Total Quartz Ginetta GT5 Challenge at Rockingham in Northamptonshire on Sunday, 10th June – success in rounds five and six of the season also giving the 29-year-old a provisional two point championship lead.Arriving at the Corby venue second in the driver standings, Effingham racer Robinson enjoyed his best weekend since debuting in the series last year with TCR by also finishing third in round four to maintain a 100 per cent podium record for 2012.“I’ve been with TCR a long time now and Lee [Brookes – team principal] and the boys have seen so many times when we could have won and should have won”, he commented, “Finally we get the win and then two come along at once like buses! I’m really, really pleased with the weekend.”Qualifying second fastest for round four on Saturday, only missing out on pole position by a mere 0.1 seconds, Robinson slipped to third initially behind Sean Huyton but re-passed on lap two before closing up behind pole-sitter Gary Simms.Just 0.3 seconds behind Simms on laps four and five, and a second clear of Huyton, Robinson lost a little bit of ground to the race leader into the closing stages and was unfortunately bundled back to third place by Huyton on the penultimate tour. Taking the flag on lap nine just 0.9 seconds shy of the runner-up spot, third ensured the TCR man’s fourth podium on the trot.Starting on pole for round five, thanks to a second best lap in qualifying of 1m38.349 seconds, Robinson opened up a one second advantage on the first lap but his lead reduced to less than 0.3 seconds at mid-distance as the pursuing pack chased hard. Even so, Robinson made no errors on his way to a fine victory.“I was a little bit disappointed with third in the first race, I thought I could challenge Gary Simms for the lead but I started to lose pace and drop back a bit”, he explained, “For the second race, I knew I had a good chance of winning if I made a good start from pole but I really, really had to work hard for it.
“I never had much of an advantage at all and I knew I couldn’t make the slightest mistake. On the last lap I backed them all up into the last corner hoping they’d fight amongst themselves, which they did so it all worked well.”For round six on Sunday afternoon, Robinson’s Ginetta G40 again lined-up on pole position by virtue of his earlier victory and this time he was able to pull away from Huyton around mid-distance to an eventual winning margin of 3.3 seconds.TCR’s Total Quartz Ginetta GT5 Challenge squad will be back in action a fortnight from now, over the weekend 23rd/24th June, at Brands Hatch Grand Prix Circuit in Kent. Drivers interested in joining the team for the remaining five events of the 2012 season can contact Lee Brookes on 0121 5561999 or by emailing p1tcr@aol.com
Provisional 2012 Total Quartz Ginetta GT5 Challenge – G40 Challenge Driver Standings (after Rd6):1st Mike Robinson, 190pts
