Following his maiden Protyre Ginetta Gt5 Challenge victory last time out at Silverstone, David Pittard is aiming to pick up further success in this weekend’s fourth round at Snetterton as he bids to trim the points gap to the championship leaders.
Having missed pre-race testing prior to Silverstone due to work commitments with the McLaren Formula 1 team, the SV21 driver immediately threw down a gauntlet at the British Grand Prix venue by claiming his maiden Ginetta GT5 Challenge pole position on the Saturday afternoon.
He then fought out a thrilling scrap with the now former championship leader Brad Bailey in the weekend’s first race to claim the first victory of his rookie season, Pittard absorbing huge pressure from his rival who spun out attempting a lunge up the inside into Brooklands.
“After having to miss Friday practice it was fantastic to go P1 on my first flying lap of Silverstone”, commented Pittard. “I then put in another good lap to also take P1 for the 2nd race. To take both Pole Positions was a great result for us, considering the track had changed from the last time I drove it, meaning the setup on the car was far from optimal.”
“I made a great start in the first race, getting the jump on everyone and breaking the tow,” said David. “As the race progressed Brad started to catch me. As he started to attack I covered his every move until he made a mistake and spun, relieving me of the pressure before going on to take my first Ginetta win! It was a great result, and thoroughly deserved for all the effort the team and I have put in.”
Pittard again was on fine form in the second race of the weekend, taking a much more comfortable triumph to make it two wins from two. However, the race win was this time later stripped away from him after the SV21 driver checked his tyre pressures following the race, resulting in disappointment as he was excluded from the result, before superbly fighting back through the field from the rear end of the grid to an eventual fourth place having gained 16 places on the first lap alone.
“I made another great start”, he said after race two. “I broke the tow again and pulled away, managing the gap to 2nd. As the guys behind me began to scrap it gave me the opportunity to pull out a comfortable margin, which I held to the flag to take our second win of the weekend, and with it the points to take the Championship lead. We are always looking to improve the car and the set-up,” he reflected. “Just because we win the race doesn’t mean there isn’t room for improvement – that’s why we checked the tyre pressures. We were excluded, and that’s that. It’s a shame because we were clearly the fastest car out there today. It’s done and we have to move on.”
Pittard’s promising performance throughout the Silverstone weekend puts him in good mind as he bids to add more victories to his 2013 season at round four at Snetterton this weekend, and the Hertfordshire star is full of optimism ahead of the fight in front of him, having already had a great brief history here by qualifying on pole position in every outing he has had at the Norfolk venue.
Lying only 44 points off championship leader Will Burns, Pittard stated: “I’m really looking forward to Snetterton. With my run of 2 seconds and 2 wins in the past 6 races, I’ve been itching to get to Snetterton to carry on our great form.
“I feel extremely comfortable with the car following our success at Silverstone. As usual the team have been working very hard in preparing the car, and we are all eager to get out there and continue our Championship title assault. Although this weekend marks the halfway point in the season, there are still a large amount of championship points on offer. Its my job now to make sure we get as many of them as possible!”
