Tom Ingram, Carl Breeze and Mark Davies shared the spoils during Rounds 15, 16 and 17 of the 2013 Michelin Ginetta GT Supercup at Snetterton.
Championship leader Ingram dominated proceedings in race one of the weekend, a feat his main title rival Breeze repeated next time out, before Davies took his first win of the season in a red-flag affected final race
Round 15:
Qualifying for the opening race went the way of Ingram, the JHR Developments racer taking pole position by 0.150s. This proved to be an advantage that the KX Akademy member wouldn’t relinquish as he led from lights to flag to take his fourth consecutive Supercup victory by 2.1s.
Jamie Orton qualified in second place; however a spin on the warm up lap which led to his retirement allowed Breeze to move up in to second ahead of Pepe Massot. With the Spaniard left defending from Rob Boston behind though, Breeze was able to enjoy a comfortable run to second at the flag.
Massot held firm to complete the podium in his first race since switching to Century Motorsport, with Boston left to settle for fourth. Not far behind in fifth meanwhile was Davies, with Matt Nicoll-Jones sixth, while Andrew Watson emerged victorious from a close battle with Reece Somerfield for seventh.
Round 16:
Ingram’s win earned him pole position for race two; however a poor getaway gifted the lead to Breeze. The duo battled throughout the twelve lap encounter, with local driver Breeze fighting valiantly to take the win by 0.2s in front of his home crowd.
A great fight emerged early on for the final podium place between Massot, Davies and Nicoll-Jones, however the latter soon dropped away from the fight after early contact resulted in a dislodged bonnet. This left Massot and Davies, and despite the latter’s best efforts, Massot held on to complete the podium once again.
Nicoll-Jones slipped back into a fight with Boston and Watson for fifth, with the Academy Motorsport driver just holding them to take fifth, the trio split by under half a second at the finish. Taking eighth after a great drive from the back of the grid meanwhile was Orton.
Round 17:
The reverse-grid format for the weekend’s final race saw the top five switched, giving Nicoll-Jones pole position. His fellow front-row starter Davies made the best start though to take the lead, with Nicoll-Jones slotting into second ahead of Massot.
The Spaniard made a move at Montreal; however contact with the rear of Nicoll-Jones spun the latter round. With the Academy Motorsport driver left stranded in the middle of the road, contact from the pack behind was inevitable, with Orton and Marcus Hoggarth collecting his G55, retiring all three on the spot and causing a red flag.
With Nicoll-Jones missing at the restart, Davies was left with a clear run to the first corner at the restart, an opportunity the reigning G50 champion took with both hands. With Massot left defending from the pack behind, Davies was able to pull away at the front, going on to take a comfortable lights-to-flag win by 3.8s.
Massot came under immense pressure from Ingram throughout the reduced nine lap encounter, but a measured drive by the Spaniard saw him hold him back as he completed his podium hat-trick for the weekend, while Ingram’s fifteenth consecutive podium stretched his championship lead to 107 points.
Breeze ran fourth throughout, the reigning champion running ahead of an tight battle for fifth which saw Boston emerge ahead of Boardley and Watson, with Dan Norris-Jones eighth.
G50 Class:
The G50 category reached a season-low at Snetterton, with class points leader Sean Huyton being the only entrant into the category.
This gave the Academy Motorsport driver a comfortable run to three more class victories, making it fourteen for the season, and means one more class win this year will confirm him as the 2013 G50 champion.
Provisional Michelin Ginetta GT Supercup standings (After Rd.17):
- Tom Ingram – 521pts
- Carl Breeze – 414pts
- Mark Davies – 332pts
- Pepe Massot – 325pts
- Matt Nicoll-Jones – 296pts
- Rob Boston – 289pts
- Carl Boardley – 223pts
- Andrew Watson – 213pts