George Murrells had a mixed weekend in the Michelin Ginetta GT Supercup at Thruxton, the Optimum Motorsport driver overcoming contact in the first race to take two top five finishes over the weekend, keeping himself on the edge of the championship battle.
Heading into the meeting Murrells felt the weekend was going to be a struggle, with no testing at the track over the winter and his last appearance at the high-speed circuit being three years ago in a stock hatch Citroen Saxo. Despite this, George was able to set the sixth fastest time in qualifying, despite a small sideways moment at the Chicane on his fastest lap.
Saturday's race saw a good start moving reigning Ginetta Challenge champion Murrells ahead of rival Colin White, however contact from White sent George spinning off circuit. Re-joining with deranged suspension, he was only able to work his way back to tenth place in a car seriously off the pace.
Race two demanded a strong drive back into the pack, which 22-year-old George provided, working from his tenth place on the grid through to fourth by the finish, setting several fastest laps in the process, finishing up only a second off a podium finish.
Race three saw George avoid a start line incident, before pushing on after the restart, moving past White on lap nine for fourth place. He chased down championship leader Tom Sharp in third, cutting the gap from four seconds down to one, but just running out of laps before being able to make a challenge for a podium.
Murrells, who has now picked up five fourth place finishes and two podiums this season, now lies in fourth place in the championship standings as he heads to the next rounds at Oulton Park on June 4-5.
