Nathan Freke returned to the Michelin Ginetta GT Supercup in style with a lights to flag victory in Round 10 at Oulton Park.
Taking the lead off the line, Freke fended off some strong early pressure from pole-sitter Tom Ingram before breaking clear to secure the win on his one-off return to the championship.
A slow getaway for Ingram allowed Freke to storm into the lead at the start, with Ingram just fending off the fast-starting Mark Davies, the reigning G50 champion passing Total Control Racing team-mate Carl Breeze off the line.
Rob Boston got up to fifth at the start, however the KX Akademy star’s race didn’t last much longer, his race ending at Knickerbrook on the opening lap.
Ingram began to put race-leader Freke under immense pressure, however a challenge on lap five didn’t come off, allowing Freke to forge a gap and leaving Ingram with Davies right on his rear bumper.
As Freke went on to cross the line 4.6 seconds clear to record his comeback victory, Davies challenged Ingram lap after lap, but was unable to find a way past, Ingram taking second at the flag.
Behind Davies, Breeze found himself in a hard-fought battle from Pepe Massot, the Spaniard putting the reigning champion under severe pressure. The Hillspeed driver’s race came to an end on three laps from the end however.
Breeze took fourth ahead of team-mate Jamie Orton, with G50 graduate Reece Somerfield completing the top six. Carl Boardley took seventh ahead of Fergus Walkinshaw and Marcus Hogarth, with Colin White completing the top ten ahead of Dan Norris-Jones and David Dickenson, both drivers competing in a G55 for the first time.
In the under-represented G50 class, class leader Sean Huyton retired early on, leaving the only other competitor in the class, Ginetta works driver Mike Simpson, to cruise to the win on his second appearance in the series this season.
Full results can be found here: http://tsl-timing.com/toca/2013/132303g50.pdf