Tom Sharp Was Closely Pursued By Tom Ingram And Carl Breeze Early On - Photo Credit: Stuart Paice
Tom Sharp has continued his incredible start to the 2012 Michelin Ginetta GT Supercup with a lights to flag victory in the opening race of the weekend at Thruxton, the IDL UK driver's sixth win in the opening seven races of the season.
Sharp started the race from pole position, with a great getaway seeing him lead into Allard for the first time, with fellow front-row starter Tom Ingram slotting into second. Storming up to third from fifth on the grid was Carl Breeze, while falling down the order after a poor start from fourth was Josh Wakefield.
The front three quickly broke away from the pack behind and ran closely early on. JHR Development's Ingram looked to make an early attack for the lead and despite getting close a couple of times, the reigning G50 Cup champion was unable to mount a proper challenge, with Sharp soon able to start edging away in front.
Fergus Walkinshaw ran a lonely fourth early on, but he was slowly caught by a determined Andrew Richardson. The Richardson Racing driver got past on lap seven as he looked to make amends for a frustrating qualifying session, while Walkinshaw was soon coming under pressure from Hunter Abbott.
Ahead, under no such pressure was Sharp, the V-Cars backed driver able to pull a gap of over a second on route to yet another victory. Ingram took second, with Breeze rounding off the podium ahead of Richardson. Walkinshaw held off Abbott to keep fifth, with Wakefield and Jamie Orton completing the top eight. The only other G55 runners, Marcus Hoggarth and Colin White, finished a lap down at the back of the pack after incident-packed races.
In the G50 Cup, Mark Davies started on class pole and after a good getaway, led the class from lights to flag to secure his second class win of the season. All the action was behind, with a poor getaway for his Richardson Racing team-mate Louise Richardson seeing her drop from second to fourth in class at the start.
Max Coates stormed into second, however the Yorkshireman wasn't able to show the pace he had at Donington Park last time out and he soon came under pressure from Rob Gaffney. Gaffney passed him at the Chicane on lap two, before Richardson also found her way past at the same place on the next lap. Despite some strong pressure from Richardson, Gaffney held on for second, his seventh podium in seven races, with Richardson taking third ahead of Coates and a lap down, James Owen.
