Sharp sweeps again for six of the best
Posted: April 18, 2011 Filed under: Ginetta Cup | Tags: Carl Breeze, Ginetta GT Supercup, jake hill, nathan freke, Tom Ingram, Tom Sharp Leave a commentThe Ginetta GT Supercup is already becoming a showcase affair for Tom Sharp as he dominated the weekend with another hat-trick of wins this time at Donington Park.
Having claimed a second pole in a row, Sharp then got a perfect start in the first race of the weekend on Saturday to head his main rival Carl Breeze into the first corner. The race then became a time trial between the two drivers up front, but Sharp was in control all the way through to the flag which was waved for his fourth victory of the year.
Breeze could not match Sharp’s qualifying effort in the early stages of the session, one that ended early when he threw the car off the road and effectively handed his rival the pole on his way to second place despite the off.
The weekend for Breeze started well when it came to racing as he shadowed the orange G55 of Sharp all the way through the race, but was unable to get close enough for a chance to overtake as he crossed the line 1.1s behind Sharp after the 12 laps.
Race two was a different story for Breeze however, as he suffered problems and dropped out of the race on lap six, whilst the story for Sharp was a familiar story as he took an easy fifth win in five races, over five seconds ahead of Adam Morgan.
The weekend however was again one to forget for their third rival Nathan Freke, who retired from the Saturday race on lap two when he went off the road and beached the Century racing G55 in the gravel trap at Mcleans. His weekend went from bad to worse as he again did not finish the second race of the weekend, echoing his troubles at Brands Hatch.
Colin White was again the man drawn on pole for the reverse-grid race three, and just like Brands Hatch he drove solidly early in the race to hang on to the lead. The pressure was to come once again from Sharp who cleanly made his way through from fifth on the grid to snatch the lead from White at half distance.
The race would again turn out to be a nightmare for White just like Brands Hatch when he outbraked himself battling for third place at the chicane, opting for the escape road rather than the gravel as he dropped to 10th place in the process.
The race was all about the progress of Freke and Breeze from the ninth – and last – row of the grid. Breeze made a brillant start to move into the top 10 early in the race, and as the race progressed he and Freke carved their way through the G50 leaders and then begun a battle to take the final step on the podium.
Freke made his move at Redgate late on but went into the corner too deep and gave the spot back on the exit, before the battle was then settled on the last lap when Freke barrelled up the inside into Mcleans, Breeze backing out to avoid contact as he conceeded third place.
The second race of the day was a thriller not for the battle between the frontruners, but the G50 drivers as they gave the thousands of fans their money’s worth with an enthralling five-car battle. Tom Ingram and Aaron Williamson swapped the lead a number of times in the second half of the race, and as Ingram made a move into Redgate he drifted wide and allowed Williamson back alongside through Craner Curves.
The battle was now a five-car squabble as Andrew and Louise Richardson – who had had their own incident in the previous race – joined the battle between Ingram, Williamson and Jody Fannin, and as the gaggle of cars all continued to swap places every lap, Richardson got a run on class leader Williamson through Old Hairpin only to collect him and send the pair of them into the gravel at Mcleans, taking the innocent Ingram out with them.
After his win in race one, Ingram then managed to claw his way up to second place in the G50s to maintain the class championship lead and second overall in the Supercup series behind Sharp.
The star of the third race of the day turned out to be Jake Hill, the former Ginetta Junior race winner taking his first G50 win with a brilliant fifth place overall in the final race.