Ginetta GT4 Supercup

Oliphant Battles His Tyres To Maintain Points Advantage

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Tom Oliphant preserved his healthy Michelin Ginetta GT4 Supercup championship lead with a pair of podium finishes during the double-header weekend at Rockingham.

Oliphant had won six of the last nine races ahead of the meeting, but was restricted to a second and a third place finish in Corby as he battled tyre wear in his G55.

The Century Motorsport man had kicked off the weekend with his fourth consecutive pole position in qualifying, but saw 2012 champion Breeze jump him off the line in race one to take a lead he wouldn’t relinquish.

In race two, Oliphant found himself unable to match the pace of the HHC cars, with Burns putting him under immense pressure before taking second just after the halfway mark.

Third was still enough to extend his podium streak to thirteen in a row though, with that now becoming the second longest podium run in Supercup history.

“All throughout testing, we always knew we had better qualifying pace than we had race pace, so that’s something we worked on all weekend,” said Oliphant.

“Our races were hampered by the fact the drivers around us had the benefit of better spare tyres than us after they didn’t finish races earlier in the season. So to come away with two podiums is great.”

With his closest points rival heading into the meeting Jamie Orton electing to miss raceday, Oliphant’s points advantage only ended up being trimmed by two points across the meeting.

Breeze is now the driver chasing him down as the Supercup heads to Silverstone at the end of the month, a meeting in which Oliphant is confident he can get back to the top step of the podium.

“I’m pretty much in the same position in the championship that I was before Rockingham, except I’ve now got Carl [Breeze] behind me instead of Jamie [Orton],” he added.

“We’ll push on for Silverstone, and I see no reason why we can’t go there and be very quick. We’re in the best position at the moment, we’ve just got to be smart.”

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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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