Nathan Freke is on a roll on at the moment, with four back-to-back wins in the Michelin Ginetta G50 Cup, as the championship heads to Croft on June 13/14.
Former Formula Ford Champion Nathan Freke made Donington his own in mid-May with three wins over the weekend and continued his winning form at Oulton Park in the sole race that the Cheshire circuit hosted – timetable constraints meant that only two were planned and an accident in race two not only brought a lengthy red flag situation but may have a major impact on the championship outcome. One of the drivers involved was championship leader, and four-time race winner, Carl Breeze...
Breeze and Frank Wrathall were fighting for second place as they rounded Old Hall Corner and Carl ran wide across the grass spinning the TCR-run car into the middle of the road as the pack scattered left and right. Mark Proctor was the one driver with nowhere to go and harpooned Breeze resulting in serious damage to both cars and a lengthy stoppage to release the drivers. Proctor and the Speedworks team face an uphill battle to get a car race-ready for this weekend whilst TCR will be hard at work to put Breeze back on track, too. But if for any reason Carl can’t race this weekend, the championship will be turned upside down.
Carl’s season started well with two wins at Brands Hatch and then two more at Thruxton. By Donington, though, Freke, who has limited sports car experience, was the man to beat as he crushed the opposition and kick-started his championship campaign. The other winners have been Frank Wrathall, whose DynoJet car scored a win at Brands Hatch, and Dan Welch who scored a victory at Thruxton after a dramatic weekend.
Heading to Croft just six points separate Breeze from Freke with Wrathall the best of the rest. Others to look for this weekend include Christian Dick, who bagged a welcome podium finish on home soil at Oulton Park, and Tom Sharp in his IDL-backed car. Sharp, in his second season of Ginetta G50 racing, shows a fair turn of speed but has had to do much of his work from lowly grid positions. If he can have a good qualifying session, expect him to be far more of a threat starting higher up the grid.
Another driver to look for is Fulvio Mussi who suffered a major accident at Donington on the Saturday, forcing him to sit out the two Sunday races. His car was rebuilt for Oulton Park where Fulvio took the final place in the top six.
Add in the rapid, if inexperienced Chris Dittmann, Joachim Ritter and Hampus Rydman and the scene is set for another superb weekend of racing for the 3.5-litre cars.
In this, Ginetta’s 51st year, the company makes its Le Mans debut this weekend, too. There will be plenty of drivers on the G50 grid looking to use this season a springboard to international sports car racing, too.
Qualifying begins at 13:35 on Saturday June 13 with the 10 lap race that afternoon at 17:05. Sunday’s first 15-lapper begins at 13:15 and the second at 17:55.
