Oli Basey-Fisher produced a series of star performances at Silverstone Grand Prix Circuit over the weekend, 25th/26th May, to secure a hat-trick of Protyre Motorsport Ginetta GT5 Challenge podium finishesincluding an outstanding first ever victory in cars during round nine on Sunday.
Beginning the event with third position in round seven on Saturday afternoon, the 17-year-old went one better in Sundays eighth round before then putting the icing on the cake with a hard-fought 0.5 second win in the final race of the weekend.
Im absolutely over the moon, said the Great Finborough-based driver, Im so pleased to have taken my first ever national win in cars, its a fantastic feeling. It was a bit of a hectic race, I missed the start actually as I didnt see the lights go out so I dropped to about fifth place. But I caught the others up and worked my way to the front. Im really pleased to win, it was a fantastic race.
Even though qualifying marked Olis first true running at Silverstone in his Ginetta G40 since he visited the Northamptonshire track during pre-season testing, due to the practice session on Friday, 24th May, being impacted by heavy rain, he still managed to steer his Academy Motorsport-run car to fifth on the grid for race one and third on the grid for the second encounter.
Making a good start to round seven, Oli quickly climbed into the top three and moved into second on lap seven at the expense of Brad Bailey. Unfortunately slipping back to third a lap later, behind the rapidly advancing Luke Davenport, the Suffolk racer remained tight behind his rival and took the flag on lap nine just 0.1 seconds shy.
Lining-up in third for round eight, the Century Logistics-backed racer immediately pressured Thiago Calvet for second and moved through at Becketts on lap one. While remaining within a second of the race lead, Oli also had to adopt a defensive approach with Clive Richards proving a thorn in his side.
Unfortunately slipping behind Richards on lap six at Stowe, the latter benefiting from a slipstream down Hangar Straight, Oli was subsequently elbowed back to fourth into Vale. No sooner had he lost places though, the former Ginetta Junior Scholarship winner hit back and as the leaders negotiated the Farm and Village sequence of corners he worked his way back into second.
Having seen off the challenge of Richards on the penultimate tour, Olis next challenger was team-mate Will Burns who, at Vale, moved ahead into second on the final lap. Although taking the flag in third, Oli was elevated post-race into second when winner David Pittard was excluded.
Round nine was, obviously, the highlight of the weekend for the Suffolk One College student as he emerged victorious from a fantastic four-car battle for the win. Although not making the best of getaways from second on the grid, slipping to fifth, Oli was back into the podium places in double-quick time and moved past Bailey for second on lap four.
Looking to challenge team-mate Burns for the lead, Oli moved through on lap five which triggered some tremendous door handle-to-door handle racing between the two Academy drivers. Trading first place over the final 3.66 miles, Oli made the position his out of the Loop and held on to win by 0.5 seconds from Burns, the top four split by just one second at the finish.
Its been a great weekend, reflected Oli, Testing was pretty non-existent really on the Friday, we had torrential rain most of the day so it was a bit frustrating. I hadnt been to Silverstone since the pre-season so to qualify P5 and P3 for the first two races, finish both on the podium, and then take my first win is just fantastic.
Snetterton 300 Circuit in Norfolk, Olis home track, will host rounds 10, 11 and 12 of the Protyre Motorsport Ginetta GT5 Challenge over the weekend 15th/16th June.
Provisional 2013 Protyre Motorsport Ginetta GT5 Challenge Driver Standings (after Rd9):6th Oli Basey-Fisher, 167pts
