Richardson Racing brought their 2012 Michelin Ginetta GT Supercup season to a close in perfect style with a sensational double victory and first ever one-two finish at Brands Hatch.
After sealing the team’s championship and G50 championship last time out at Silverstone, the Grantham-based team headed to Brands looking to celebrate, doing so by running two cars in the premier G55 class for the first time.
Newly-crowned G50 champion Mark Davies made the step up to a G55 for the first time in Kent and despite the team only receiving the new car on Thursday night, the Yorkshireman was on the place from the outset.
After stunning the title contenders with pole position in qualifying, the Huddersfield-based racer led from the front to secure a lights-to-flag victory in the opening race. The second race saw Davies lose the lead at the start, but he fought back to regain it on lap six and lead the remainder for a second sensational win.
Hopes of completing an unbelievable treble were dashed early on in race three when he was forced onto the grass at Surtees, though Davies once again showed his pace by fighting back from the rear of the field into tenth.
“It’s been a really good weekend,” he said. “I said before that it would be good to get into the top five, so to have two victories is fantastic. The team got the set-up on the car just right and we had no problems – apart from when I was put on the grass in race three.
“This season was a chance for me to deal with some unfinished business in the G50 class and it was good to win the title. From the moment I got in the car it was clear that the team knew what they were doing in terms of set-up and we had a great season. Winning in the G55 this weekend is a great way to bring it to an end and I’ve shown that we can be strong next year if we can put a deal together. I’d say this year has been one of the best I’ve had and this weekend has topped it off.”
The team’s regular G55 competitor Andrew Richardson meanwhile produced one of the drivers of the season take second place in the weekend’s second race. Starting from the back of the grid after a power steering failure, Richardson overcame a stall at the start to producing a stunning drive through the field into second place behind Davies.
Richardson made one of the overtaking moves of the season en-route too, passing Jake Hill around the outside at Paddock Hill Bend before passing both Carl Breeze and Tom Sharp at the very next corner Druids.
On old rubber for the third race, Richardson produced a solid drive to end the season with a fourth place finish, his results over the weekend cementing his top four championship finish.
“I’m really happy with how the weekend went, especially as I was feeling under the weather,” he said. “It’s a shame that I had to retire from race one as the car was really strong and I’d got myself onto the battle for the lead before the power steering went but that isn’t something we could control. However, race two was just phenomenal.
“When I stalled at the start, I could see them all just heading off to Paddock Hill ahead of me and didn’t expect to come back to second. The car was absolutely brilliant and me and Mark were similar on the lap times throughout. The move to get second is one I want to see again on TV as I can’t remember a lot about it, but to get a one-two for the team is fantastic.
“In race three, we were on used wets and could really have done with new tyres so fourth was a good result to end the season.”
The result in the second race made Richardson Racing the first team to take a one-two finish in the G55 class, ensuring it heads into the off-season on a high.
“The team has really proved a point this weekend to end the year strongly as we only took delivery of Mark’s car on Thursday and put a lot of work in to it to get the set-up right,” Andrew reflected. “Mark drove it brilliantly and to be the first team to get a one-two finish in the G55s has shown what we can do. As a team, we can now look forward to next year and building on the potential we’ve shown in 2012.”
