Callum Pointon could become the first driver since Tom Ingram in 2013 to win the Michelin Ginetta GT4 Supercup title with a meeting to spare this weekend as he aims to wrap up the honours during a triple-header meeting at Silverstone.
Following the dramatic conclusion to the season last year when the title wasn’t decided until the last lap of the final race, this year it looks set to be more clear cut as Pointon holds a 91 point advantage atop the standings with six races remaining.
That lead means that the HHC Motorsport racer can secure the honours this weekend if he can outscore his closest challenger Ben Green by nineteen points across the three races and ensures he doesn’t get massively outscored by any of the chasing pack.
Pointon has built his lead with an impressively consistent campaign, with thirteen podium finishes in seventeen races meaning he’s the runaway leader despite not taking a pole position to date and only recording a pair of race victories.
Green meanwhile has notched five wins, with the latest of those coming at Rockingham last time out as he kept his title hopes alive with the first double victory of his career so far, though early season retirements are set to cost the Century Motorsport man.
One of the in-form drivers at the moment is Declan Jones, who took a maiden win at Snetterton in late July and followed that up with a first series pole position and a second victory at Rockingham to maintain his top five standing in the points.
Jones is part of an incredibly strong entry from reigning champions Rob Boston Racing, with fellow race-winners Jack Mitchell and George Gamble alongside him, as well as podium-finisher Charlie Ladell and top six contender Seb Perez.
Gamble and Mitchell will be determined to make a return to the top step of the podium before seasons end, having both not won since the season opener in April, while Ladell has also been waiting since April in his quest for a return to the top three.
Carl Boardley returns to the scene of his breakthrough Supercup victory twelve months ago hoping for a repeat performance to add to a sole victory this season so far at Snetterton, while Tom Hibbert will aim to return to the sort of form that secured him a double win at Oulton Park.
Reece Somerfield wrote his name into the Supercup history books at Rockingham meanwhile as he became the most capped driver in the championship, with three more race starts moving the former race-winner to 138 and ahead of former champion Carl Breeze.
Joining him in leapfrogging Breeze this weekend will be Colin White, who is seeing his grasp on the AM class honours slowly slipping away as Jac Constable begins to take charge, with a retirement at Rockingham being a hammer blow for White’s chances.
Constable is on a sensational run of nine victories in the last ten races, with his 100% streak only ended by a start infringement penalty at Rockingham, and those successes have built him up a 73 point lead atop the standings, though that is unlikely to be enough to secure him the crown this weekend.
White matches Constable for podium finishes this season with fourteen in seventeen races, however only five of those have been victories for the championship stalwart as the CWS Racing man chases a third consecutive title success in the AM category.
Constable’s Rockingham penalty opened the door for his Xentek team-mate Jack Minshaw to become only the third different class winner this year, while Ian Robinson, Dan Kirby and Alexis Taylor are amongst those chasing a breakthrough win in the remaining six races.
A few changes to the grid this weekend sees the Team HARD cars now run under the ‘BeckEd Racing’ banner, with Toby Bearne and Dan Kirby joined by series debutant Paul Taylor, while Adam Higgins returns to the grid after missing Rockingham and Fraser Robertson is back for the first time this season.
Full championship standings can be found here: http://tsl-timing.com/file/?f=TOCA/2017/173403ptsg50.pdf
