James Kellett took his tally of wins for the year into double figures at Snetterton 300 Circuit over the weekend, 22nd/23rd August, with victory in round 17 of the Ginetta GT5 Challenge – bookended by runner-up spots in rounds 16 and 18 – moving the Total Control Racing driver ever closer to the title.
With just three races now remaining, at Donington Park Grand Prix Circuit next month, Kellett holds a provisional lead of 34 points at the top of the standings as Wednesbury-based TCR seeks to retain the championship it won last year with George Gamble.
Team-mate Callum Pointon secured a hat-trick of third places at Snetterton to consolidate his top three position in the driver standings, while Ian Robinson achieved a best finish of eighth in the second encounter.
As well as the team’s commitments at Snetterton in Norfolk, TCR was also in action 425 miles away at Knockhill in Scotland where the squad's Ginetta Junior Championship drivers were competing in rounds 13 and 14 of their season.
Matt Chapman produced his best weekend of the year with sixth position in race one and fifth in race two, having delivered a season-best top four qualifying performance, while Cameron Roberts took eighth place in the opening encounter.
Connor Grady, on only his third weekend in the series, achieved a career-best 11th position in race one and another top 15 finish in the second contest, but Dave Wooder endured another nightmare outing as ongoing power issues with his Ginetta G40 – the cause of a lot of head scratching among the technical team at Ginetta Cars – hold back his true level of performance.
“It was another strong weekend for the Challenge boys at Snetterton, it’s great to get another win with James and he made sure his championship lead is strong going into the last round”, said TCR team principal Lee Brookes, “Three podiums for Callum is great going again and Ian showed good pace, just unfortunate how the last race turned out in very difficult conditions.
“At Knockhill, Matt had the sort of weekend we know he’s been capable of and we’re hopeful he’s going to be able to build on this now. Cameron was quick again as we expected and Connor did a great job – he’s improving all the time. The whole team is really frustrated for Dave, we’ve changed everything on the car linked to the engine but Ginetta still can’t get to the bottom of the problem.”
More podium success for Kellett and Pointon at Snetterton Ginetta GT5 Challenge points leader Kellett qualified second fastest for race one at Snetterton, round 16, and after a great launch he managed to get ahead of chief title rival Ollie Chadwick who he kept at bay until the early part of lap four. After being nudged back to second, Kellett refused to be dropped and finished just 0.1 seconds shy at the flag on lap seven.
In round 17, Kellett lined-up on pole position and made his grid-topping placing count to stay ahead of Chadwick on the run to Riches. Under immense pressure throughout, the TCR driver produced a superb performance and never put a wheel wrong on his way to a slim 0.4 second victory.
While round 18 started on a dry track, very early in the race rain began to fall making the contest incredibly tricky with an increasingly wet track surface offering precious little grip for the Ginettas on slick tyres. Kellett led away from pole again and although edged back to second place on lap five by Chadwick he was determined to re-take the lead and almost did so on a dramatic final lap.
Pointon, who began each of the races from third on the grid, had two relatively lonely outings in rounds 16 and 17 on his way to a pair of clear top three finishes but in the rain-affected final race he did manage to move into second at the beginning. Edged back again to third by Chadwick, he again concluded the contest in an unchallenged third position.
Robinson started race one from ninth and although edged back down to 12th place, he mounted a brief recovery before subsequently slipping back to 15th position. Determined to undo the damage, Robinson climbed back into 13th place before the finish – just 0.9 seconds shy of the top 12.
Race two was the highlight in terms of performance with an impressive drive through the order from 11th position into the top eight. In the final encounter, though, Robinson unfortunately had a spin as the track got increasingly wet and ended his involvement with a couple of laps to go – having been as high as seventh place.
Progress for Grady at Knockhill as Chapman finally has trouble-free weekend In the latest rounds of the Ginetta Junior Championship season at Knockhill in Fife, Chapman produced impressive pace in testing and qualifying and in race one on Saturday afternoon he was in the fight for third position until a moment on lap five at Scotsman.
Slipping to seventh place after the half-spin, he fought back into the top six where he remained to the chequered flag – although he did momentarily snatch fifth over the line at one point – and then went on to add an improved fifth position in race two, his best result of 2015 so far.
Roberts qualified ninth for round 13 on his first visit to Knockhill and during the early laps he reeled off impressive pace, setting the fastest lap on the third tour. Moving into eighth on lap five, he then climbed into seventh before a see-saw battle with Patrik Matthiesen. An unfortunate last lap tangle dropped Roberts to ninth but a penalty for a rival hoisted him into eighth, second of the rookies.
Wooder and Grady lined-up further towards the tail of the grid in race one, starting 17th and 19th respectively, but both made very strong progress with Grady, in particular, profiting from a big midfield battle early in the second half of the contest to climb into 13th position.
Then, on the final lap, the 14-year-old moved up into the top 12 to secure his best finish yet in Ginetta Junior – later becoming 11th and fifth of the rookies due to Ben Green’s penalty. Wooder, still having huge problems with a lack of power, finished the contest in 15th position.
Race two was the least fruitful of the weekend for TCR as a whole, with Roberts unable to make the start after contact before heading to the grid while Wooder didn’t take the race start either due to his ongoing car problems. Grady, though, produced a good drive to 15th position to cap his best outing yet in the ultra-competitive series.
Total Control Racing will be back in action two weeks from now, on 5th/6th September, at Rockingham in Northamptonshire for rounds 15 and 16 of the Ginetta Junior season. The team’s Ginetta GT5 Challenge squad will contest the grand finale of its campaign on 12th/13th September at Donington Park Grand Prix Circuit in Leicestershire.
