Simpson Race Products Ginetta Junior Championship driver Dave Wooder made a terrific start to the 2016 season for Total Control Racing at Brands Hatch over the weekend, 2nd/3rd April – a richly deserved double podium on his ‘home’ track also securing second place in the standings.
Converting a strong qualifying performance into third place during round one on Saturday and an improved second position in Sunday’s televised contest, the Chatham-based youngster confirmed both his pace and title challenging credentials.
Car racing newcomer Max Bird also shone for Wednesbury’s TCR over the weekend, the young karting graduate taking an outstanding fourth place in the season curtain-raiser as well as the Rookie class win.
Fellow category debutant Jordan Collard – son of British Touring Car Championship racer Rob – secured a best result of 10th position on his maiden appearance in cars, while Connor Grady ended a consistent weekend just shy of the championship top 10 thanks to a brace of strong results.
In the sister Michelin Ginetta GT4 Supercup, TCR started its first full season back in the category since 2013 with a hat-trick of strong points finishes for both Callum Pointon and Mark Davies – the former taking a best result of fifth and Davies claiming a best of sixth place.
“We wanted one place higher in the Juniors but we knew we’d be strong with Dave this weekend, he deserved a win but a second and a third is a fantastic way to start the year”, said TCR team principal Lee Brookes, “Max did a great job in race one, unfortunately he was tangled up in a mix-up at the beginning of race two otherwise he would’ve been right up there with Dave.
“Young Jordan has done a cracking job on his first weekend, he was very unfortunate to be taken out by another driver in race two but the pace is there. Connor has improved his lap times too and he was a bit unlucky not to get into the top 10. To be honest, the whole team has moved forward.”
Brookes added: “Mark and Callum are both on the back-foot a bit in the Supercup through a lack of testing, but they’ve made a consistent start to the season and I’m pretty confident we’ll get there soon. It’s been a solid, consistent weekend for both of them and we’re confident of more next time.”
Wooder and Bird star as Ginetta Junior season gets off to action-packed start Starting Saturday’s Ginetta Junior race from third spot, after setting fastest lap pace early on Wooder sliced through into second on lap three and on the very next tour he pounced to grab the lead from Stuart Middleton. After a Safety Car period, the TCR racer held the lead but after running wide he was edged back to second and ultimately third several laps later where he stayed.
Bird produced an outstanding debut drive, taking the Rookie win and finishing just behind Wooder in fourth overall. Starting the contest eighth, Bird put together a great first lap to climb into the top six and, prior to the Safety Car, a shuffling of the pack enabled him to slice his way through into third place. Although elbowed back to fourth at the resumption, he remained in touch with the top three.
Collard and Grady, meanwhile, finished where they started the race in 10th and 13th respectively but that was far from the full story, with both youngsters involved in very close battles during the 15 lap contest. Rookie racer Collard was edged back to 12th on lap one but fought his way through into ninth prior to the Safety Car before being nudged back to 10th a couple of laps from the end.
Likewise, Grady had to mount a recovery having been elbowed down to 18th position early on. Working his way back up into 13th place after the re-start, he produced a great piece of driving on lap 13 to gain two more positions but, after being edged onto the grass, he ended up 13th again.
For Sunday’s second round, Wooder was again involved in a fantastic scrap for the lead and only missed out on a maiden victory by 0.1 seconds. Making a good start from third on the grid, he then took second at Clark Curve and started to apply pressure to race one sparring partner Middleton.
With little to choose between the leading contenders, the battle raged race-long. Trying absolutely everything, Wooder left nothing on the table as he put his all into passing Middleton but in the end he had to settle for a nonetheless excellent runner-up spot.
Bird, lining-up fourth on the grid, didn’t launch as well as he would have liked and slipped down to ninth before then being shuffled back further to the tail of the top 20. Working hard to recover, Bird was back up into 13th place by mid-distance but more drama on the penultimate tour, a three-car tangle, dropped him back to 18th where he finished the race.
Fellow rookie Collard raced strongly once again from the fifth row of the grid and although initially losing a place on the first lap, he moved back into the top 10 on lap three and then climbed into ninth on the sixth tour. The next time around though, at Druids, Collard was tagged on the exit and pitched into the barriers – leading to a disappointing retirement to the pits.
From 13th on the grid, Grady was caught-up in a spin at Druids on the opening lap which dropped him down to 20th position but he made determined progress back through the order and managed to recover back to his starting position of 13th with a couple of laps to go.
Consistent points haul for Supercup racers Davies and PointonBeginning the first GT4 Supercup race of the year ninth and 10th on the grid respectively, Pointon and Davies both got away from the line cleanly with the former moving up into eighth. The order remained unchanged initially but at the start of the fourth tour, Tom Hibbert was able to challenge Pointon successfully at Paddock Hill Bend and edged the TCR driver down to ninth.
Following a Safety Car period between laps eight and 12, Davies made the most of the closed-up pack to fight his way through into the top eight as Pointon was edged back down to 10th, before then battling back ahead of Reece Somerfield into ninth. Very evenly matched in terms of pace, with just thousandths of a second between them, the team-mates stayed eighth and ninth to the flag.
Round two on Sunday morning started in dramatic fashion with a multi-car tangle at Paddock Hill Bend. While Davies managed to negotiate the spinning cars without too much delay, holding seventh place, Pointon slipped back to 11th position as a result of having to avoid the incident.
Davies moved into the top six within a couple of laps but on the seventh tour he dropped back behind Rob Gaffney. Staying in seventh until the closing stages, Davies mounted a big challenge with a handful of laps to go and successfully re-gained sixth out of Paddock Hill on the penultimate tour.
After his early delay, Pointon made swift progress back up the order and by lap seven he was back into the top eight. Thereafter, though, no further improvements were possible and the TCR racer stayed eighth to the flag on lap 23.
In the third and final race, Davies and Pointon enjoyed an entertaining inter-team battle in which places were traded on several occasions. Initially climbing into the top five from sixth on the grid, Davies ultimately had to settle for seventh place – the contest ending early when Red Flags were shown – while Pointon took his best result of the weekend in fifth, having started eighth on the grid.
Total Control Racing will be back on track a fortnight from now, over the weekend 16th/17th April, at Donington Park in Leicestershire for the second instalment in the Ginetta Junior and Ginetta GT4 Supercup campaigns. On the same weekend, TCR’s Ginetta GT5 Challenge team will get its season underway at Brands Hatch Grand Prix Circuit in Kent.
2016 Michelin Ginetta GT4 Supercup Driver Standings (after Rd3):7th Mark Davies, 50pts; 8th Callum Pointon, 48pts
2016 Michelin Ginetta GT4 Supercup Team Standings (after Rd3):1st Total Control Racing, 98pts
2016 Ginetta Junior Championship Driver Standings (after Rd2):2nd Dave Wooder, 56pts; 9th Max Bird, 26pts; 11th Connor Grady, 17pts;15th Jordan Collard, 11pts
2016 Ginetta Junior Championship Team Standings (after Rd2):3rd Total Control Racing, 87pts
