Total Control Racing saw seasons best qualifying performances from Dave Wooder and Matt Chapman not yield the race results they deserved during the fourth meeting of the 2015 Ginetta Junior Championship season at Oulton Park.
The trip to Cheshire proved to be a breakthrough weekend for Wooder, who turned timesheet topping pace in both Friday and Saturday practice into a sensational maiden championship pole position in qualifying.
Unfortunately for Wooder though, a propshaft failure on the opening lap of race one ended his challenge for the race win before it had even begun. The rookie was able to show his talent in race two though, producing a sensational drive through the field from 20th on the grid to ninth place.
“We can’t believe the bad luck Dave had with the propshaft – absolutely gutted for him,” said TCR team principal Lee Brookes. “Up to that point, the weekend had gone fantastically well and Dave was in tremendous form. Topping testing, practice and qualifying tells its own story, he was the quickest driver out there this weekend and was just very, very unlucky.”
For Chapman, momentum from a pair of top ten finishes last time out at Thruxton carried across to Oulton, with the second year contender finishing Friday practice second on the timesheets behind his team-mate Wooder.
Chapman went on to set the fifth fastest time in qualifying, though a tough start to race one saw him shuffled back to tenth. He fought back well and was on the cusp of the top six, but after being unable to pass Billy Monger he slipped to eighth at the flag – before going one better in race two to match his best result of the season so far with seventh.
“Being P2 in first practice on Friday was a very positive start, just what we wanted, and qualifying went pretty well too,” commented Chapman.
“It was a real fight in race one to just try and get through and make up places. I got put wide a few times trying to pass [Billy] Monger as he was defending really hard. Race two was solid though, there were some good battles and our pace was good. It’s definitely been a strong weekend overall.”
The third TCR contender Cameron Roberts joined his team-mates in the top ten in qualifying, however he was unable to even make the start of race one after a driveshaft failure at the start of the green flag lap. He fought back in race two though to climb from 21st on the grid to 16th.
“Matt did a great job in both races, he was definitely quicker than [Billy] Monger in race one but no matter what he tried the door was slammed shut,” added Brookes. “Like at Thruxton, his pace has been very good this weekend and he’s getting closer and closer to being on that podium.
“As with Dave, we’re gutted Cameron was forced out before race one with a parts failure. It’s always frustrating when these things happen but he showed his pace in qualifying in the top ten and we’re sure he’ll be just as competitive at Croft in a few weeks.”
