Ginetta GT5 ChallengeGinetta Series

Basey-Fisher Aiming For Third After Strong Spa Showing

2 Mins read

The Protyre Ginetta GT5 Challenge’s trip to Spa-Francorchamps proved one to remember for Oli Basey-Fisher, who is now aiming for a top-three finish following a brace of podiums at the Belgian venue.

The former Ginetta Junior racer had one of his best weekends of the 2013 season at the iconic Spa circuit, Basey-Fisher taking the first of two podiums during the weekend’s three races after making a great start from fourth on the grid, passing championship leader Brad Bailey on lap three before following home Academy Motorsport team-mate Will Burns for an eighth podium of the season.

While Burns secured a triple win that weekend, Basey-Fisher again joined him on the rostrum in race two as he recovered tremendously following a mediocre getaway when the lights went out that slipped him to seventh. The Great Finborough teenager made amends however as he carved through the pack and into the podium positions, just shading Bailey for second position by 0.3 seconds at the flag.

Running second in round 15 during the early stages, an engine problem hampered Basey-Fisher as he found himself edged down to fourth position by the flag’s arrival, but this still capped off a superb weekend for the youngster that saw him finish runner-up behind Burns in the weekend’s inaugural European Ginetta GT5 Challenge, the series having been joined by their Swedish G40 counterparts.

“It’s absolutely fantastic to have become European Vice-Champion”, reflected Basey-Fisher. “It was an amazing weekend at Spa, the Academy Motorsport guys did a great job with the car and to have taken two podiums on my first ever visit was as much as we could have hoped for. It really has given me a major boost for the last two events of the year now at Brands Hatch and Donington.”
 
Basey-Fisher’s trio of top-four finishes sees him lie fourth in the championship with two rounds at Brands Hatch and Donington remaining, 65 points away from series leader Bailey but just six behind third place man David Pittard, a scalp of whom Basey-Fisher feels he can topple.
 
“It would have obviously been fantastic to make it three podiums from three races at Spa, without the engine issues we’d have done it. It was really important to take away as many points as we could though, we’re now within six points of the championship top three so it’s all to play for with six races still to go in the season. It’s been a great year so far, I can’t wait now for Brands.”
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