Ginetta GT4 Supercup

Freke Takes Second Croft Win

2 Mins read

Nathan Freke took his second win of the weekend in Round Fourteen of the 2011 Michelin Ginetta GT Supercup at Croft, a race that saw cars going off left, right and centre and ended up with Carl Breeze moving into the championship lead after retirement for Tom Sharp.

With the front five reversed from the days previous race result, Breeze found himself on pole with Freke alongside him. A good start from the front two saw them lead away, with Stefan Hodgetts working his way into third ahead of Sharp. Contact at the first corner saw spins for Colin White in his G55 and Jody Fannin in his G50.

In the G50 class, Aaron Williamson led in seventh overall, with Tom Ingram up to second from the back of the grid after a superb opening few corners. However his charge was to be halted at the Complex when he slid off into the barriers, as he had done the race before. He tried to continue in his Plans Motorsport car despite huge damage to the rear, but was later given the Black and Orange flag and retired.

At the front, Freke was right on Breeze's tail and made his move at Hawthorn on lap four, sliding through the lead. Behind, Sharp was coming under pressure from Morgan for fourth, however the Ciceley Racing driver was to soon go backwards when his bonnet began lifting, reducing his visibility. He was first passed by Tim Harvey at the Complex on lap seven, before losing another place to Optimum Motorsport's George Murrells a lap later.

Morgan's demise allowed Sharp to focus on catching Hodgetts and he was soon on the JHR Development driver's bumper. He got a run out of Sunny Out on lap eight and dived up the inside at the Complex, but contact sent both of them spinning off and out of the race.

This brought out the safety car, cutting short Freke's lead from Breeze. Harvey and Murrells benefited to move into third and fourth, while now fifth was Williamson, whose huge G50 lead was wiped out, with Jake Hill sixth.

The race restarted on lap fourteen of a now eighteen lap race. Freke pulled a small advantage from Breeze, while in the G50 battle, Hill was pushed wide by the G55 of White, allowing Lee Pattison and Fannin past.

Ahead, Total Control Racing's Harvey was challenging for second place and went for the outside line at the hairpin. Murrells tried to benefit from this and stuck his nose up the inside, but a tap on Harvey's rear sent him spinning round. The former BTCC champion pulled into the pits and retired soon after.

Making progress through the field was White, who past Murrells at Tower on lap sixteen for third, before chasing down Breeze in second. On the final lap, he made a move at Tower but just missed out. He tried again at the hairpin but spun on the outside line, dropping to the back of the field. Behind, contact by Alistair James on Murrells at the Complex sent them both spinning off, with James' race ending in the barriers.

Missing all the chaos was Freke, who cruised home to a 9.4 second win, his third of the season.  Breeze took second, while taking a sensational outright podium after the last lap skirmishes was G50 class winner Williamson, the first time this season a G50 had finished in the top three overall. Pattison took fourth from Fannin and Hill, while Morgan finished seventh after taking a pitstop during the safety car period to tape down his bonnet. White and Murrells completed the finishers, with only nine cars making the end.

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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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