VICTORY SPOILS AT BRANDS
Frank Wrathall secured his first win of the 2009 Michelin Ginetta G50 Cup during the second round of the season at Brands Hatch Sunday, 5th April, but it was fellow front-runner Carl Breeze who extended his championship lead with a dominant lights-to-flag win in round three.
While Breeze headed into today’s action on a high after winning the season-opener at the Kent venue’s 1.2-mile Indy Circuit on Saturday afternoon, it was Wrathall who took the round two honours after original race winner Nathan Freke was penalised for ‘gaining an unfair advantage’ as he jostled with Breeze for the lead.
On pole position for the weekend’s second race – in fact, on pole for all three encounters – Total Control Racing star Breeze made a text-book getaway at the start of round two to lead through Paddock Hill Bend while the opposite was true for Jodi Firth who slipped from third on the grid to fifth as he was muscled-out around the first turn.
As the race headed into lap two, Breeze led second placed Wrathall with Freke in third while a little further back, Hampus Rydman and Firth were embroiled in an entertaining scrap over fifth position.
The top three certainly started to close up for a couple of laps but by the sixth tour Wrathall started to drop back from leader Breeze as Freke began to turn up the heat with continued pressure. On a huge charge, the Century Motorsport driver produced a great move into Druids Hairpin and then finalised the pass on the drop down to Graham Hill Bend.
While the action at the front continued to be hectic, Fulvio Mussi actually became the quickest driver on track on lap eight as he mounted a determined fight back after having problems getting off the line. Dropping right down the order at the start, the TCR man showed great speed as he climbed back through the order and just missed out on the fastest race lap by a 10th of a second.
Dramatic action came on lap 15 when race leader Breeze received contact to the rear of his car from the charging Freke on the run up to Druids. Resulting in the rear bodywork on Breeze’s car rubbing his right-rear tyre, the contact also dislodged Freke’s bonnet. Nonetheless, Breeze continued to hold the lead but as the battle between he and Freke intensified, it allowed Wrathall to close once more.
Just four laps from the finish though, more contact between Freke and Breeze saw the former slice up the inside at Druids to take the lead while Wrathall also nipped through into second as Breeze was delayed.
Freke went on to take the chequered flag and a robustly fought-out win but a while after the race had concluded, the Clerk of the Course served Freke with a two second time penalty which dropped him behind new round two winner Wrathall and second placed Breeze. Wrathall stated: “I think Carl, Nathan and I will be fighting it out for the title all year.”
Tom Sharp finished in a highly creditable fourth position, Firth was fifth, Christian Dick took sixth and Mussi was seventh. Championship newcomer Colin White was eighth overall and took the ‘Chairman’s Cup’ spoils.
Round three of the G50 Cup saw pole-sitter Breeze dominate the outing right from the off. Making one of his customary lightning starts, Breeze led away from the grid and was never headed as Freke and Wrathall slowed each other up by duelling for the 24 lap duration over second place.
Breeze went on to take the victory by 5.5 seconds, easily his biggest winning margin of the weekend, while Freke just managed to edge out Wrathall at the line by a mere 0.093 seconds. Sharp took another fourth place to continue his very consistent start to the season ahead of Tom Dunstan and the lead Chairman’s Cup runner Colin White, his second success of the day.
Although Breeze, Freke and Wrathall each deserved plaudits for excellent race performances, the weekend undoubtedly belonged to double race winner Breeze who leads the championship by 12 points following the first three exchanges.
He commented: “Obviously I was disappointed with what happened in race two but winning the third race by five seconds is down to the guys at TCR, the car was great and allowed me to lap consistently quickly. I wouldn’t have managed to take two wins this weekend without my team, they’ve done a great job.”
The Michelin Ginetta G50 Cup now has a three-week break from action until rounds four, five and six of the 2009 season take place at Thruxton Circuit, Hampshire, on 25th/26th April.
Provisional 2009 Ginetta G50 Cup Championship Positions (after Rd3):1st Carl Breeze, 104pts; 2nd Frank Wrathall, 92pts; 3rd Nathan Freke, 83pts; 4th Tom Sharp, 62pts; 5th Fulvio Mussi, 54pts; 6th Jodi Firth, 45pts
