Tom Ingram produced a fantastic performance to chase down and beat Carl Breeze to take victory in Round 21 of the 2012 Michelin Ginetta GT Supercup, both driver’s taking a massive chunk out of Tom Sharp’s points lead after the championship leader crashed out.
Ingram began the race from pole position, however a slow start saw him drop to third behind Breeze and Andrew Richardson, whilst a great start for Sharp saw him climb from sixth on the grid to fourth.
Sharp was instantly under pressure from Jake Hill though, the Tollbar Racing with WIRED driver working his way past on four. A struggling Sharp was soon under pressure from Jamie Orton, with the two coming to blows on lap seven, resulting in Sharp spinning out into the gravel trap at the final chicane, with Orton also retiring.
The safety car was brought out to allow the safe retrieval of Sharp’s car, with just six G55’s left in the field, after a spin on lap five for Hunter Abbott ended in him getting collected by Marcus Hogarth, causing both to retire, while Fergus Walkinshaw was forced to go off track in avoidance, eventually leading to his own retirement.
A good restart for Breeze saw him lead away at the front, while behind, an early move at Tarzan saw Ingram take second from Richardson, with Hill following through to drop Richardson to fourth.
Ahead, Breeze had already managed to go two seconds clear, but Ingram was soon working on closing him down. The KX Akademy star set three consecutive lap records to close the gap to under a second and after two lap of running behind the leader, Ingram made his move at the end of the penultimate lap.
The JHR Developments driver got better drive out of the final corner and pulled alongside Breeze as they crossed the line. The two stayed side-by-side through turn one, but with the inside line to his advantage, Ingram took the place into Deene Hairpin.
He went on to take his fifth victory of the season, with Breeze 1.7s behind in second, while last lap contact with Richardson saw Hill saw him drop to seventh, Richardson taking third ahead of Colin White. Fifth overall and top of the G50 class was Mark Davies, the runaway class leader joined on the podium by Rob Gaffney and Declan Jones, with series newcomer Harry Cockill a strong fourth on his debut.
*UPDATE: Post-race, a 15.1 penalty was awarded to Richardson for his last-lap contact with Hill, dropping Richardson to seventh place, one place behind Hill.