Tom Ingram leads the way at the halfway stage of an enthralling 2013 Michelin Ginetta GT Supercup season, the sportscar championship providing some of the best racing on the BTCC support package over the first five weekends.
Chasing his third Ginetta title in four seasons, Ingram has been in inspired form in the opening fourteen races, with twelve podiums in a row, including five wins, putting him over 100 points ahead at the top of the standings.
The most competitive entry in Supercup history has seen the grid filled with former Ginetta, Porsche, Lotus and world Hot Rod champions, talented young Ginetta Junior graduates and experienced Supercup racers, meaning that Ingram’s run to the top certainly hasn’t been an easy one.
His main competition has come, naturally, from reigning champion Carl Breeze. Running once again with Total Control Racing, Breeze has matched Ingram’s win count, with his five successes including superb braces at Donington Park and Thruxton.
Three retirements to Ingram’s zero has cost Breeze though, with Ingram’s sheer consistency of finishing every race in the top five, coupled with a superb hat-trick of wins last time out at Croft, giving him his comfortable advantage in the championship.
The only other full-time driver to have taken race wins so far this campaign has been the highly impressive Pepe Massot. Despite being in only his second season of car-racing, the Spanish teenager has been a revelation, taking a win apiece on the opening two weekends to put himself fifth in the championship standings, ahead of far more experienced racers.
Massot was one of two drivers to make the step up from the Ginetta Junior Championship this season, the other being Andrew Watson. Just like Massot, the Irishman was quick to get into the thick of the front-running action, though he only has one podium at Thruxton to his name so far after an incident-packed start to the year.
Lying between Breeze and Massot in the standings meanwhile are Matt Nicoll-Jones and Mark Davies. Nicoll-Jones has a fantastic start to the season, five podium finishes in six races, to thank for his standing, while Davies, so far unable to replicate the pace that saw him storm a double victory on his G55 debut in 2012, has been a consistent finisher with three podiums to his name.
Two drivers impressing in their debut seasons so far have been Rob Boston and Carl Boardley. KX Akademy member Boston starred in the last weekend at Croft, with a double podium making it three rostrum finishes for the season, while Boardley has shown top six pace throughout the season, capping it off with a podium at Thruxton.
One team making a huge impact in recent weekends has been Century Motorsport. After the team’s regular driver James Birch left to join the Porsche Carrera Cup GB, team boss Nathan Freke jumped into the car at Oulton, the former G50 champion taking both race wins, before former G50 race-winner Max Coates jumped in at Croft and took a podium finish on his second appearance in the series.
While the G55 category has been thriving with a strong, competitive entry, the same cannot be said for its little brother, the G50 class.
Sean Huyton looks set to win the class title with ease after dominating the first half of the season, eleven wins in fourteen races giving him a 220 point lead at the top of the standings.
Huyton had strong early competition from Reece Somerfield and Dan Norris-Jones, with Somerfield storming to a double class win on the opening weekend. Both drivers went on to make the step up to the G55’s though, leaving Huyton with no full-time rivals.
Guest appearances from Ginetta works driver Mike Simpson, and one-off appearances from series newcomers Dan Jones and Simon Green has provided Huyton with some form of competition, but with the last three meetings seeing just two entries in the class, the future is looking bleak for the category.
The focus in the second half of the season will be on whether anyone can overhaul Ingram at the top of the standings, or whether the 19 year old can secure the missing part of his Ginetta championship hat-trick.
Breeze is sure to not give up without a fight though. The Total Control Racing ace came back from a deficit of over 100 points to Tom Sharp en-route to the championship last season and will be hoping to replicate his twelve race podium streak from twelve months ago to close in Ingram.
As well as the battle at the front, with the likes of Nicoll-Jones, Davies, Boston, Watson and Boardley all be desperate to take race wins, the remaining rounds of the Ginetta GT Supercup will definitely be races not to miss.
TCF’s three to watch:
1. Rob Boston – Heading into the summer break off the back of a double podium, Boston’s confidence will be high for the second half of the season and he will be in the hunt for a maiden Supercup win.
2. Andrew Watson – The Irishman has been overshadowed a bit by his fellow Juniors graduate Massot over the first half of the year, but the pace is there and more regular podium finishes are on the card.
3. Mark Davies – Davies showed in the 2012 Brands finale that he can win races in this series, and having not replicated that pace so far this season, he will be pushing to take wins in the second half of the year.
Provisional Michelin Ginetta GT Supercup Championship Standings (After Rd.14 of 27):
Position |
Driver |
Team |
Points |
Gap |
1 |
Tom Ingram |
JHR Developments |
428 |
|
2 |
Carl Breeze |
Total Control Racing |
326 |
-102 |
3 |
Matt Nicoll-Jones |
Academy Motorsport |
258 |
-170 |
4 |
Mark Davies |
Total Control Racing |
254 |
-174 |
5 |
Pepe Massot |
Hillspeed |
243 |
-185 |
6 |
Rob Boston |
JHR Developments |
229 |
-199 |
7 |
Jamie Orton |
Total Control Racing |
196 |
-232 |
8 |
Carl Boardley |
CBM Motorsport |
181 |
-247 |
9 |
Andrew Watson |
Douglas Motorsport |
165 |
-263 |
10 |
Fergus Walkinshaw |
FW Motorsport |
158 |
-270 |
11 |
Reece Somerfield |
Richardson Racing |
135 |
-293 |
12 |
Marcus Hoggarth |
JHR Developments |
129 |
-299 |
13 |
James Birch |
Century Motorsport |
88 |
-340 |
14 |
Nathan Freke |
Century Motorsport |
71 |
-357 |
15 |
Max Coates |
Century Motorsport |
66 |
-362 |
16 |
Colin White |
CWS |
62 |
-366 |
17 |
Dan Norris-Jones |
Priocept Racing |
51 |
-377 |
18 |
Rob Smith |
Century Motorsport |
27 |
-401 |
19 |
David Dickenson |
Total Control Racing |
19 |
-409 |
Provisional Michelin Ginetta GT Supercup ‘G50 Class’ Championship Standings (After Rd.14 of 27):
Position |
Driver |
Team |
Points |
Gap |
1 |
Sean Huyton |
Academy Motorsport |
456 |
|
2 |
Dan Norris-Jones |
Priocept Racing |
236 |
-220 |
3 |
Reece Somerfield |
Privateer |
100 |
-356 |
4 |
Dan Jones |
Richardson Racing |
90 |
-366 |
5 |
Simon Green |
Simon Green Motorsport |
48 |
-408 |