Tom Oliphant has closed to within two points of the Michelin Ginetta GT4 Supercup championship lead with another dominant lights-to-flag victory at Snetterton.
Fresh from converting pole position to the win in the weekend’s opening race, Oliphant produced a carbon copy performance in Round Sixteen – building an early lead before cruising home to victory.
“I made sure I got a good start, and once I got a little gap, I could focus on getting heat in the tyres and pushing forwards. Once I was two seconds clear I could cruise from there and let it all happen behind me,” Oliphant told TCF.
“We’ve won two races, taken loads of points and closed to within two of the championship lead which is fantastic. We start fifth for the next race, with Jamie [Orton] just in front and Carl [Breeze] behind again, so it’s looking good!”
A great getaway off the line got the Century Motorsport ace in front of fellow front-row starter Jamie Orton on the run to Riches for the first time, and consecutive fastest laps in the early stages meant he was over two seconds clear after the opening six laps.
Orton maintained second comfortably until the closing stages of the race, when Bradley Smith started putting him under immense pressure. A slide wide for Orton at Oggies on lap eleven allowed Smith through, but Orton drew back alongside down the Bentley Straight.
Smith had the inside line heading into Brundle but broke too late, resulting in a trip across the grass. That maintained second for Orton to the flag, preserving his slender championship lead, while Michael Caine slipped past Smith to complete the podium.
Following their dramas in the opening race, Ollie Jackson, Carl Breeze and Will Burns spent the race fighting through the pack from the back of the grid. Fantastic opening laps for Jackson and Breeze saw them gain six places each to slot into seventh and eighth respectively.
They each gained another spot from Will Moore on the second lap, before settling into those positions as the race progressed. Burns’ progression came later in the race, with moves on Reece Somerfield and Moore putting him up to eighth at the end of lap five.
Burns soon set a new Snetterton lap record as he closed down a two second gap to his HHC Motorsport team-mate Breeze and the duo renewed their battle from yesterday’s race. Despite his best efforts, Burns couldn’t find a way past and ended up spinning at Oggies on the final lap.
As Tom Wrigley enjoyed a comfortable fifth, a result that earned him the reverse grid pole position for race three, with Jackson edging clear of the battle behind to complete the top six ahead of Breeze.
Burns recovered from his spin to maintain eighth ahead of Somerfield and AM class victor Moore, with Colin White and Ade Barwick completing the class podium. Fraser Robertson, Chris Ingram and Osamu Kawashima each survived spins to finish the race, with Flick Haigh completing the finishers after a first lap trip through the pitlane.
Full race results can be found here.
