Adam Morgan will graduate to the high-profile British Touring Car Championship in 2012 after scooping a fully-funded prize drive in the UK’s most popular motor racing series by claiming the inaugural Michelin Ginetta GT Supercup title at Silverstone today, Sunday, 16th October.
Finishing second on the road to Tom Sharp in the 27th and final round of the season, Ciceley Racing’s Morgan also bagged the bonus score for fastest lap to deny Total Control Racing’s Carl Breeze the championship crown by just five points.
“I’m absolutely ecstatic, lost for words”, said Morgan, “At the beginning of this year I was hoping to finish top three in the championship, to come out on top is unbelievable. Massive thanks to Ciceley Racing, the team has worked so hard this year – we’re a privateer team and to win a championship like this at this level is a massive result.”
Breeze went into the last race of what has been a classic season holding a slim four point cushion but, in the end, fourth place behind his nemesis Nathan Freke meant he missed out on the coveted title.
Sharp began the race on pole position with Morgan alongside, Breeze third, George Murrells in fourth place, Freke fifth and Colin White sixth. The pole-sitter surged into an immediate lead ahead of the fast-starting Freke – the latter having actually spun on the formation lap at Luffield.
Breeze held third ahead of Morgan, very important for his championship aspirations, and tried to get ahead of Freke as soon as he could but the 2009 Ginetta G50 title winner defended hard in his theplayer.co.uk/Century Motorsport car.
An early Safety Car was required due to an incident off the grid in which Jody Fannin’s G50 class car ended up stranded with major front-end damage having collected the pitwall while trying to avoid the stalled G55 of rapid category newcomer Jamie Orton.
The re-start came on lap eight with Morgan getting ahead of Breeze for third position but the places swapped again at Luffield when the TCR man sliced past on the inside to depose the Ciceley car. In the meantime, Sharp continued to lead well from Freke and he started to open a healthy gap.
By leading from the front, Sharp was doing all he could to try and win the title for IDL – everything would come down to what happened between Breeze and Morgan. Freke continued to defend second place firmly from Breeze, rebuffing his every attempt to pass and slowing the pace quite significantly which enabled Morgan to challenge once more.
At Luffield on lap 12, Morgan got his nose up the inside of Breeze’s car for third place and the latter quickly came under more pressure from Murrells and White. By lap 15, Sharp’s lead was over three seconds as Freke was reeled in by the advancing Morgan – on lap 15 he posted the fastest lap and then on the 19th tour the champion elect easily took second at Brooklands.
With it all to do, Breeze pressured Freke for third to try and get past and set-off after Morgan but Freke redoubled his efforts to keep his long-time rival at bay which he did. In the end, Sharp won by just 0.9 seconds from new champion Morgan with Freke third just 0.3 seconds ahead of the hugely unfortunate Breeze who had a near-impossible task in the end.
“Getting the ninth win is pretty good”, said Sharp, “I’ve learnt a lot this year, I think a year ago I might have lost that race when he (Morgan) started catching. Whatever we do next year, this will stand us in good stead for sure. To win two races this weekend is mega and means we’ve won all the races on one weekend three times this year – I never thought we’d do that.”
In the G50 class, Jake Hill made it two wins from two to end his maiden season in the category with a real flourish. Concluding the campaign five points shy of the top three in the driver standings, the Tollbar racer saw off a determined challenge from Andrew Richardson to win by 0.3 seconds.
Provisional Ginetta Challenge Champion Mark Davies rounded-out the podium in third place with Aaron Williamson fourth to make sure of the runner-up spot in the G50 Cup title race. Tom Ingram, who was already crowned G50 champion at Brands Hatch last time out, elected not to compete.
“It’s been a real struggle, financially, as always and we’ve had loads of bad luck this year”, said Hill, “What a brilliant way to end it though, and especially in front of the BRDC (British Racing Drivers’ Club). Winning again is a great way to say thanks to my mum and dad, it was my mum’s birthday yesterday so this is fantastic, I’m so happy.”
Provisional 2011 Michelin Ginetta GT Supercup Championship (after Rd27):CHAMPION: Adam Morgan, 694pts; 2nd Carl Breeze, 689pts; 3rd Tom Sharp, 683pts; 4th Nathan Freke, 638pts; 5th Colin White, 443pts; 6th George Murrells, 411pts
Provisional 2011 Michelin Ginetta GT Supercup ‘G50 Class’ Standings (after Rd27):CHAMPION: Tom Ingram, 664pts; 2nd Aaron Williamson, 605pts; 3rd Jody Fannin, 590pts; 4th Jake Hill, 585pts; 5th Andy Richardson, 452pts; 6th Robert Gaffney, 266pts
