FOR FIRST WIN OF 2009
Century Motorsport’s Nathan Freke won the seventh round of the 2009 Michelin Ginetta G50 Cup at Donington Park’s National Circuit yesterday, Saturday, 16th May, to close the gap to championship leader Carl Breeze by 15 points.
Not only did Freke secure pole position for this afternoon’s encounter – not to mention pole for rounds eight and nine as well – he posted the fastest lap of the race to obliterate the existing record by over a second.
Clearly the form driver so far this weekend at the renowned East Midlands venue, Freke didn’t make the best of getaways from pole but still opted to tread carefully during the opening exchanges with the track greasy at best due to some light rain prior to the start.
From second on the grid, Frank Wrathall snatched the early lead while Chris Dittman moved past Freke for second place through Redgate. Series leader Breeze, meanwhile, slipped to sixth and got held up in a train of cars behind Total Control Racing team-mate Fulvio Mussi.
Christian Dick, running strongly in the top four, had an unfortunate slide at Coppice Corner on lap one which dropped him right down the order but the Speedworks Motorsport driver mounted a brilliant fightback in the tricky conditions, going on to end the race in fifth just behind Breeze.
Back at the front Wrathall opened up a lead of about one second into lap two as the top three edged further and further away from the rest of the field, fourth-placed Mussi still holding firm under pressure from half a dozen cars.
Out of Goddards Chicane at the end of lap two, Hampus Rydman got completely out of shape after being forced wide onto the grass and a resulting spin along the start/finish straight meant several cars had to take avoiding action. Tom Sharp was the most unfortunate as he had a brush with the wall before managing to continue.
At Coppice on lap three, Freke hit the front having caught Wrathall and from that point on he was never headed as the erstwhile race leader came under pressure from Dittman. On lap five at McLeans, Wrathall ran slightly wide and that was all the invitation Dittman needed to put his Mann Autoservices Racing car into second place where he remained to the flag – his first podium of 2009.
As usual in the G50 Cup, the racing throughout was highly entertaining but the tight midfield battle became a little too close for comfort on lap eight when Mussi, Mark Proctor and Richard Sykes were all involved in contact at Hollywood as half a dozen cars duelled over the lower order of the top 10.
In the end, Freke – who did take the chequered flag during the second round of the season at Brands Hatch in early April but was subsequently stripped of the race win – took his first full points haul of the season from Dittman and Wrathall.
“On the green flag lap it was so slippery I couldn’t believe it and I was worried about warming my tyres too much because of the damp patches”, said Freke, “My biggest worry was the start, I didn’t get it right but Frank and Chris were both mustard off the line. Whilst it was a bad start for me, it kind of helped me out as I wasn’t first through Redgate to test the grip levels.
“Luckily Chris ran wide at Coppice and after that I banged in some quick laps and got the gap. Then I started to see rain again on the windscreen, I just didn’t want to throw the car off so I managed the gap and tried to keep it at a decent enough margin so I couldn’t be challenged.”
Freke added: “The car has been absolutely electric since we got to Donington on Thursday, it’s doing everything I want it to, we’ve really got it dialled in this weekend. If it rains tomorrow it’ll be interesting but the thing I enjoyed today was that everyone was respectful on that opening lap, that made the racing so much better and more enjoyable.”
The battle for honours in the Chairman’s Cup was between Paul Sheard and Colin White, the former winning out with sixth place overall, just 1.5 seconds ahead of the multiple class victor. Danish racer Joachim Ritter, meanwhile, took a season’s best finish in eighth place.
After the lap eight tangle in today’s race, Mussi looks set to miss both of Sunday’s races due to irreparable chassis damage to his G50 car. It remains to be seen if Proctor and Sykes will be able to take part either.
Rounds eight and nine of the 2009 Michelin Ginetta G50 Cup will take place at 09.50 and 15.40 tomorrow, Sunday, 17th May, at Donington Park National Circuit. The second of the day’s races is set to be screened live on ITV4 at channel 28 on Freeview, channel 117 via cable and through the Sky Digital platform at channel 120.
Provisional 2009 Ginetta G50 Cup Championship Positions (after Rd7):1st Carl Breeze, 223pts; 2nd Nathan Freke, 190pts; 3rd Frank Wrathall, 177pts; 4th Christian Dick, 126pts; 5th Tom Sharp, 124pts; 6th Fulvio Mussi, 106pts
