Total Control Racing had a successful opening round of the 2010 Ginetta G50 Cup at Thruxton, Hampshire.
Carl Breeze took the team's first podium finish of the 2010 Ginetta G50 Championship, having taken the chequered flag in race two in third position – behind the dominant Dynojet drivers of Rob Huff and Frank Wrathall.
The first G50 race of the season saw Breeze start in fourteenth place after a wet qualifying session, an unusual starting position for one of the fastest drivers on the grid; the Kings Lynn racer produced the form which made him the driver to beat in the early part of 2009 and shows why he is one of the favourites for the 2010 title.
The weekends second race saw Breeze climb up from fifth on the grid to take the flag at the end of the two lap sprint in third. Breeze took fourth from Tom Sharp on lap two of the race and claimed the podium finish at the chicane on the final lap from Chris Dittman.
The final race of the weekend saw Breeze start fourth after the grid draw saw the top six drivers reversed a new feature to the Ginetta G50 Cup. Breeze spent most of the sixteen lap race with reduced vision after contact dislodged his bonnet, and around the fast sections of the airfield circuit, the bonnet was up so far that Breeze struggled to see.
For Breeze's team mate Joachim Ritter, Thruxton was one of the Swiss based Danish driver's strongest weekends in the BTCC supporting single make series. After a testing opening race of the season due to problems with windscreen wiper problems, races two and three showed that Ritter could be someone to watch in 2010.
The second race of the season saw Ritter start just outside the top ten in twelfth and made quick progress into the top eight, ahead of Julien Draper and just behind debutant Matt Bell, and on the final lap Ritter moved into seventh after Sharp spun away a top six finish.
The final race of the day for Ritter saw him record his best ever finish in the series, having shadowed his team mate Breeze for the whole race, finishing just seven tenths of a second behind his team mate. After the fifth place finish in race three, Ritter is currently fifth overall in the standings, his highest ever placing.
Speaking about the teams G50 performances, team boss of TCF Lee Brookes said: “Carl and Joachim had a great day on Sunday. Unfortunately Carl had some contact on the first lap of round three which meant the bonnet was flapping around a lot, causing him to lose pace as he couldn't see very well. Joachim was held up a bit by that but he's driven brilliantly this weekend, he's come on in leaps and bounds.”
Photo credit: Jakob Ebrey Photography
