Ginetta Junior

Robertson Untroubled On Route To Thruxton Win

2 Mins read

No-One Could Get Near Charlie Robertson In The Opening Race - Photo Credit: Stuart Paice

 

Charlie Robertson took a commanding victory in Round Five of the 2012 Ginetta Junior Championship, the HHC Motorsport driver dominating from lights to victory for his second victory of the season.

After a couple of controversial, action packed races last time at Donington Park, the opening encounter around the high-speed circuit proved to be a much more sedate affair by Juniors standards.

Robertson dominated the wet qualifying session earlier in the day to line up on pole position for the race, which began in dry, overcast conditions. The HHC Motorsport driver led away well from pole, while behind a fantastic start from Harry Woodhead saw him storm from fifth into second, front-row starter Niall Murray slipping to fourth behind his Douglas Motorsport team-mate Andrew Watson.

Robertson instantly began to build a gap at the front, while Woodhead was able to break away from the Irishmen behind, who started battling between themselves, with Murray making his way into third heading into the final chicane on lap two.

By the end of lap three, Robertson had built up a lead of over four seconds to Woodhead, who in turn was a further couple of seconds ahead of Murray. Watson ran fourth, but was soon coming under pressure from William Palmer, who showed great pace early on, passing Pepe Massot to take fifth on lap three.

As the race reached mid-distance, the rain began to fall lightly once again, but with the drivers on wet tyres, it didn’t pose a problem. At the front, Robertson was consolidating his lead, with Woodhead starting to get slowly clawed in by Murray behind. There was a change for fourth on lap seven, with the impressive Palmer finding his way past at the Complex. Behind them, championship leader Sennan Fielding was in a lowly seventh, the JHR Developments driver unable to make the progress through the field many expected.

With three laps to go, Murray found his way past Woodhead on the run to the final chicane to take second, but there wasn't enough time left for him to challenge Robertson, who crossed the line for his second win of the season, with Murray picking up his fourth podium of the year so far.

Beacon Racing's Woodhead held third for a fantastic maiden Ginetta Junior podium, with Palmer taking a season's best fourth place for HHC Motorsport. Watson continued his impressive season to date with fifth, while behind a fantastic battle for sixth went down to the final corner. Spaniard Massot just emerged ahead of Hillspeed team-mate Nathan Harrison, who pipped Fielding in a drag race out of the chicane by just 0.088s, dropping the championship leader to eighth. Keith Donegan and Tom Jackson completed the top ten ahead of Oliver Basey-Fisher and Oliver Chadwick, all twelve entrants finishing the race.

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Simon is an experienced journalist and PR officer, who has worked in the national motorsport paddocks for over a decade, primarily on the BTCC support package.
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