Michelin Ginetta GT Supercup front-runner Tom Sharp sealed a perfect weekend at Brands Hatch, Sunday, 3rd April, by taking his third victory in as many races and opening up a substantial championship lead of more than 30 points.
Having largely dominated proceedings on Saturday at the Kent track by winning rounds one and two, the IDL driver won this afternoon’s 27-lapper with a fantastic drive from fourth on the grid to amass a provisional points tally of 108. Sharp also set a new lap record, bettering his time from round two, with a fastest race lap of 47.976 seconds (89.94mph).
“It’s been absolutely incredible this weekend, the G55 has been awesome and everything has gone so well”, said the 19-year-old, “We just couldn’t seem to do anything wrong, to win all three races is a fantastic start to the season.”
In the G50 Cup Class of the championship for the previous generation car, reigning Ginetta Junior Champion Tom Ingram took a clear victory to also assume the lead in the driver standings ahead of round one victor Jody Fannin and round two winner Andrew Richardson.
Veteran racer Colin White took a popular pole position start, the grid set by taking the result of round two and reversing the top four finishers. He made a good getaway as the lights went out but just behind there were a few heart-in-mouth moments as the rest of the field somehow managed to avoid the stalled G55 of Adam Morgan. Clint Bardwell also had difficulties getting away from sixth.
White led the race from a fast-starting Sharp with George Murrells third – slipping back from a front row start – Joachim Ritter fourth and his team-mate Carl Breeze fifth, the latter impressively up from ninth place having managed to combine a rapid getaway with skilful avoidance of Morgan’s car.
Breeze got by Ritter for fourth place at McLaren on lap two and on the very next tour he did the same again, this time to Murrells to grab third place. Back at the front, Sharp applied major pressure to White but the CWS driver didn’t look at all ruffled as Breeze began to close on the top two.
Meanwhile, 2009 Ginetta G50 Cup Champion Nathan Freke made good progress and by lap five he was past Ritter into fifth position. Breeze started to reel off some fastest laps and Sharp looked ever more urgent in his desire to pass White for the lead. This eventually happened on lap six.
In the G50 Class Ingram ran well in seventh position overall and although pressured early on by former Ginetta Junior rival Jake Hill, the latter began to drop back. Then, on lap seven, Hill’s race was run through no fault of his own when G55 pilot Alistair James ploughed into the back of his car at Druids Hairpin.
Hill was turned round and then an unsighted Morgan, recovering from his stall on the grid, had nowhere to go as he negotiated the turn and made unavoidable contact. Resulting in the Safety Car being deployed, the race came under caution with Sharp leading Breeze – who took second from White at Paddock on lap seven – Murrells in fourth, Freke fifth and Ritter sixth.
The re-start came on lap 11 and of the front-runners in G55, Freke was the man on the move as he challenged and then passed White for third just a few laps later, shortly before Ritter spun off at McLaren while dicing with Murrells.
White managed to battle back ahead of Freke on lap 16 but only momentarily before the Safety Car reappeared in order to allow Ritter’s car to be recovered. During the final third of the race, Sharp maintained a decent advantage over Breeze and even set the lap record on lap 19 on his way to a stunning hat-trick of wins for the weekend.
Breeze turned around a very difficult and challenging season-opener with his second podium in the runner-up spot while Freke, similarly battle-scarred over the course of the event, was third ahead of Murrells and an impressive Bardwell. Disappointingly, White’s hopes of a potential career best result in Ginetta vanished on the final lap when he went off after dicing with Murrells.
Ingram rounded out his debut weekend in the rear-wheel drive Ginetta G50 with an excellent top six result overall and he lapped within just a few 1,000ths of a second of taking the new circuit record which was posted by Andrew Richardson on Saturday afternoon in round two. Joining Ingram on the podium were Robert Gaffney in second and Aaron Williamson in third after two good drives.
Speaking after the race, Ingram said: “I’ve had limited testing, my first time in the car was at the Media Day and I didn’t actually find out I’d be racing here this weekend until Thursday morning! I must say a huge thank you to the guys at Plans Motorsport for giving me a great car.”
Next on the calendar for the Michelin Ginetta GT Supercup will be rounds four, five and six of the 2011 season at Donington Park in Leicestershire over the weekend 16th/17th April.
Provisional 2011 Michelin Ginetta GT Supercup Championship Positions (after Rd3):1st Tom Sharp, 108pts; 2nd Carl Breeze, 73pts; 3rd George Murrells, 70pts; 4th Adam Morgan, 60pts; 5th Clint Bardwell, 54pts; 6th Nathan Freke, 52pts
Provisional 2011 Michelin Ginetta GT Supercup ‘G50 Class’ Championship Positions (after Rd3):1st Tom Ingram, 87pts; 2nd Jody Fannin, 76pts; 3rd Andrew Richardson, 66pts; 4th Robert Gaffney, 56pts; 5th Aaron Williamson, 48pts; 6th Connaire Finn, 38pts
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