Carl Breeze is reducing Tom Sharp’s lead in the Michelin Ginetta GT Supercup as the title race heads to Croft this weekend.
When the Ginetta teams rolled into Croft last year, the championship ran purely for the G50 model, the title race was between Frank Wrathall and Carl Breeze and Tom Sharp scored a maiden win. A year later, Sharp has established himself as the man to beat but Breeze, inevitably, heads the chase.
Sharp’s IDL car started the season in amazing form, taking six wins on the bounce before Thruxton. There, Sharp’s style of driving seemed to wear out his tyres more than the opposition and he struggled to take podiums as Breeze and Adam Morgan (another winner here in 2010) put their names on the list of race victors.
Sharp regrouped and headed to Oulton Park eager for success but found himself on the back foot as he had a moment in race one that dropped him down the order and he had to fight to finish 12th. A sixth row start for race two meant more tough work was ahead of Tom and he batted up to fifth in a race won by Stefan Hodgetts (JHR Developments) in a maiden G55 outing in the Supercup.
Nathan Freke (Century Motorsport) won the opening race but after early season dramas is still trying to get back into contention in the championship, but Thruxton winner Breeze, who bagged a second and a third in Cheshire, is the man most likely to make Sharp sweat for his championship lead – it is down to just 25 points.
Colin White has enjoyed a great run of form of late as the multiple National Hot Rod World Champion has been a genuine podium contender, while Adam Morgan (Ciceley Racing) took a win at Thruxton and is becoming a regular front-runner. Add in reigning Ginetta Challenge Champion George Murrells (Optimum Motorsport) and hard-charging Dane Joachim Ritter (TCR) and there will be some great battles at the head of the field.
Another feature of the Michelin Ginetta GT Supercup is the G50 fight for the older cars, which are still a perfect way of going top-level sports car racing on a budget. Tom Ingram (Plans Motorsport) heads the championship against fellow young guns Jody Fannin (Team Pyro) and Jake Hill (Optimum Motorsport). Aaron Williamson (FML) took a first G50 win at Oulton Park in a lively race that included category-newcomer Lee Pattison (JHR Developments) running in the leading group until he suffered an off at Druids in the second race. Ingram is 81 points clear and is looking like the benchmark driver at present, although the G50 class is notoriously unpredictable and with a whole raft of drivers looking for podium results, including brother-and-sister Andy and Louise Richardson, you ignore the G50s at your peril.
Last year, Croft was a turning point for Sharp: It was the event at which he scored a win and it unlocked something psychological for him. This year, he needs to win again otherwise the championship lead will have disappeared. It’s pressure time…
Qualifying for the Michelin Ginetta GT Supercup takes place on Saturday June 18th at 13:30 with race one (over 15 laps) at 16:30. Race two runs on Sunday at 12:50 over 10 laps while race three will be a 15-lapper, scheduled for 16:00. You can see all Sunday’s action live on ITV4.
