Max Coates Kept Himself Right In The G50 Championship Battle With Two Podiums At Thruxton - Photo Credit: Stuart Paice
Redbrick Racing's Max Coates continued his impressive start to the 2012 season with two more G50 class podium finishes in Rounds Seven, Eight and Nine of the Ginetta GT Supercup at Thruxton.
After winning all three races at Donington Park last time out in his Harron Homes-backed car, Coates was keen to keep up the momentum in Hampshire and close in on the championship leader.
Coates was thrown in at the deep end though, with a wet qualifying session being the first time Coates would drive the track in the G50, and the first time he would drive the car in wet conditions. The Richmond Sixth Form student coped well though to put himself third on the grid for the opening race.
The opening race on a drying track saw Coates make a good start and move up to second, however he soon fell back to fourth as he learnt the track in the dry. As the race developed, Coates started to close in on a podium finish, but he left his charge too late and ended up fourth.
The second race took place in horrendous wet conditions, but Coates coped with it well. Moving up to third at the start, Coates went on to pass some faster G55 cars in his pursuit of second and despite his best efforts, he had to settle for third.
The final race of the weekend took place on a drying track; however wet tyres were still the best option. RGPS-backed Coates stormed past the championship leader a couple of laps in and pushed for the win, but with his car suffering with understeer, Coates had to stick to second, his sixth G50 podium in the opening nine races.
Coates said: “Two podiums isn't a bad way to come out a tough weekend, so I'm absolutely chuffed. Not having a test day on Friday has really hampered us this weekend and I'd have felt a lot more comfortable in the car in qualifying and the races had we had those two half hour sessions that we usually do.
“In the final race, I was trying to push for the win, but to be honest Louise [Richardson] drove brilliantly and got the set up spot on, so she could drive away while we suffered from understeer. Overall I'm very happy with the weekend though, coming into the season I'd have never expected two podiums in a weekend. It's not quite what we had at Donington, but I'm still over the moon and I think this weekend just highlights how special Donington was.”
