Rounds seven, eight and nine of the 2009 Michelin Ginetta G50 Cup at Donington Park this weekend, 16th/17th May, were all about one driver – former UK Formula Ford Champion Nathan Freke who became the first competitor this year to win all three races at one event.
After dominating qualifying and taking victory in the first outing of the weekend on Saturday, the Century Motorsport racer capped off a truly stunning couple of days with two more wins today, Sunday, 17th May, in constantly changing weather at the East Midlands track.
“We couldn’t have asked for better”, he said, “I was a bit dubious when the track was damp as we didn’t know what to do with our set-up. We just did the basics and it worked so I’m really pleased. This is exactly what I needed for my championship – it’s been a fantastic weekend.”Freke’s faultless Donington Park performance places him within just 20 points of series leader Carl Breeze and he has also opened up a 34 point cushion over third placed Frank Wrathall who secured a trio of podiums from the weekend’s three outings.
At the start of round eight Freke and Breeze ran side-by-side into Redgate, although the pole-man managed to nose ahead on the run through Hollywood. Breeze put his Total Control Racing car into a position to challenge at Craner Curves but Freke held firm and went on to maintain a gap of around one second throughout the race as he cruised to his second win of the weekend.
Breeze had an untroubled run to second to bag yet more consistently big points while a tight duel between Christian Dick and Chris Dittman over fourth place allowed Wrathall to ease to another podium in third place. The fastest lap of the race, and new lap record of 1m12.434 seconds (97.27mph), went to Freke on lap six.
All five Chairman’s Cup contenders enjoyed a good run, Paul Sheard the class winner after managing to pull well clear of Mark Proctor. Colin White was next up ahead of Richard Sykes and Tony Hughes.
Round nine took place on a slippery track with Freke away well to lead ahead of the fast-starting Dick with Breeze third and Dittman losing out, slipping from second to fourth. Fifth placed starter Wrathall had the worst of the luck though, dropping to 10th following a moment at Redgate.
Freke immediately started stretching away at the front, leaving his pursuers with windscreens covered in spray, while behind Breeze moved into second place at the Old Hairpin. On lap two, Dittman then made his move from fourth to third past Dick at Goddards.
Over the course of the 16-lap encounter, Dittman gradually slipped away from the top three after being passed by a charging Wrathall on lap 11. As the Dynojet driver got through at the Old Hairpin, Dittman fought back to take third again into McLeans but Wrathall was determined to make the place his and sealed the deal into Goddards before the end of the lap.
Freke won by over five seconds from series leader Breeze, Wrathall six seconds further adrift in third but having pulled a huge 13 seconds clear of Dittman during the second half of the race. Tom Sharp was fifth, and also posted the fastest lap.
The battle for the Chairman’s Cup offered some tremendous action once again although it did seem at one stage as though none of the eligible drivers wanted to actually win the class! All of them made very hard work of it – first Colin White retired in the Redgate gravel on lap five and then Paul Sheard had two excursions at Goddards to hand the victory to the returning Mark Proctor.
Danish racer Joachim Ritter produced by far his most competitive performance in the championship with one seventh place and two eighth positions from the weekend while Hampus Rydman was also in good form with a brace of top sixes for the Swede in Sunday’s races.
For the luckless Fulvio Mussi, Donington proved to be a weekend to forget when a collision not of his making forced the TCR driver out of round seven and the resulting damage meant his car wasn’t fit to race in either of Sunday’s encounters. Three back-to-back non-scores have seriously dented his championship bid but the youngster plans to be back fighting at Oulton Park in two weeks’ time.
The delightful parkland setting in Cheshire will host the fourth event of the of the 2009 Michelin Ginetta G50 Cup season over the weekend 30th/31st May. For the first time this year, two rather than three G50 Cup races will take place – one on Saturday and one on Sunday.
Provisional 2009 Ginetta G50 Cup Championship Positions (after Rd9):1st Carl Breeze, 283pts; 2nd Nathan Freke, 263pts; 3rd Frank Wrathall, 229pts; 4th Christian Dick, 160pts; 5th Tom Sharp, 153pts; 6th Colin White, 107pts
