Richardson Racing seeks to maintain Ginetta GT podium run
Richardson Racing will make the long trip South to Thruxton this weekend aiming to continue its run of podium finishes in the latest rounds of the Michelin Ginetta GT Supercup.Brother and sister pairing Andrew and Louise Richardson have secured two podiums apiece in the G50 class from the opening six races of the season and will hope to fight at the front once again at the quickest circuit on the calendar.Andrew goes into the weekend keen to return to the kind of form he showed in the season opener at Brands Hatch, where he took two podium finishes – including a maiden G50 victory – and broke the lap record.Despite running near the front at Donington Park last time out, Andrew was unable to add to his points tally after being caught up in on track incidents in the opening two races, before a mechanical issue forced him out in the final stages of race three.As a result, he now heads into his first ever race weekend at Thruxton keen to get his championship challenge back on track.“I’ve not had the chance to test at Thruxton and I’ve not raced there before either,” he said. “The closest I’ve got is watching some onboard action from Louise as you can’t find Thruxton on many computer games!“However, I don’t think a lack of experience will be hamper me during the weekend. I just need to keep my eyes and ears open and make sure that I listen to any advice I am given and watch what people are doing on track. Hopefully it won’t take long to get up to speed and I’ll be fighting near the front. “After Donington Park, I need to climb back up the standings and make sure that the others don’t get too far ahead in the championship.”Younger sister Louise suffered a torrid start to her season at Brands Hatch, with a fourth place in race one being her only finish of the weekend. However, she battled back well in the second meeting of the season at Donington a fortnight ago to secure a brace of podium finishes, which has lifted her to fifth in the G50 class standings.Unlike Andrew, Louise has competed at Thruxton in the past and took a pair of fourth place finishes last year while competing in the Ginetta Junior Championship.“After two weekends, we’ve now got a better understanding of the car and of the set-up,” she said. “We need to see how we get on, but if we can use what we have learned to get the set-up right at Thruxton, then hopefully we’ll be towards the front. The key thing will be to carry speed through the high-speed corners around the back of the circuit. If you don’t get it right through Noble, Goodwood or Church then you risk losing a lot of time. “Scoring two podium finishes at Donington Park and moving up to fifth in the standings was a huge boost and hopefully I can keep closing the gap to the leaders this weekend.”The opening Ginetta GT Supercup race of the weekend will run over eleven laps and is due to start at 15:50 on Saturday (30 April). Two further 16 lap races will then take place on Sunday (1 May) at 10:45 and 15:45 (schedule changes permitting),