Carl Breeze dramatically moved to within just 15 points of the Michelin Ginetta GT Supercup series lead for Total Control Racing at Rockingham over the weekend, 22nd/23rd September, with two more podium finishes increasing his tally for the season to 16 from 22 races.In addition to Breezes success in the flagship Ginetta championship, the Wednesbury team also celebrated podium glory in both of the weekends AirAsia Renault UK Clio Cup encounters with James Dixon securing a brace of top three results to consolidate third in the driver standings.Its been a very good weekend for both squads, said TCR team principal Lee Brookes, With how the Ginetta GT championship stood when we came back into the series at Oulton Park in June, we couldnt have expected for Carl [Breeze] to have eaten into the lead like he has. With five races still to go, he really has got a great chance at challenging for the title.James [Dixon] was the most competitive hes been since he rejoined the team, two more podiums is great and where we should be. Qualifying was unbelievably close between the top four, nothing in it at all, so if hed started on the front row there could definitely have been a win there as well.Just two Michelin Ginetta GT Supercup races were contested over the weekend, as opposed to the usual three, and Breeze made absolutely perfect starts to both to put himself in contention for a win in each outing.Rocketing away from second on the grid to instantly lead round 21 on Saturday afternoon, the Kings Lynn driver built a cushion of over a second and looked comfortable but on lap eight his advantage was negated when the Safety Car was deployed.Unfortunately team-mate Jamie Orton, who had been running very strongly in sixth right on the tail of Tom Sharp, got caught-up in contact with the championship leader at Brook Chicane at the end of the sixth tour leading to retirement for both.When racing resumed, Breeze led away untroubled and opened up a massive 2.1 second advantage as the pack behind squabbled. By lap 16 though the TCR man had been caught by Tom Ingram and the pole-sitter managed to get alongside into the final lap to steal first place.In round 22 on Sunday, which took place in very wet conditions, Breeze finished third having initially led following another sensational start. Once again, a Safety Car period changed the complexion of the race midway through but thirdadded to the earlier second placeenabled Breeze to move to within just 15 points of series leader Sharp having been more than 50 adrift ahead of the weekend.Orton bounced back from his race one disappointment to finish seventh in round 22, once again after a tight battle with Sharp. Beginning the race in a lowly 15th position due to his non-finish in the opening encounter, Orton made terrific progress through the order.Running in ninth prior to the Safety Car, the first year Ginetta competitor moved up into the top seven by lap nine and began to pressure Sharp. Split by just 0.5 seconds for the remainder of the race, Orton couldnt quite find a way past and had to settle for seventh.Dixon celebrates best weekend of 2012 in Clio CupAlthough both AirAsia Renault UK Clio Cup encounters at Rockingham were fairly uneventful for James Dixon, two third place results marked his and the teams best weekend in the championship of the seasonand also took the Kent drivers tally of podiums to three from the last four races.Qualifying fourth fastest for round 11, a mere 0.065 seconds shy of pole position, Dixon made a good start but had to feed back in to fourth place at Deene Hairpin although he was able to grab third on the exit at the expense of James Colburn.From there, Dixon closed on second placed Paul Rivett initially and posted a best lap just 0.1 seconds shy of the fastest of all. From mid-distance though, the TCR man wasnt able to make any further impression and so took a comfortable third almost four seconds clear of the pack.Team-mates Rob Smith and Nicolas Hamilton had contrasting fortunesSmith enjoying an excellent race to take only his second overall top 10 of the season, from 17th on the grid, while Hamilton came to grief on the opening lap through no fault of his own following contact.Smith made good progress and produced one of the most competitive drives of his rookie campaign to run inside the top 12 with just a couple of laps remaining. On the final lap though, he profited from contact between two rivals to slice through into 10th position.Hamilton started an impressive 13th in a car repaired overnight on Saturday by the hard-working TCR mechanics following an unfortunate excursion in qualifying. Making a good getaway, he was well on course to conclude the first lap inside the top 10 but contact at Chapman Curve wrecked his hopes.For round 12 on Sunday afternoon, which was affected by persistent rain, officials chose to start the race behind the Safety Car. Dixon was third in the train, Hamilton 14th and Smith 17th and when racing proper began Dixon again ran a relatively lonely third throughout in very tricky conditions.Hamilton and Smith ended up finishing in 14th and 15th respectively following a close mid-pack battle. Running nose-to-tail over the last couple of laps, the TCR team-mates were covered by just 0.9 seconds at the chequered flag on lap 13.

Silverstone will host the penultimate event of the Michelin Ginetta GT Supercup and AirAsia Renault UK Clio Cup campaigns two weeks from now on 6th/7th October. TCR will be in action next weekend though, 29th/30th September, for the finale of the Total Quartz Ginetta GT5 Challenge at Donington Park Grand Prix Circuit.2012 Michelin Ginetta GT Supercup Driver Standings (after Rd22):2nd Carl Breeze, 590pts; 8th Jamie Orton, 253pts2012 AirAsia Renault UK Clio Cup Driver Standings (after Rd12):3rd James Dixon, 242pts; 18th Rob Smith, 71pts; 23rd Nicolas Hamilton, 43pts