Carl Breeze cruised home to victory in Round 11 of the Michelin Ginetta G50 Cup at Oulton Park to cap off a sensational weekend for the Total Control Racing driver. A year after his title ambitions were derailed at the same circuit, two dominant victories have given him the advantage in this years title battle.
Starting on pole once again, Breeze was joined on the front row by main title rival Frank Wrathall. Chris Dittmann qualified third, with Optimum Motorsport's Mark Davies fourth. As the lights went out, both Breeze and Wrathall started well, but Breeze maintained his lead after holding the inside line for Old Hall. Dittmann followed Breeze on the inside line and was able to squeeze past Wrathall into second. Behind, a spin for Mark Davies dropped him down the field, promoting Stephen Tyldsley to fourth.
Former Grand Prix driver Martin Donnelly made a great start from eighth place, moving into the top six and taking the lead in the Chairman's Cup category. This was short lived though, as contact at the hairpin on lap three, from his main Chairman's Cup rival Colin White, ended his race prematurely. It was then White's turn to face contact a few laps later, with a collision at Knickerbrook with Charlie Butler-Henderson pushing him down the order.
Back at the front, the impressive Dittmann was applying large amounts of pressure to Breeze, looking for ways to try and get past him into the lead. He was pushing his car to its limits in an attempt to find a way by and this proved to be his downfall. On lap ten, he carried too much speed into Old Hall corner, pitching his car into a spin and dropping him down the field. The mistake left Breeze out clear in front, with a comfortable margin over Wrathall and Tyldsley behind.
Further down the order, Alice Powell was impressing the bumper crowd, with the youngster slowly moving her way up the order, from tenth on the grid into the top six.. Her great drive was to come to a heartbreaking end with four laps to go though, with a gearbox problem forcing her to retire.
As the race came to its conclusion, Breeze crossed the line for his fifth victory of the season. Wrathall came across the line second, though only 0.6 seconds ahead of the impressive Tyldsley in third. It was a great performance by Tyldsley, picking up his first ever G50 podium finish. Just outside the podium places were the Century Motorsport duo, Benji and Freddie Hetherington. After his earlier spin, Dittmann crossed the line a frustrating sixth. Phil Broad finished seventh, with Juilen Draper eighth, series debutant Rod McGovern a strong ninth and Adam Morgan tenth. After Donnelly's and White's earlier misdemeanours, it was left to Tony Hughes to take the Chairman's Cup honours in thirteenth.
As the series heads to the “home” of Ginetta Cars, Croft in North Yorkshire, for the next three rounds of the series on June 19/20, Breeze heads the championship, three points ahead of Wrathall. Benji Hetherington remains third in the standings, with Dittmann fourth and Tyldsley moving up to fifth.
Photo credit: Jakob Ebrey Photography
