Ginetta GT4 Supercup

Davenport Back On Top With Hard-Earned Win

3 Mins read

Luke Davenport capped off a dream weekend for United Autosports in the Michelin Ginetta GT4 Supercup with his second win of the season in the final race of the weekend at Knockhill.

Davenport led home team-mate Carl Breeze for a one-two finish in an action-packed third race, with Breeze’s two wins earlier in the weekend ensuring it was a race win hat-trick from the weekend for the team.

Breeze had earlier drawn Davenport onto the reverse grid pole position, and the Ginetta GT5 Challenge graduate seized the opportunity to lead the race from lights-to-flag, however it was far from plain sailing with a six car train battling at the head of the field throughout.

The front-runners maintained their grid order through to the end of the second lap, when contact from Andrew Watson spun David Pittard out of second place, the concertina effect behind giving Breeze the perfect chance to make a decisive move past title rival Charlie Robertson.

Watson emerged in second place and was soon hounding Davenport at the front, with Breeze, Robertson, Will Burns and Jamie Orton in close pursuit.

Watson’s best chance came on lap fourteen when a big slide for Davenport out of Clark gave the Irishman a run heading into the final hairpin. Davenport defended the inside line though, with Watson having to slam the door shut on the exit to stop Breeze squeezing alongside.

Two laps later Watson received a five second penalty for exceeding track limits, and while that dropped him to the bottom of the top six on the adjusted times, the Irishman continued to battle for the lead on track.

While Breeze backed off to settle for third on the road, Davenport was left defending his lead until the flag, but did so successfully for a hard-earned victory, his first since the opening weekend of the season.

“You want to win by being out front on your own, but there was a lot of defending in that one,” said Davenport.

“I’m just delighted to get my second win in my rookie year. I’m getting more consistent now and just want to keep doing a good job now for the sponsors and the team and keep learnng.”

Breeze took second in the classified results to cap off a superb weekend for the 2012 Supercup champion, that result added to his two wins moving him 29 points shy of Robertson’s points lead.

“I could see Andrew had the five second penalty, so there was no point going for that second place in the late stages,” commented Breeze. “It’s been a fantastic weekend, two wins and a second place has really brought the championship alive again.”

Robertson completed the podium meanwhile, his thirteenth of the season, with Burns close behind to continue a fantastic run of ten consecutive top five finishes for the Academy Motorsport racer, a feat no other driver on the grid has done so far this season.

Orton bounced back from missing race two to climb from the back of the grid to fifth at the finish, while a recovering Pittard set the fastest lap of the race en-route to a top six finish that keeps his slender title hopes alive.

Watson ended up seventh in the final results ahead of series newcomer Rory Bryant, with Tom Oliphant seeing his championship chances disappear with a disappointing ninth place finish. Dan Norris-Jones rounded out the top ten.

There was an unsavoury end to the race behind them meanwhile, with Fergus Walkinshaw, who was earlier spun out of seventh place by Pittard, coming to blows with Reece Somerfield on the final lap over eleventh place.

After the chequered flag, they continued their battle, with Somerfield punting Walkinshaw around at the first corner, before Walkinshaw hit him back later around the lap – incidents both drivers were excluded post-race for.

Full race results can be found here.

 

Provisional Michelin Ginetta GT4 Supercup Standings (After Rd.20 of 27):

1. Charlie Robertson – HHC Motorsport – 526pts

2. Carl Breeze – United Autosports – 497pts

3. Andrew Watson – Douglas Motorsport – 434pts

4. David Pittard – SV Racing – 431pts

5. Tom Oliphant – Century Motorsport – 392pts

6. Luke Davenport – United Autosports – 359pts

7. Will Burns – Academy Motorsport – 324pts

8. Jamie Orton – HHC Motorsport – 279pts

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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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