British Racing Drivers’ Club (BRDC) Rising Star Charlie Robertson made a significant impact on his endurance racing debut with Team LNT at Motorland Aragon in Spain on Sunday, 31st August, with a memorable performance during the latest round of the V de V series.Although brake issues late in the four-hour contest led to a disappointing retirement and robbed the squad of a certain victory, the Whyteleafe teenager was still able to showcase his talents to the full with searing pace in both qualifying and race conditions in the team’s Ginetta G55 GT3.Partnered by Ginetta Cars Chairman Lawrence Tomlinson and Ginetta factory driver Mike Simpson, 17-year-old Charlie – the current leader of the Michelin Ginetta GT4 SuperCup, which resumes this coming weekend at Rockingham in the UK – took no time at all to adapt to the track or the car.Charlie jumped straight in at the deep end, sharing qualifying duties with ‘works’ driver Simpson and the average of their respective best lap times secured pole position for Team LNT by a comfortable margin.Tomlinson took the opening stint of the race and handed the Ginetta G55 GT3 over to Charlie in a strong second place. Emerging from the driver change with fresh tyres and full tanks of fuel in fourth position, the endurance racing debutant carved his way into the lead with a series of fastest laps and maintained his place there until pitting to hand-over to Simpson.Past the three-hour mark, Simpson was on track and the Team LNT squad looked well on course to claim a dominant victory with an advantage of well over a minute from closest rival, the Visiom-run Ferrari 458. Then, everything went awry when Simpson reported no braking capability – a result of excessive brake pad wear in high ambient temperatures, coupled with very heavy braking zones.Pitting to try and fit new pads and salvage a strong result, one of the calipers then lost a piston during the process and the difficult decision to retire the car was taken with the necessary repairs set to take far too long to make them worthwhile.“What a fantastic weekend”, reflected Charlie, “Obviously it’s really disappointing we couldn’t get to the finish, especially as the win was there for the taking, but the whole experience was amazing and I just want to take the opportunity to thank Lawrence and everyone at Team LNT and Ginetta. We were really fast from the off and to get pole and then lead so comfortably was fantastic.“I’d never been to Motorland before the weekend but I adapted to the track without any problems and really enjoyed the racing. The GT3 car is much different to the G55 I race in the SuperCup, it’s a great piece of kit and I’d love to have the opportunity to drive with Team LNT again in the future.”Now, Charlie’s focus returns to his championship bid in the Michelin Ginetta GT4 SuperCup which resumes at Rockingham this coming weekend, 6th/7th September, for rounds 21 and 22. Going into the event with a 29 point lead over closest rival Carl Breeze, Charlie has six victories and seven other podiums under his belt and is determined to claim more silverware a few days from now.“It’s been a busy couple of weeks with Knockhill the weekend before last, V de V and now the trip to Rockingham but I’m really looking forward to it”, said the Investigo and Blackstar-backed driver, “My aim is to get back on the top step of the podium, we need to score as heavily as we can to try and increase the championship lead a bit more but if we can take a couple of podiums, that’ll be OK.”Michelin Ginetta GT4 SuperCup qualifying will take place at 12.10 on Saturday, 6th September, at Rockingham’s International Super Sportscar Circuit with rounds 21 and 22 following on Sunday, 7th September, at 09.40 and 15.10 respectively – the second encounter will be screened live on ITV4 and ITV4 HD, with live streaming online at www.itv.com/btccProvisional 2014 Michelin Ginetta GT4 SuperCup Driver Standings (after Rd20):1st Charlie Robertson, 526pts
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