Tom Sharp continued his incredible winning record with victory in Round five of the 2011 Michelin Gineta GT Supercup, his five consectutive win this season. The 19 year old led from lights to flag to take the win, while Jody Fannin benefitted from a dramatic incident to take the G50 class win.
Sharp's job was made easier when two of his main rivals ran into problems early on. First former G50 Cup winner Nathan Freke was forced to pit after the green flag lap with a driveshaft failure. Then front row starter Carl Breeze was unable to get off the line when his car developed a throttle sensor issue, with his rivals somehow managing to avoid him. He eventually managed to get going but was soon in the pits to try and solve the problem.
This allowed pole man an easy run into Redgate for the first time, leading from Ginetta returnee Freddie Hetherington, Optimum Motorsport's George Murrells and Adam Morgan. In the G50 class, Aaron Williamson jumping up from fourth in the class on the grid to lead the way from Tom Ingram, Jake Hill and Rob Gaffney.
It was the G50 class that provided the race's main entertainment, with Andy Richardson and Fannin soon catching on to the lead quartet to make it a six way fight for the lead. A mistake at Coppice on lap six saw Ingram drop down, with Hill also losing out, allowing Richardson and Gaffney into second and third respectively.
Gaffney soon came under pressure from Fannin, who swept through into third, with Ingram also working his way past into fourth, before quickly dispatching Fannin. Ahead, Williamson finally lost his lead on lap nine at the Old Hairpin to Richardson, with Ingram passing him at the same place a lap later for second.
There fighting continued until it all went wrong on lap thirteen. A strong run out of Redgate saw Ingram get alongside Richardson down the Craner Curves. The duo ran slightly wide out of the Hairpin, bunching themselves up with Williamson and Gaffney on the approach to McLeans. Contact between Williamson and Richardson sent the latter into Ingram, with all three spinning off into the gravel and out of the race. This let Fannin through into the lead, with Louise Richardson moving into second ahead of Hill.
Ahead, a battle emerged for second, with lap fourteen proving decisive. Morgan got past Murrells at the Old Hairpin and then swept past Hetherington on the run to McLeans after he drifted wide at the same corner to take second, with Murrells also finding his way past the Century Motorsport man for third.
Sharp was facing no such challenges, driving into the distance to take the win by over five seconds. Ciceley Racing's Morgan took second, his third podium of the year, with Murrells claiming his second podium in third. Century Motorsport's Hetherington finished fourth, with Colin White a lonely fifth and Total Control Racing's Joachim Ritter taking sixth after working his way through from last on the grid.
Fannin took the G50 win in seventh overall, ahead of Richardson, Hill, Gaffney and Beacon Racing's Irishman Connaire Finn. Completing the finishers were G55 runners Jordan Skinner and Alistair James.
