Nathan Freke, 2009 Ginetta G50 Cup Champion, secured his first race victory in the Michelin Ginetta GT Supercup with a dominant performance during the 10th round of the season at Oulton Park Island Circuit, Saturday, 4th June.
Pole-position qualifier Carl Breeze led the first half of the 15-lap encounter but Freke took control on lap eight into Old Hall and from that point on he was unchallenged. In the end, the 27-year-old easily pulled clear to take the chequered flag by almost seven seconds and, with it, the new lap record.
During the first three race meetings of 2011, Freke has suffered a variety of mechanical problems and plain misfortune so today’s result could well mark a turning point for theplayer.co.uk/Century Motorsport driver.
“I’ve made a few mistakes and we’ve had a couple of mechanical failures this year but finally we got the win”, said Freke, “Carl (Breeze) seems to be the king of qualifying, and all credit to him for that, but we have amazing race pace and that showed today.”
Breeze finished second for Total Control Racing to close yet further on championship leader Tom Sharp, the IDL driver’s lead now cut to 33 points. After a difficult weekend at Thruxton last time out, Sharp had another disappointing run today with an eventual finish of 12th place. Third on the Ginetta G55 podium went the way of category debutant Stefan Hodgetts for newcomer JHR Developments.
In the G50 Cup battle, class dominator Tom Ingram continued his relentless march with his sixth win from 10 races and eighth podium visit of 2011. Only securing the finance to compete this weekend a couple of days prior to the event, Ingram took yet another clean sweep with pole position, victory and the fastest G50 Cup lap. His points lead is now a remarkable 77 points.
“It’s going really well for us at the moment”, said the Plans Motorsport driver, “Congratulations to all the boys at the team, they put a great car together for me. We just need to keep this momentum going now.”
Pole-sitter Breeze led away at the start of round 10 from Freke, Hodgetts, Sharp and Adam Morgan but Sharp sought to move up the order quickly and took third place out of Cascades. On lap two, Colin White moved into the top six past Freddie Hetherington at the same corner while, behind, Ingram led the G50 Cup class in an impressive seventh overall.
Into lap three, Breeze led by a healthy 1.2 seconds and all looked in control but soon after Freke began to erode his former arch-rival’s advantage and the pair were nose-to-tail just a couple of laps later. Pressuring the leader hard, Freke seized his chance into Old Hall at the start of lap eight with a late move up the inside and despite some contact the pair continued.
Immediately pulling away, Freke finished 6.8 seconds to the good and posted the new lap record of 1m27.292 seconds (91.80mph) on his 10th tour. Breeze, meanwhile, managed to see off a spirited challenge from Hodgetts during the final third of the race to keep hold of second position.
Sharp’s race started to come unstuck on lap three when a moment dropped him down the order so Morgan, race winner at Thruxton, came through into fourth for another good haul of points. Colin White and George Murrells enjoyed a very entertaining scrap over fifth, the veteran seeing off the reigning Ginetta Challenge Champion. Hetherington, meanwhile, was forced to retire on lap six.
As ever, the racing in the G50 Cup was every bit as good as that in the headline G55 class and Ingram once again proved to have the upper-hand. Never threatened, he took the spoils over seven seconds clear of former Ginetta Junior rival Jake Hill.
The fight over third place was the highlight though, with Aaron Williamson, championship debutant Lee Pattison and Jody Fannin mere fractions of a second apart during the final few laps. Williamson just edged Pattison for the last spot on the podium by 0.174 seconds at the flag, his fourth rostrum visit of the season.
Round 11 of the 2011 Michelin Ginetta GT Supercup will get underway at 13.40 tomorrow, Sunday, 5th June, and will be screened live on Freeview, digital satellite and cable channel ITV4, on the ITV4 HD channel and with additional streaming online at www.itv.com/touringcars
The finishing order of this afternoon’s 10th round will set the grid for round 11 meaning Freke and Breeze will be on the front row, Hodgetts and Morgan will line up on row two and White and Murrells will comprise the third row. Ingram will start from the head of row four with championship leader Sharp on the outside of row six
Provisional 2011 Michelin Ginetta GT Supercup Championship Positions (after Rd10):1st Tom Sharp, 296pts; 2nd Carl Breeze, 263pts; 3rd Adam Morgan, 235pts; 4th George Murrells, 216pts; 5th Colin White, 182pts; 6th Nathan Freke, 136pts
Provisional 2011 Michelin Ginetta GT Supercup ‘G50 Class’ Championship Positions (after Rd10):1st Tom Ingram, 302pts; 2nd Jody Fannin, 225pts; 3rd Jake Hill, 203pts; 4th Robert Gaffney, 186pts; 5th Aaron Williamson, 170pts; 6th Louise Richardson, 136pts
