Snetterton Victory For Richardson

TOLLBAR TO THE FORE AGAIN WITH VICTORY FOR RICHARDSONSnetterton Circuit in Norfolk continued to prove a very happy hunting ground indeed for leading Ginetta Junior Championship squad Tollbar Racing, the team achieving its second podium lock-out of the weekend yesterday, Sunday, 13th July, during the 14th round of the 2008 season.George Richardson came through from third on the grid to make his return to the top step of the podium, leading home team-mates Thomas Carnaby – the round 13 race winner – and Josh Hill after nine laps of superb race action.Richardson said: “I was hoping it wouldn’t be a repeat of Saturday’s race where I missed out at the end but, thankfully, it all went to plan today and I’m really happy to have won. I just managed to block Tom (Carnaby) on the last lap and that enabled me to win.”Starting on pole position, Carnaby held the lead through Riches Corner from fellow front-row starter Hill while, behind, Daniel Lloyd and Alice Powell both made good starts and looked to challenge as the field headed round to Sear and the long Revett Straight.Into the Esses on lap one, Hill took the lead while Lloyd and championship leader Dino Zamparelli ran side-by-side through the Esses and into the Bomb Hole as they battled hard over fourth place, Zamparelli managing to take the position.Into lap two, the race order at the sharp end was Hill from Carnaby and Richardson with Lloyd moving past Zamparelli for fourth at the Esses with a good move. Dominic Pettit also started to get on terms with the series leader as the fight for third became a three-way tussle but both Zamparelli and Pettit got out of shape into Russell Chicane.This allowed Fergus Walkinshaw to get involved too in fifth place as Zamparelli slipped to seventh following his minor excursion as the race entered its third tour. At the Esses, Richardson took second place from Hill while Lloyd in fourth started to pull away rapidly from Walkinshaw. Pettit had another off, this time at Coram, which ended in retirement.On lap four, Lloyd staked his claim for a podium spot by moving ahead of Carnaby who had previously slipped down from the lead at the start of the lap. Running alongside Hill into Riches on lap five, Lloyd looked to be making good headway but he ran wide as Hill held on and this allowed Carnaby back through into third position.Running nose-to-tail on lap six, Richardson, Carnaby, Hill and Lloyd was the order down Revett Straight but into Sear on lap seven, Lloyd and Hill again ran side by side but the latter held on. Lloyd wasn’t finished though and he braved it out on the inside at the Esses with an incredibly late braking manoeuvre to take third.However, the British Racing Drivers’ Club (BRDC) Stars of Tomorrow Scholarship Winner wasn’t on the optimum line for the exit of the Esses and Hill got better drive to move back ahead on the inside at the Bomb Hole.The great battle over third allowed Richardson and Carnaby to break away at the front and although Carnaby moved into the box seat at Russell Chicane on lap eight, Richardson used the slipstream to perfect effect on the final lap into the Esses to retake the lead. He crossed the line just 0.332 seconds ahead of team-mate Carnaby.“As I said yesterday, it’s incredibly hard to race that closely with your team-mates as the last thing you want to do is take one of them off”, commented Carnaby, “For me, this weekend has marked almost a re-start of the season with two great results.”The battle for third continued to rage during the final two laps with Hill looking to have the faster car in a straight line. It soon became a three-car scrap though when the recovering Zamparelli suddenly appeared on the scene.Into the Esses for the last time, Hill managed to make his way past Lloyd for his second podium of the weekend while Zamparelli followed suit and completed his pass on Lloyd to take fourth.Lloyd came home in fifth, just six 10ths of a second shy of the podium with Walkinshaw sixth, Jake Batty a solid seventh, Simon Austin eighth, Sarah Moore ninth and Jake Farndon rounding out the top 10. Alice Powell wasn’t able to make her usual progress and finished round 14 in 11th place ahead of Jake Rattenbury.The 2008 Ginetta Junior Championship will resume just two weeks from now over the weekend 26th/27 July at Oulton Park Island Circuit in Cheshire. In the title race, Zamparelli is still in control, 55 points clear of Carnaby with Lloyd in third place. The victory for George Richardson has lifted him into the championship top six.Provisional 2008 Ginetta Junior Championship Positions (after Rd14):1st Dino Zamparelli, 395pts; 2nd Thomas Carnaby, 340pts; 3rd Daniel Lloyd, 296pts; 4th Josh Hill, 257pts; 5th Jake Farndon. 227pts; 6th George Richardson, 221pts.


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