Total Control Racings Carl Breeze is firmly in contention for the Michelin Ginetta GT Supercup title going into the final three rounds of the 2012 season a fortnight from now after securing his fifth win of the year at Silverstone National Circuit on Sunday, 7th October.Enjoying a hugely successful weekend, Breeze - who prior to rejoining the Wednesbury team for the fourth weekend of the season at Oulton Park was some 118 points behind in the driver standings - is now tied on points with long-time series leader Tom Sharp and just two behind on drop scores.Beginning the first of the Silverstone races on Saturday, 6th October, from sixth on the grid after a very closely contested qualifying session, Breeze made a blistering start to climb into third place by the first corner. He then took second on lap 13, again at Copse, where he remained to the finish.Lining-up on the front-row of the grid for round 24 on Sunday, the TCR racer again rocketed away from the line with a perfect start and grabbed the lead into Copse. Building an advantage of more than two seconds by mid distance, Breeze then eased to a 1.6 second winning margin and only missed out on the fastest lap by less than 0.1 seconds.That was exactly what we needed, said Breeze after his race two victory, We were quick in testing and we kept the car the same for qualifying, I think we just picked up too much rear grip and had too much understeer which put us back in sixth place. Saturdays race was fantastic, I managed to get three drivers off the startit was a rocket getaway, looked like I had KERS in the car!Winning race two was fantastic, we had so much pace in the car and I have to say special thanks to my engineer Kenny and all the boys at TCR. I call Kenny the Harry Potter, hes a magician with the car and can solve any problems. We just need to go to Brands focused, weve got the momentum.Team-mate Jamie Orton, meanwhile, had a mixed weekend. Excellent pace in qualifying wasnt, unfortunately, rewarded when the first year Michelin Ginetta GT Supercup racer went off the circuit at Luffield on lap three of the opening race while challenging for the top six. With his Ginetta G55 sustaining a blown engine, the London-based driver elected to sit out Sundays action.Carls done a superb job this weekend, commented TCR team principal Lee Brookes, We couldnt have asked for any better from him this weekend, two fantastic races. We knew we could pull back some of the deficit coming back into the championship mid-season but to pull the amount we have with three races to go is incredible.Dixon takes fourth Clio Cup podium of season at Silverstone NationalJames Dixon bagged his fourth podium finish from the last six races during round 14 of the AirAsia Renault UK Clio Cup at Silverstone on Sunday, and coupled with a fourth place finish in round 13 he managed to out-score championship leaders Jack Goff and Paul Rivett.Dixon, who goes into the season finale two weeks from now third in the driver standings, should have started on the front row of the grid for both races but he was relegated to third and fourth on the grid for the two encounters after being adjudged to have exceeded track limits in qualifying.In the first Silverstone encounter, the Kent racer slipped to fourth initially but after an excursion at Becketts on lap one for Rivett he moved into third and then second. Running side-by-side with Adam Bonham into lap two, Dixon made second position his on the run to Becketts but was then shuffled back to third at Brooklands.Remaining third in the tightly bunched lead group, Dixon was mugged into Copse on lap 10 and despite piling on the pressure to Ant Whorton-Eales ahead he had to settle for fourth at the flag, just 0.3 seconds shy of the podium.Team-mate Rob Smith, who delivered one of the best qualifying performances of his rookie season with the 12th fastest time, delivered a sensational start. Rocketing off the line, he moved into eighth on the opening lap and was set for seventh until he was delayed by Goff and Rivett when they made contact and rejoined the circuit directly in front of the TCR man.Even so, he brought home a ninth place result and with the addition of 14th place in race two, from 18th on the grid, Smith has climbed into the championship top 16 and has a good chance of closing down on the top 12 at the season finale.For Nicolas Hamilton, the weekend proved to be a frustrating one when a strong 14th position starting slot for race onequalifying just 0.5 seconds off pole positionended up as a 19th place result after a tangle with Will Davison on lap 11 at Brooklands. Hamilton had run as high as 12th early on and was comfortably on course for one of his stronger results of the year until the excursion.In round 14, the second-year racers luck worsened when he was forced to retire on the opening lap after contact. Trying to avoid a spinning car ahead, Hamilton was then collected by another car, incurring significant damage to his Clio.Dixon, meanwhile, remained fourth off the start of race two but on lap 11 he took third when Bonham went wide. In a carbon-copy of race one, the lead group were split by hardly anything and Dixon took the flag on lap 14 just 0.3 seconds shy of second place.
Its great to have James on the podium again but we were really disappointed he didnt get his second place back in qualifying, commented team boss Brookes, We couldnt see what hed done wrong at all but its one of those things, you have to accept the decisions. We felt we had the pace to win had he started on the front row, still two good results though.Rob has really come on strong, he put together a brilliant drive in the first race and had a fantastic startplus he was a tenth of a second quicker than James which shows how much hes improved. Nic had an unfortunate weekend, he is moving forward and getting better and better but the results just havent shown it this year. Hes had terrible luck but hopefully Brands will be good to him.Brands Hatch Grand Prix Circuit will host the season finale for both the AirAsia Renault UK Clio Cup and the Michelin Ginetta GT Supercup two weeks from now, on 20th/21st October.2012 Michelin Ginetta GT Supercup Driver Standings (after Rd24inc. drop scores):2nd Carl Breeze, 637pts; 9th Jamie Orton, 253pts2012 AirAsia Renault UK Clio Cup Driver Standings (after Rd14):3rd James Dixon, 289pts; 16th Rob Smith, 90pts; 23rd Nicolas Hamilton, 41pts