The Texaco Havoline Ginetta Championship kicks off at Oulton Park on April 11-13, with the Cheshire circuit hosting its own G20 summit. A grid full of the 1800cc sports cars will provide great racing for the Easter crowd.
The entry for the 2009 Texaco Havoline Ginetta Championship pits a number of seasoned Ginetta racers against a new intake and the result is sure to provide a fine spectacle. Heading the entry is West Yorkshire’s Mark Davies who won the Ginetta Winter Series last year and the former Renault Clio racer could be hard to stop around the sweeps of Oulton Park in his Fastsigns entry. Pushing him hard will be Gary Simms (Vale of Glamorgan) who is still looking for a maiden race win. Simms has improved hugely as a driver in the last couple of seasons and bagged his first podium finish at Oulton Park last year. Don’t rule him out for a win in Cheshire this year.
Tough opposition will be provided by former MG racer Peter Dignan, back for a second season and now run by Academy Motorsport, plus former Volkswagen racer Alex Dziurzynski and Paul Marsh who took a race win at Oulton Park last year.
But the possible danger men are the experienced group of Julian Barratt, Russell McCarthy and Mark Wania. All three are front-runners and ex-Formula Ford racer Barratt (Reflex Racing) is keen to increase his tally of wins after some poor luck over the last couple of seasons.
But perhaps the dark horse is Dominic Pettit. He stunned the opposition in the two British Sportscar Series races at Brands Hatch recently, dominating the field in his first outing in a senior-specification Ginetta G20. He may be new to these cars but the talent displayed last month suggests he could play a major part in the outcome of the result at Oulton Park. Run by Dominant Motorsport, he’ll be eager to let the team live up to its name.
Local interest centres on Kermincham’s Freddie Hetherington, who made his Ginetta debut in the Winter Series, and will be eager to impress on home soil.
Qualifying for the opening rounds of the Texaco Havoline Ginetta G20 Championship takes place at 15:25 on Saturday 11 April, with the two races being held on Easter Monday at 12:30 and 17:10.
