Charlie Robertson had to adopt a damage limitation approach to the third event of the Michelin Ginetta GT4 SuperCup season at Thruxton over the weekend, 3rd/4th May, with a series of problems preventing the 17-year-old from capitalising on superb qualifying pace.Heading straight into qualifying on Saturday morning with no pre-event practice, Charlie was immediately quick and secured pole position for round seven with a lap of 1m14.508 seconds (113.83mph) – just edging out his nearest rival by a mere 0.003 seconds.While initially seeming to get away from the line quite well during the first of the weekend’s races, a clutch problem meant the Investigo and Blackstar-backed youngster’s car bogged down and he was shuffled back to fifth place on the run into the complex for the first time.Running close behind rival Andrew Watson, Charlie piled on the pressure but from mid-distance also had to be mindful of attack from behind with Will Burns becoming an ever increasing threat. With no way past Watson, and understeer in the traffic becoming a major factor, Charlie focused on keeping hold of his top five placing to the finish to see off Burns by just under a second.Beginning round eight from the third row of the grid, the Surrey teenager was edged back to sixth into the complex where he remained until lap 14. Although coming under pressure during the middle part of the race, Charlie never looked likely to lose any ground and instead started to apply pressure to Burns as the outing entered the closing stages.On the 14th tour, Charlie grabbed fifth into the chicane after getting a good run up Woodham Hill and remained there to the finish on lap 16 to bag more important championship points – taking the flag only 0.4 seconds behind Watson.With heavy tyre wear from the first two races likely to be a big problem for round nine, so it proved as Charlie fought incredibly hard to simply get his Ginetta G55 to the finish. Holding fifth place for two thirds of the race distance, during the closing stages the HHC Motorsport driver had to call on all of his skill and determination to salvage the points for 10th place as he slipped down the order.“It’s been a frustrating weekend, we’ve been fast so it’s all the more disappointing how everything turned out in the end”, said the Scottish teenager, “We came to Thruxton having not tested at the track for three weeks and managed to pop in a really good lap time to get pole, which was great.“From there, though, it all went downhill to be honest. At the start of race one there was a clutch problem which dropped me back to fifth and I was just sitting in a train of cars after that, scrubbing the front tyres and having lots of understeer. In race two we started fifth and finished fifth but then, in the last race, the front tyres really started to go – I was fighting just to keep the car on the track.”He added: “The steering wheel was shaking in my hands, it was really hard work, but I just had to bring the car home and take whatever points we could. Come the end of the season, one or two points could be the difference in the championship and that’s what I kept thinking.”Next on the Michelin Ginetta GT4 SuperCup schedule is the annual visit to Oulton Park in Cheshire over the weekend 7th/8th June. For the first time the championship will be racing on the full-length International Circuit configuration, rather than the traditional Island Circuit layout.Provisional 2014 Michelin Ginetta GT4 SuperCup Driver Standings (after Rd9):4th Charlie Robertson, 204pts
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